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I'm hoping to start my graduate studies by next fall at the University of Wisconsin's Center for Southeast Asian Studies. But I first need to be put through various embarrassing tests where the sum of my academic career will be poked and prodded. I am not too worried. They don't take GRE scores too seriously, and the main criteria for acceptance are statement of purpose, letters of recommendations, and undergraduate transcripts.
However, there is one unfortunate, but important, black mark on my otherwise healthy undergrad career: languages. I took one semester of Sanskrit at Naropa University, and three terms (one year) of Mandarin at Lawrence University. I both cases I managed to wrangle my way into a C-. Not the sort of accolades you want when applying to a program that requires two years of some foreign language.
To remedy my unfortunate state as a monoglot, thereby improving my chances of acceptance, I decide to pick up a "learn it yourself" language program for Thai. I first looked at Rosetta Stone, but the price (around $200) and the shaky reviews led me to buy Teach Yourself Thai, which was better reviewed and more reasonably priced.
So far, I've only read and listened through the pronunciation section. The pronunciation, coupled with the fact it has an alphabet, makes me feel a little more comfortable. My plan is work through a section each week, spending at least 15 minutes a day on the language. Hopefully, my past mistakes in languages will serve as a template on what not to do.
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1 comment:
this will be fun.. You might think too about approaching language for reading and not putting so much pressure on speaking. In fact, that is the way to spin language work in the grad school application: You struggle with speaking but love reading. For lots of grad programs the texts you will want to read have little connection to the spoken language. Think about language as something you can pick and choose from..
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