Which language should I learn?

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premiumcow

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I am a 15 year old native English speaker with some knowledge in Latin. Which language could I learn that would look best on an application? I am willing to put the hard work in to learn the language and i was thinking of doing Russian.
 
The language that will look best on your application is the one that you're able to achieve an A in. That's it, simple as that!

SA applications aren't about what looks good, but about what is good. Don't spend your time trying to guess what SAs are looking for. They're very transparent about that!
 
premiumcow said:
I am a 15 year old native English speaker with some knowledge in Latin. Which language could I learn that would look best on an application? I am willing to put the hard work in to learn the language and i was thinking of doing Russian.
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Okay...I'm gonna sound like a really picky PITA old guy...but look at what you wrote.

1. I am a native English speaker with some knowledge in Latin.
2. I am willing to put the hard work in to learn the language and i was thinking of doing Russian.

First: "in" Latin? No, you may have some familiarity or some knowledge OF, but knowledge IN? No.
Second: "lower case I" when speaking of yourself? Grammatically incorrect.
Third: And then "...of doing Russian." Doing means, roughly, "the activities in which a particular person engages." It has nothing to do with either studying or learning.

Now, why did I just write the above? My answer is this (and yes, my students call me the English grammar Nazi): really focus upon your English grammar and usage, it'll pay HUGE dividends on both the SAT and ACT. Truly understanding your native language, in my opinion, also pays huge dividends when learning a foreign language. Russian is a VERY different language from English; the grammar rules are very different, and most people find it extremely difficult (I was one of them). I'm a linguistic nerd...I've studied many. I was a child in Europe and when I returned to the USA at age 11 1/2 I was "conversant" in four languages. Then I studied a couple more, with Russian being the most challenging.

To answer your question without all my pontificating, you should select a language that interests YOU! One that you perhaps have a familial ancestral history with, or of a country that you'd like to visit someday and wander around meeting with the locals. There is no bad choice.
(Если вы выберете изучение русского языка, научитесь хорошо произносить щ!) and yes, I had to refer to a dictionary (it's been a long time)

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
I appreciate our poster's honesty. There are things we like to do and things we have to do because society (or school) says we have to do.

If you have no preference, first make sure you adhere to your district's language requirements. What languages are offered? How high are the levels? And being quite frank - is there a "spread" of which ones are "easier, harder, too hard"? Where are your thoughts/strategy on that continuum? Overlay this with the admissions academic blurb on USAFA website (cut and paste):
  • Two years of a modern foreign language
    We look for modern foreign languages with an emphasis on strategic languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, and Russian. While not a modern foreign language, Latin is acceptable. American Sign Language is not an acceptable course.
 
flieger83 said:
To answer your question without all my pontificating, you should select a language that interests YOU! One that you perhaps have a familial ancestral history with, or of a country that you'd like to visit someday and wander around meeting with the locals. There is no bad choice.
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^^^^This^^^^

The easiest route post-Latin would be French or Spanish. Then Portuguese or Italian would be a snap after that.

If your sole criterion is "What will look good", the work you put in will be much more tedious.
 
Since having a Plan B, C, D is part of the recommendations on this site, I would also think about what happens if you end up at X University not USAFA. Depending on the college and major, you may have to take a semester of language or test out for proficiency. Our HS college counselor was very helpful in pointing that out as DS contemplated his senior class schedule. At X University, the College of Engineering may not have a language requirement but the College of Science may have one.

Another vote for pursuing a language that interests you to keep as many doors open as possible.
 
flieger83 said:
Okay...I'm gonna sound like a really picky PITA old guy...but look at what you wrote.

1. I am a native English speaker with some knowledge in Latin.
2. I am willing to put the hard work in to learn the language and i was thinking of doing Russian.

First: "in" Latin? No, you may have some familiarity or some knowledge OF, but knowledge IN? No.
Second: "lower case I" when speaking of yourself? Grammatically incorrect.
Third: And then "...of doing Russian." Doing means, roughly, "the activities in which a particular person engages." It has nothing to do with either studying or learning.

Now, why did I just write the above? My answer is this (and yes, my students call me the English grammar Nazi): really focus upon your English grammar and usage, it'll pay HUGE dividends on both the SAT and ACT. Truly understanding your native language, in my opinion, also pays huge dividends when learning a foreign language. Russian is a VERY different language from English; the grammar rules are very different, and most people find it extremely difficult (I was one of them). I'm a linguistic nerd...I've studied many. I was a child in Europe and when I returned to the USA at age 11 1/2 I was "conversant" in four languages. Then I studied a couple more, with Russian being the most challenging.

To answer your question without all my pontificating, you should select a language that interests YOU! One that you perhaps have a familial ancestral history with, or of a country that you'd like to visit someday and wander around meeting with the locals. There is no bad choice.
(Если вы выберете изучение русского языка, научитесь хорошо произносить щ!) and yes, I had to refer to a dictionary (it's been a long time)

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
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Your post reminded me of this:
1624992194597.png
 
I would think that languages of our adversaries are valuable. Farsi, Russian, Mandarin, Korean. China is the new world power. Knowing Mandarin will be good in business and in the military. Not just “look good” but will BE valuable.
 
