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Why does the Engineering advisor lady tell people not to take languages courses?

 
Old 11-03-2008 at 10:37 PM   #16
RoyK
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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).
Ya, a friend of mine in the Netherlands was taking japanese and was teaching himself for a couple months; he cracked under pressure though. Apparently there's way too much Kanji for him, and since he has a case of perfectionism, he was going bonkers over everything he couldn't remember. I still wanna learn though! Have any suggestions for podcasts? And I hear that you shouldn't start with pronuciation, but instead, focus on Kanji and then pronunciation because then you get into bad habbit (leaving Romanji for last).

Suggestions?
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Old 11-03-2008 at 11:28 PM   #17
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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.
Humanities and Soc Sci have less class hours, but have to spend a hell of a lot more time outside of class either reading, researching, or writing. In a lot of cases we don't get notes on WebCT; so if we miss class we're screwed in that regard too.

I only have 12 hours of class a week (I'm taking four classes) but I probably spend close to 30 hours (over 7 days) on homework, reading and essay-ing in various degrees.
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Old 11-03-2008 at 11:36 PM   #18
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Screw Japanese, lol. Take German. Any language that requires three different writing systems each containing more than 30 characters fails in my books. Plus, Japanese isn't useful anywhere except within Japan - and Japan is literally microscopic compared to the rest of the world, already having enough engineers as well.
Old 11-03-2008 at 11:40 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by Ownaginatios View Post
Screw Japanese, lol. Take German. Any language that requires three different writing systems each containing more than 30 characters fails in my books. Plus, Japanese isn't useful anywhere except within Japan - and Japan is literally microscopic compared to the rest of the world, already having enough engineers as well.
Japan holds a high position for technology just as Germany does (I have a cousin that works in robotics over in Germany as a matter of fact)... though China's probably big on the manufacturing side; The only reason I would enjoy Japanese is the fact that I have more uses then just business, so it would be killing two birds with one stone in that regard.
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Old 11-04-2008 at 12:11 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyK View Post
Japan holds a high position for technology just as Germany does (I have a cousin that works in robotics over in Germany as a matter of fact)... though China's probably big on the manufacturing side; The only reason I would enjoy Japanese is the fact that I have more uses then just business, so it would be killing two birds with one stone in that regard.
Well, asian languages are complicated as hell (at least all the ones related to/within the family group encompassing Chinese and Japanese)... so all I can say is, good luck with that :p From what I've heard from friends who have tried to learn Japanese and/or Mandarin, it's incredibly difficult for someone who's mother tongue is a European language.
Old 11-05-2008 at 12:48 AM   #21
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If they only offered a Chinese course.
Old 11-05-2008 at 12:50 AM   #22
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If they only offered a Chinese course.
I find this surprising! They even offer a Polish language course (my native tongue), but I would have assumed they'd have something as popular as this!
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Old 11-05-2008 at 07:27 AM   #23
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The problem is having someone to teach it. And someone with a couple of degrees.
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Old 11-05-2008 at 07:03 PM   #24
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The problem is having someone to teach it. And someone with a couple of degrees.
And somehow affectively teaching the reading system in the short amount of time given...
Old 11-05-2008 at 07:26 PM   #25
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Yup.

I'm in an Ojibwe course right now. It's...really, really tough. It's hard to cram a lot of info into a term, especially when textbooks contradict each other, yay!
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Old 11-13-2008 at 05:05 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyK View Post
plan on expanding into a language into second year if it's possible; languages of choice being German or Japanese

SAME ahh I hope I can get in next year to one of those, there are like 45 seats i have heard
Old 11-15-2008 at 05:10 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtran89 View Post
If they only offered a Chinese course.
Chinese actually does not exist, in China Mandrain is the most popular language followed by Kanto.
Old 11-16-2008 at 12:17 PM   #28
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Quote:
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Chinese actually does not exist, in China Mandrain is the most popular language followed by Kanto.
"Mandrain" isn't a language either. :p
Old 11-16-2008 at 02:12 PM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ownaginatios View Post
"Mandrain" isn't a language either. :p
Sure i spelt it wrong but you know what i mean.



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