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3 years ago
Admissions Advice

Should I take a world language?

In middle school, I learned Japanese for 2 years, and now that I'm in high school (Freshman) I wanted to continue learning Japanese. Unfortunately, my high school does not offer Japanese and I have no interest or motivation to learn a brand new language. I'm worried that this would look bad on my college application in the future so should I suck it up and learn another language or should I choose to replace world language with a different elective that I like?

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5 answers

1
3 years ago

So the vast majority of schools require 2 years of high school world language. Some require 4 but these are Harvard’s MIT. Then some of the near Ivys (Vandy etc) recomend 4. However they accept some middle school courses in somewhat specific circumstances. I can’t really say what they are as it varies by school and I couldn’t give a brief summary.

As such you may qualify with Japanese but if you don’t want to risk it you could look into taking classes at a community college or through Dual Enrollment. However if that’s not possible I fully recommend taking a seperate language.

However if In college you want to do something with Japanese or just languages as a whole (international business included) I’d recommend to do more stuff related to Japanese.

Also keep in your mind if you do get motivation to learn a new language I’d definitely at least look into learning another language.

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1
3 years ago

You should continue with Japanese, even if your school does not offer it. It is a very unique language and assuming if you are in the US, it would help you stand out very well since the most commonly learned languages are Spanish or French.

Consult outside organizations or self-study, if you can. Maybe take AP Japanese or register for the AP exam when you feel prepared enough to show that even after self-studying you truly know Japanese. You could also prepare for the JLPT and show your Japanese learning skills that way.

You could learn another language, but that is two years of work down the drain. Up to you though; from personal experience, I wish I had taken Spanish instead of French in my middle school since when I went to high school it offered Spanish and Turkish, not French and I had to restart. I was dumb and did not consider outside organizations, but I know that there are a few for Japanese, such as JNHS (Japanese National Honor Society). Heck, if your school does not have JNHS, you could turn it into an extracurricular and found a chapter at your school, showcasing your leadership skills, and who knows, it may even lead to your school eventually implementing a Japanese class.

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1
3 years ago

Most colleges require you to have 1-4 years of learning a foreign language in high school. The more years you have, the better. Top colleges often require you to take a foreign language almost all 4 years of high school.

I'm not an expert, but you should try to find an outside organization/group that can teach you Japanese. Then you could take certain exams that prove your fluency level. This could also qualify as an extracurricular/award. I would check with an admissions counselor at the college(s) you want to attend before you start doing that. For example, you can take the bi/trilingual seal, which is an exam that allows you to certify that you have a specific fluency and understanding of that language.

If you can't find a way to learn Japanese, take another language. If your school offers other languages, but you choose not to take one, it's not going to look great on your end. I would choose a language that will benefit you later. For example, I want to go into the medical field, so choosing Spanish is a good idea because there are many Spanish speakers that prefer speaking Spanish over English. In your case, if you are surrounded by people that speak Japanese or plan on living in/visiting Japan, learning Japanese is a good idea.

Bottom line, I would contact an admissions counselor to check if you can learn Japanese independently and a take language exam in your senior/junior year, and if that would qualify as your language requirement. If not, then pick another language. Hope this helped :)

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0
3 years ago

Most colleges require 2-3 years of a foreign language. If it's not possible for you to continue with Japanese, definitely take a different language. It might not be what you wanted, but in the end it will be more beneficial than not having taken another language. I would suggest continuing with Japanese though, it might be a valuable skill later in your life. Try out Duolingo and see what other languages you might like. It's a free, online language-learning website. It's actually really cool and makes learning other languages fun. They've got the classics like Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, etc. along with Japanese and a few lesser used languages like Irish, Navajo, and other "rare" languages. Hope this helps!

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-1
3 years ago

You should always learn English as it can be useful in way too many situations.

By learning English I mean having an IELTS or TOFEL test with a 6.5+ overall score in IELTS or 80 in TOFEL

Most colleges accept only official English language tests but not other languages

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