I know that when applying to a college, having four years of a second language looks good on an application. What if you are, in addition to the second language and English, also fluent in another two languages, but didn't learn them in school, can you include those two languages? Or will they technically not count if you didn't learn them while in school? Also, what if one of those languages is American Sign, does that count as another language?

I've really effed up along the way in Spanish, so I'm hoping that by knowing two other languages fluently, that kind of exes out sucking at Spanish. Actually now that I think about it, I kind of suck at English too.

I'm sure being fluent in any language will give you an edge, but you have to take an entrance exam anyway so just don't screw that up and you should be good. I'm not sure about the American Sign Language, but that's how it is for other languages like Spanish. If you screw up the exam normally you just get put in Spanish 101, which from what I've heard is super super easy.

Knowing any language fluently looks great on your resume, especially if you really are fluent. Applying for college, this doesn't really matter, but when applying for jobs, "fluent" means both written and spoken fluency, so be careful if you struggle in one of those categories. I find that although I'm fluent in German and speak it at home about 85% of the time, I write on about an 8th grade level, which would hardly impress any potential employers.

I think it also depends on the languages you're discussing. ASL is great because it's usually undertaught at the college level, and most budding ASL programs rely heavily on student participation. Having a student that speaks fluent ASL is a huge benefit to a school with that type of program. I am finishing a my BA in modern languages and linguistics with a concentration in German. It was the best and worst choice I ever made for several reasons. The best reason is that I speak German already, so I took most of my standard "language" courses via credit by examination. That saved time and money, and allowed me to study abroad for a full 13 months during which time I was able to develop my speaking/writing skills at a more advanced level than my college could offer. It has also meant that the German classes I still had to take (literature, humor, immigration and integration issues in central europe, plus some more) were super easy and hardly demanding. But I kind of hate my major because after 4 years, it's gotten really boring and not challenging. And I'm running out of upper-level philosophy classes to entertain myself.

On the bright side, linguistics BAs are one of the most employable degrees directly out of undergrad. There are so many amazing oppurtunities for fluent speakers of 2nd and 3rd languages who happen to hold degrees in that language. Plus, it's usually a pretty low-requirement degree, so it will work out that I graduate with 123 credits (you need 120 to graduate, and I think only 40 or so are major-related). That means I've been able to take some other really interesting courses that have given me a pretty well-rounded college experience. If you have any questions about majoring in language/applied linguistics, I'd be happy to answer them, just send me a message.

Sorry this was so long.

Thanks so much, Frenchy! I will definitely take you up on that PM next week when I have more time. I've learned Sign over the years because no one I know can hear apparently, but it's come in handy a good bit. My second language would be Russian. I can write it better than I can speak it, I can't get the pronunciation right and their grammar/alphabet makes a million times more sense to me than our American English one does. It's difficult to practice, however, on my computer since I can't get the language system thing installed properly for my keyboard, so I can only write on paper, kind of a good thing since I need all the writing practice I can get. Spanish makes zero sense to me. I understand why it, along with French, are commonly taught in school, they're our neighboring countries after all. But, to me at least, both are confusing languages that are difficult to learn. They don't seem to break down the actual structure of the language, just "this word means this". I've basically given up hope of finishing the year with being able to speak or write much of anything in Spanish, and just about everyone I know is in the same boat.

Hey Frenchy, taken a class on Immanuel Kant yet?

And HOLLA ASL! Although my signs are about 8 years outdated... I really, really need to take a refresher course and get utd on that.

And Libby, Frenchy basically covered it. It's usual to have a second lang, but make sure you can speak and write it well. Even if you are fluent in a second language, though, they may still make you take a language placement test for the language you took in HS and have you take classes for that. One of my friends is fluent in three languages, but they still forced her to take upper level french courses.

I've read Kant for some of my philosophy classes as well as Kant in German for literature classes. If Kant is considered difficult to read in English, wait until you try to read his ramblings in German where the verbs are usually the last 2-3 words of a sentence. If there's one thing that I've decided NOT to do anymore, it's combine my interest of philosophy with my interest in German. Haha, but yes, Kant can be interesting if you want to torture yourself for a while.

yeah a prof here likened translating his works in German to masturbation, which, having read through an entire boatload of Kant and then critiques of Kant and beauty and the sublime, I can understand. What gets me is how he never left his own city and yet had a claim on worldly knowledge. Our lecture class consisted of one hour actual lecture and two hours discussion, and I swear, I understood more of what was going on hungover or drugged than I did sober.

This is why 90% of my classes outside my major have been upper level philosophy courses. One of the two philosophy classes I'm taking right now is Aesthetics. Basically, we're studying the concept of beauty in the 20th century vs. every other time in existence. It's interesting. But mostly because my professor was very heavily involved in hallucinogenic drug use for about 25 years. So almost every single one of his stories/examples during lectures has to do with smoking peyote or dropping acid. He's actually a lot different than I anticipated a man of his "life experience" to be- very academic, even when discussing acid trips.

Depending on where you go, you might be able to test out of the Russian language classes as well. I tested out of 2 levels of Calculus via the AP exam, got the credits & didn't need to take any college math. My boyfriend in college was an EMT and tested out of the health classes by taking the course final. Or some schools offer retro-credits where you can take an upper-level class and if you achieve a certain grade you also get the credits for the lower classes (for example, you take the third level of Russian and they give you the credits for that and also Russian 1 & 2. ) I am no good at foreign languages (took 4 years of Latin in HS and could translate Latin to English but that's about it). Luckily my major had no language requirement. I am kind of interested in learning ASL because I have a deaf friend, thankfully she is very good at reading lips and she speaks pretty clearly, but I would love to be able to communicate better with her and some other deaf people that I know. I just don't know how that would go since I stink at other languages aside from English.

Sort of unrelated, but if you plan on going to graduate or doctoral school, you will almost positively need to take your core classes (math, science, etc) at your 4-year university. You would need to check with the program, but many wont accept AP-level credits.

Ah, that's something I didn't know, because when I do eventually go back for my master's it will most likely be at the same school. Nice heads up for others though, thanks.

Spelling will count also.