Disregarding what Sally Williams said, I decided to take German 1Z06 as my elective over the two terms for first year engineering. I don't get why she told people not to take second languages courses, I can't imagine anything else being any easier. This is why I think they're probably the best choice to take stress off the work load:

- You can't be number one at a language, so there is no competition or anything
- None of the questions on the tests are designed to mess with you (*cough* physics *cough), since the whole point is to just use grammar/spelling properly
- You aren't expected to write any essays or anything, since you are pretty much incapable in beginners classes
- There is next to no homework
- The textbook is designed for little kids in the language's country of origin to learn from
- It's a lot more useful than all the stupid courses that you'll probably never use for anything (i.e. 90% of everything we could select from on the list. etc)
- If you're an engineer, some of the languages available may open more international job opportunities to you
- It makes you smarter because your brain becomes more flexible

Anyone agree with me?

- The textbook is designed for little kids in the language's country of origin to learn from

Wasn't Passwort Deutsch intended for foreigners who would be working and/or studying in Germany to learn German? Read the description at the front (which youll be able to do hopefully at the end of the course )

But yeah, German is surprisingly easy compared to everything else I have, with probably only 1P03 coming anywhere close. Maybe its just Penner who makes the course easier...

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

- And best of all, it's in the Humanities department (a.k.a. you know it won't get any harder later)

Your charting into dangerous territory. <.<

Maybe she advised it because its not an accepted elective credit?

Otherwise i have no idea. perhaps because its a 6 unit course, it seems like a lot of work!

She must of had a reason to suggest you not taking it. I recommend calling her (x24646) and letting her know you are enjoying the course, and then ask why she did not suggest you take it (could be that it does not fit the requirement(s) you were looking for?)

If you take first year language courses (like German 1Z06) you will have to still take a 3 unit elective.
In http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/documents/Electives2008.pdf if you take a course In the blue list at the bottom (like you are) you will still have to take a course from the yellow list.

I don't know what department you're in and thus I don't know how many electives you're expected to take. My guess would be that since you take a blue, 6 unit course, you will still have to take a yellow, 3 unit course and you might end up paying for extra units that don't go towards your degree.

She told me the same thing when she saw I took French 1Z06, but I wanted to take it and was willing to pay out of pocket.

Originally Posted by dvy88

Your charting into dangerous territory. <.<

Hells yes it's dangerous territory.

Read this article, Ownaginatios. You're the sort of person the article was directed towards.

Fine, fine, I edited the original post and removed the part pissing people off... and I'm in engineering :p

Yes, you live up to the stereotype of many Engineers.

That and it says as such in your profile.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Fine, fine, I edited the original post and removed the part pissing people off... and I'm in engineering :p

Just because your faculty has stereotypes doesn't mean you have to fall in line with them. Think for yourself. Using the fact that you're in Engineering as a means to explain and justify that you insult other faculties is like saying that black people are all gang-bangers, First Nations are all alcoholics, all women belong in the kitchen, you see where I'm going. It's not true and it's not right. Think before you speak, you never know who you hurt.

Boooooooooooooo

I've got a stereotype for Engineers too

It starts with an N and rhymes with "BIRD"

Originally Posted by kokosas

Just because your faculty has stereotypes doesn't mean you have to fall in line with them. Think for yourself. Using the fact that you're in Engineering as a means to explain and justify that you insult other faculties is like saying that black people are all gang-bangers, First Nations are all alcoholics, all women belong in the kitchen, you see where I'm going. It's not true and it's not right. Think before you speak, you never know who you hurt.

No, lol, I meant the "I'm in Engineering" part to the person that said they didn't know what faculty I was in. I really should have made a new quote... :p

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

No, lol, I meant the "I'm in Engineering" part to the person that said they didn't know what faculty I was in. I really should have made a new quote... :p

My apologies

Lol, engineering here too; though I don't really care for the stereotypes; the only thing that annoys me is the fact that we've got so much schooling compared to other faculties. But the obvious trade off is the long ass term papers humanities and such have to write (thank god for few to no essays in engineering first year)... so in that essence, I'm not envious. In the end, I think we're all getting royally screwed in the butt one way or another.

As for the language course (and getting back on topic people), I think language is a good idea, but people might be taking it for all the wrong reasons; I often here people taking courses because they're bird. People shouldn't take things because they're easy/unimportant; take something one could excel in and could possibly benefit from with their future career/passions in mind. For example, if one takes something like Economics in first year, you can possibly get into management and engineering in 2nd year. In that regard, one should take language to possibly impress an employer with their 1337 language skills, landing you a job working abroad. Of course, there's no basis to this logic, but that's what one should be thinking when taking a course. If at the least, think of it like this~ why pay for a course you ain't gonna really use later on?

So it's good to see that you're looking and planning ahead! It might be easy for you, but you obviously see the future benefits. So screw what the student services told you to do; do what you feel is right and obviously doesn't have negative consequences (like cutting back on other courses work time). I myself took Econ (micro/macro) this year, and plan on expanding into a language into second year if it's possible; languages of choice being German or Japanese

German and Japanese

But they lost the war lol

Grab yourself a "Japanese phrases for Dummies" book. In conjunction with some podcasts it's SOOOO helpful, especially with pronunciations.

Of course taking the Japanese course will help as well (I for one haven't taken it....yet).