What languages count for High School language requirement?

[home4fun]

Hi. We live in Indonesia and my son is currently studying Indonesian here. He studies 4 hours a week with a teacher. Will this count for his language credits for High School? Or should he also be studying another traditional language like Spanish, French, German... If he studies Latin would that also count for Language requirements? Thanks for your help.

 

Angie

(home4fun)

[SkateLeft]

When you say "high school language requirement" are you referring to college admissions? In that case, you'd really have to look at the colleges that your child might be interested in applying to, because those requirements can vary widely. Some won't require any foreign language, some might require 2 or 3+ years. Some colleges might accept any foreign language, and some might specify a "modern language." Unfortunately, there's no hard and fast rule.

[flyingiguana]

The schools I've dealt with would be thrilled to have someone with a language that wasn't one of the standard ones.

 

However, unless he goes to a big university with a large language department, he likely won't be able to continue with that language. So if the college itself has a language requirement for graduation, he'll have to learn another language. Those kids who studied French or Spanish or the other standards might place out of the graduation requirement, or at least a semester or two of it. So he'd be at a bit of a disadvantage.

 

If it were me, though, I'd concentrate on the language where you have a native speaker to teach it, and where he can practice it in daily life. It's also a language that will be "odd" and therefore more in demand when he's looking for a job.

 

As far as admissions go, most colleges will waive rules if the student shows promise in other ways -- or interesting attributes such as knowing Indonesian.

 

If you're going to go for a 2nd foreign language, though, I wouldn't do Latin unless there's a concrete reason for it (interest in studying Classics, or a religious reason, for example). The modern languages will probably be of more use, down the road. The Latin will probably count for admissions at most colleges, but might not count for fulfilling the graduation requirement.

 

But the bottom line is that you don't know what your student will be doing once they get to college, so it's difficult to plan. Given that, the best course is just to let him choose what he wants. If he wants another language, pick the one that interests him.

[FaithManor]

The schools we've contacted were thrilled with non-typical language study. DD had two years of Spanish and three credits of Latin. Every single college was thrilled about the Latin because she was going into a medical field.

 

Ds #1 is studying classical languages - Latin, Greek, and Ancient Egyptian. We've contacted six colleges so far...no issues.

 

DS#2 Icelandic and Danish

 

Ds #3 Hebrew and Arabic

 

We have only contacted two schools for ds #2 - Michigan State University and University of Maryland, College Park - they've been fine with his choice and expressed special interest in Icelandic since that language has remained largely unchanged since the 1200's A.D.

 

I would just contact the colleges your studnet is interest in attending.

 

Faith

[maize]

Most universities don't care which language is studied, I think an uncommon language would be more of an advantage than otherwise. I have heard that some universities want the students to study a modern language rather than Latin, and some may not accept ASL as a foreign language. You could contact specific universities you are interested in to confirm, but I expect Indonesian will work just fine.

[regentrude]

I would think studying an unusual language could actually be in his favor. It is a unique choice that highlights his unique biography.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Hi. We live in Indonesia and my son is currently studying Indonesian here. He studies 4 hours a week with a teacher. Will this count for his language credits for High School? Or should he also be studying another traditional language like Spanish, French, German... If he studies Latin would that also count for Language requirements? Thanks for your help.

 

Angie

(home4fun)

 

Do look for the restrictive of "modern" language as a means of excluding Latin. However, when pressed, I haven't heard of that many colleges that actually specify this for admissions (one of the service academies springs to mind).

 

If he does go with the Indonesian (which I think would make his application stand out), is there a way to quantify the level he reached? Something akin to a national language proficiency exam.

 

Maybe something like this. If not, you might want to make sure you include a letter from the tutor about scope and sequence.

[home4fun]

Thank you all for your responses. They were all very helpful and it helped me take a sigh of relief that we can continue with Indonesian lessons and not necessarily need to add another language in his busy schedule. He does enjoy languages but he is not sure where he wants to go to college or what he wants to do. I really appreciate all your help!

 

Angie

(home4fun)

[HollyDay]

I've only had 1 college tell me foreign language had to be a living language. Latin and Greek would be counted as electives. Also, all the colleges I've researched want 2 credits in the same language, not 1 credit in one language and 1 credit in another language.

[Reya]

The things that likely WOULD NOT count:

 

Made up languages, like Klingon

Constructed languages, like Esperanto

 

Sign language does not count at some universities and for some majors. (Most take it.)

 

Every living language will count. :)

[HollyDay]

I heard over the weekend that some colleges are saying 2 credits required, 3 preferred in the same living foreign language......I thought that was interesting.....

[nukeswife]

I've started looking at the colleges that my son might like to go to. So far the only one on his list is ISU (Iowa State University, his dad's alma mater) and after contacting someone in the admissions office that works with homeschool admissions we were happy to find out that Latin is accepted as foreign language credits required for admission. The only thing they specifically said they won't take is those mentioned above, made up (Klingon) or constructed (esperanto). They also state that 2 years of a single foreign language is required for admission to the College of Engineering or the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, but others wouldn't require it.