I STARTED READING THROUGH various university prospectuses re: language studies and wish I hadn't done it because now I feel this longing building up and I don't trust myself ever to apply and successfully complete any university course. Ever.
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The one that got me the most was Cambridge (why apply anywhere crap?). Two stipulations I have about a course in German are that 1: the department should also teach Dutch. Because if you speak French, German and Dutch you an almighty swathe of Europe becomes "yours". Dutch is very similar to German so learning it is a process of conversion rather than discovery anew... The last place I studied didn't even offer Dutch (though they specialized in Scandinavian languages ~ more people speak Dutch than ALL Scandinavian languages together!) And Oxford, by the way doesn't do Dutch. And point 2: they MUST give details of modules or "papers" and reading lists in advance. Which Cambridge do, and perusing down them only increased this sad longing. And Cambridge is such a beautiful town (much nicer than Oxford). In the end I just wanted to cry.I'm going to leave it there before I have a pathetic breakdown ...
Illustrated: King's College Cambridge (the one with the most spectacular buildings). Cambridge University is split into 20 or so colleges peppered about the town (ie there is no "campus" as such). And as you can see it's a gorgeous place ...
PS: talking of SAD, someone at my old house, what I now look back on as a bourgeois paradise, the house I first moved to in London, once remarked how bizarre it should be that I, by far the most "academic" person in the house, should be just about the ONLY one there without a degree ...
Hey Gledwood, you should check out MIT's open courseware site. You might be able to find some language courses. Best of all it's free as long as you can access it over the internets and you don't have to register. Might not be as academic as sitting in a giant lecture hall, but you can't beat free. Here's the link.
ReplyDeleteMIT Open Courseware
Gleds, what is holding you back from applying and taking the course? I do believe that if I want something bad enough, I can find a way. I hope that you will pursue it.
ReplyDeleteGleds I agree with the two previous comments - if the need is strong you'll try another area of learning, and if it's free, how much better is that? Go on give it a look see at the very least.
ReplyDeleteSorry mini rant here but you're so frustrating. You're not even past the gate and you're already setting impossible conditions on even attempting a course. What does it matter where you study. Learn German . . learn Dutch . . together or separately. You'll never do it if you keep putting these divisive 'conditions' on centres of learning. Sounds like you're making excuses when you should be making a commitment! You make me so cross sometimes. Having said that, an online course is a great idea because you do it at your own pace and the credentials are just as admirable as if you attended the college itself.
ReplyDeleteI study with the Open University and love it. Their materials are excellent, there's lots of help and support, and you can mix with people at turorials and Summer Schools if you want to. Take a look at their website. Type 'Open University' into google and it will come up.
ReplyDeleteMOLSON: I will try that
ReplyDeleteSYD: funding. I've defaulted on my student loans, used up about half the grant I'm entled to. I could only do it as I see by winning lots of money or writing begging letters to the great and good and setting up an educational trust in my own name. (Which I would do if I thought I was going...)
JEANNIE: same stuff as did my head in 1st time round ..!!
BIMBIMBIE: I will bc I have to get some "skills" for life/careers etc.
The university thing came up bc I thought "how do I qualify as a translator?"... it seems the only "obvious" way to do it ...
... then again I WOULD really like to go Cambridge...
BAINO: I was trying to keep the post short. I didn't have time or energy to explain exactly why I said those conditions but they have a v real meaning. 1. I applied and got onto and started TWO undergraduate courses in the past and dropped out of both. So I would NOT apply unless 100% sure I could and would stay the course. Re reading lists etc ~ most universities for some unknown reason keep these to their chests like State Secrets. The exact details of the course make a HUGE difference. Uni degrees are by no means the same. E.g. Cambridge does loads of translation work INTO English which I'm good at. The 1st (languages) degree course I went on did NOTHING in that line. As for Dutch, once you're there the itch can strike you to do a subsid' language and if I think Dutch would be that I'd be an idiot to apply somewhere that didn't even offer it ~ surely?
And re Cambridge, I wished I'd applied there straight from school. As it turned out my grades were all lower than they'd ask for. But being "old" now I can get round that by showing how much I've improved even since then and I have just in a month got better reading comprehension than I ever had in the past ...
LESLIE:
Learn Dutch ??? what will you do with that ? Besides in Holland and a little part of Belgium nobody speaks dutch, as you say it sounds like a German dialect and that's true because in Northern Germany at the sea they speak a similar language. Now all dutch people speak English and if I go to Amsterdam even in Restaurants the menu card is written in English, because they are so intelligent to recognize that with only dutch they don't go far !
ReplyDeleteHi Gleds. Well have a go then but It will still cost you I'm sure! Unless you qualify for some sort of grant. Not sure what the set up is there but here, you don't start paying back your student loan until your salary hits $38,000 pa. And if they have reading lists, I'm sure if you spoke to one of the course admins they'd tell you what they were - sometimes Uni's don't know themselves until just before the Semester starts. Sorry I told you off but I just call things as I see them. I wish you luck, really . . go for it!
ReplyDeleteDutch is actually not that similar to German, nor is Danish ... although the pastries in all three countries are similarly delicious. But go on, Gleddie ... apply for it. You can do it, I know you can!!!! Fishy xxxx
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