Doubling up on foreign language in HS.

Lady_Lorna
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:13:24 +0000

To be proficient in several languages is always a plus, but more so if the student has personal and compelling reasons for his or her choices.

My daughter (homeschooled) studied Latin and French through the middle and high school years. Latin because she was following a classical/Great Books curriculum and understood that Latin was integral to the program and because she wanted to be able to read some of her primary sources in the language in which they were written (Aquinas, for example). French because she loved the sound, the country, the literature, and wanted–again–to read the literature in the language in which it was written.

She began Russian in high school because her coach and her ice dance partner speak Russian and because she represents a primarily Russian speaking country internationally. Both Latin and Russian are inflected languages, so her Russian studies have progressed quickly. It also helps that she’s exposed to the language every day.

It seems that her particular combination of languages and reasons for studying them were responsible in part for her acceptance to Columbia. There was a handwritten note on her acceptance letter that said as much. (For what it’s worth, she chose not to attend.)