Русский? Русский? Я отставной полковник ВВС; мой русский теперь не совершенен, но по-прежнему полезен.Well, if you ever need to implement a plan like in firefox(film), then the ability to speak Russian fluently might be handy......
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
(and I only misspelled about six of those words originally...okay, so it was a bit mangled...it's been a long time)
I'd certainly wait until your DS gets his feedback from the academy before making a decision, if that's possible. If I had to choose between the two, Russian or Chinese, I'd go with Russian. My logic is that very many Chinese-American children are taught Chinese while growing up. It seems everyone we knew in this category went to Chinese school every Saturday morning. Certainly some of these make it to the military, and if they don't they're readily "available" anyway. My gut tells me there are fewer Russian speakers in the US today. Russian characters are, in part, based on the Greek alphabet, so if one has some familiarity with it one can actually read some of it a bit already. It's also a phonetic language, or so they say, as well as being Indo-European so there are some common roots with Latin and English back there somewhere. Anyway, that's my analysis based on absolutely no concrete evidence, but then my wife often tells me I put the "anal" in "analysis".My son is contacting admissions and his ALO to check if Latin is discounted as a modern foreign language. He took Latin freshman year on the premise that it would help with ACT/SAT's, and is enrolled in Honors Latin at the moment.
That said, the thread got us thinking that a language like Russian or Chinese might make his application more attractive. My DD had 4 years of Spanish in HS, but was placed in Russian at USAFA after taking a placement test. Given this maneuver it seems logical that USAF needs more Russian speaking officers and my assumption is that because Chinese is rarely taught in HS, they might need more Chinese speaking folks too.
Thoughts in that theory?
Russian and Chinese are considered "strategic languages" and as such, are sought out. Do we "need" more speakers? Sure...in many roles. Is it critical? No. I had Spanish in school and did time in a Spanish school in Spain; I wanted to take Russian at the academy. They wanted me to take more Spanish?! I said "Russian or no language; validate me" (I was functionally fluent in Spanish) so they validated me.My son is contacting admissions and his ALO to check if Latin is discounted as a modern foreign language. He took Latin freshman year on the premise that it would help with ACT/SAT's, and is enrolled in Honors Latin at the moment.
That said, the thread got us thinking that a language like Russian or Chinese might make his application more attractive. My DD had 4 years of Spanish in HS, but was placed in Russian at USAFA after taking a placement test. Given this maneuver it seems logical that USAF needs more Russian speaking officers and my assumption is that because Chinese is rarely taught in HS, they might need more Chinese speaking folks too.
Thoughts in that theory?
Русский? Русский? Я отставной полковник ВВС; мой русский теперь не совершенен, но по-прежнему полезен.Well, if you ever need to implement a plan like in firefox(film), then the ability to speak Russian fluently might be handy......
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
(and I only misspelled about six of those words originally...okay, so it was a bit mangled...it's been a long time)
Русский? Русский? Я отставной полковник ВВС; мой русский теперь не совершенен, но по-прежнему полезен.Well, if you ever need to implement a plan like in firefox(film), then the ability to speak Russian fluently might be handy......
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
(and I only misspelled about six of those words originally...okay, so it was a bit mangled...it's been a long time)
So does Russian look good for a candidate's application.....would u say?
It is to my understanding that the Academy only SUGGESTS two years of a modern foreign language. It is not a requirement for candidacy.
Yes, you are correct. DS did not have a single class of a foreign language and still received an appointment.
Update:
I was at USAFA Parents Weekend and spoke to the Director of languages who was also on the admissions board last year. His response was that strategic languages like Arabic, Chinese, and Russian will be looked upon favorably during the admissions process, but will not make or break the admission decision by itself.
That said, my son switched from Latin to Chinese this past week and should have three years of Chinese under his belt by the time he enters an academy or college.
I think you can only validate a course which is offered at the academy, and since Dutch isn’t listed as a modern foreign language for USAFA I doubt that you’ll be able to validate.I was wondering if you can opt-out of taking a language at USAFA if I'm fluent and can read and write in a language that is not offered at USAFA? I am fluent in dutch witch isn't a language many schools offer (I never took any Dutch classes in high school).
my kid is applying to USAFA with 3 years of Latin and no one throughout the process said anything about that. Not his LAO, not admissions counselors etcHi,
My S is starting his HS Junior and AFA has been a goal of his since start of HS. In doing his research at end of freshman he read the fine print and realized that his 3 years of HS Latin (all As) were not going to be accepted, so he changed course out of Latin 4. He now has taken 2 years of Chinese, both Bs, online over the summers to catch up.
question: AFA Minimum (and we don't do minimums here) is 2 year of language. Will the 3 years of Latin come into play AT ALL or does he need to find a third year of Chinese.
Thank you.