NJROTC-CC said:
I would think that languages of our adversaries are valuable. Farsi, Russian, Mandarin, Korean. China is the new world power. Knowing Mandarin will be good in business and in the military. Not just “look good” but will BE valuable.
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Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua…Ever watched Narcos?

The US military also trains friendlies and trains with friendlies, including the second largest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Best to show up conversant.
 
NJROTC-CC said:
Yeah, but everyone speaks Spanish. We need people who speak other languages too.
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Of course we do and we do have them.

We’re talking to a high schooler who needs to be disabused of the idea of doing ANYTHING specifically to juice his application.

Working the welcome desk at a hospital for three hours and Saturday is one thing. Learning case endings/verbs of motion in Russian or tones and 100’s of characters in Chinese is a different deal altogether.
 
premiumcow said:
I am a 15 year old native English speaker with some knowledge in Latin. Which language could I learn that would look best on an application? I am willing to put the hard work in to learn the language and i was thinking of doing Russian.
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You sign up for the language that really interests you, full stop.

If you want to be strategic about it, then think about broadening your desire to serve. What's your plan B, C....Z if you do not get into USxA? What's your plan B, C....Z if, for some unforeseen reason, you are DQ'ed from commissioning into one of the armed services? Would you then enjoy and pursue one of the ABC agencies, as @Capt MJ is fond of asking (wisely)? If so, a language like Russian would place you well -- if you like it enough to do well in it. It's also pretty clear that Russian, Mandarin, Farsi, Pashto, Arabic, and variants thereof will be strategically important in the coming decades.

All that said: the most important part is to take a language, any language, and do well in it. When you learn your first non-native language, you realize things like how idiomatic English (American E., British E.) is (are), and how hard English is to learn as a second or third language. If you learn Russian, as I did in college, you realize what a PITA it is to learn the six verb cases. However, those six verb cases make a statement like "I am going to the library" по русски very, very precise: you will know whether the speaker is going immediately or sometime in the future; whether they are walking or driving; whether they intend to make a return trip right away or after a while; whether they are going with another person or people. All from one verb choice! That insight, even a peek, at how other languages work can be fascinating and really important. It also helps you learn other, related languages later. If you become a language Jedi, you can learn to use language in cyber and espionage applications. So, learn something -- anything -- try it on for size, experiment, play with it even as you grapple with it. Then go from there.
 
What languages to you have access to? Do the teachers have good reviews?
From my limited experience the teacher makes the difference.

Whatever language you chose, find news radio in that languange (on a website or a a radio app) and play it as much as possible this summer.

It may also be helpful to go over an English grammar book for a few minutes each day. Something I struggled with was not understanding less common grammatical terms. This will also help you on the SAT.
 
LongAgoPlebe said:

If you learn Russian, as I did in college, you realize what a PITA it is to learn the six verb cases. However, those six verb cases make a statement like "I am going to the library" по русски very, very precise: you will know whether the speaker is going immediately or sometime in the future; whether they are walking or driving; whether they intend to make a return trip right away or after a while; whether they are going with another person or people. All from one verb choice! That insight, even a peek, at how other languages work can be fascinating and really important. It also helps you learn other, related languages later."

Это правда! (That's true!)

And really excellent advice!
 
flieger83 said:
LongAgoPlebe said:

If you learn Russian, as I did in college, you realize what a PITA it is to learn the six verb cases. However, those six verb cases make a statement like "I am going to the library" по русски very, very precise: you will know whether the speaker is going immediately or sometime in the future; whether they are walking or driving; whether they intend to make a return trip right away or after a while; whether they are going with another person or people. All from one verb choice! That insight, even a peek, at how other languages work can be fascinating and really important. It also helps you learn other, related languages later."

Это правда! (That's true!)

And really excellent advice!
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Спасибо, товарищ!
 
NJROTC-CC said:
I would think that languages of our adversaries are valuable. Farsi, Russian, Mandarin, Korean. China is the new world power. Knowing Mandarin will be good in business and in the military. Not just “look good” but will BE valuable.
Click to expand...
中文很有用，可是太难了。假如你想学中文，你最好天天练习和复习，可是去台湾学中文比较好。(mods I promise I'm not a chinese spy)
 
cb7893 said:
In Slavic languages, they are noun cases, not verb cases.
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I believe you are mistaken. The Russian verb xодить means, to walk and/or to walk in more than one direction. (Conjugated based on the subject and gender, of course.) The verb идти means to walk, but in one direction only. Ехать means to be transported, in one direction (scooter, auto, bus, metro etc.) whereas eздить indicates being transported in more than one direction (round trip, loop, etc.). One indicates how one is moving, by what means, whether immediate or indeterminate, and whether uni- or multi-directional by the verb choice and its conjugation.
 
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