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My school offers seven years of Japanese and has very, very good program. I'm just finishing my third course as a sophomore, and I really enjoy it. I enjoy be able to look at hiragana, katakana, and kanji and understand what it says. It's a rush. Yet I keep feeling as though it was the wrong choice; see, there's no "AP Japanese," so I can work really hard and not reap the same benefits as students in the other languages.

Did I make the write decision to do something I really LIKE? How will colleges see it?

By Kewlkiwi102 (Kewlkiwi102) on Sunday, May 09, 2004 - 11:07 pm: Edit

Gosh if you love Japanese then FORGET what colleges think. the college admissions process should NOT run your life! In fact I think they would probably prefer someone who stirves to please themselves rather than someone who does things to look good.
I will now get down off my hypocritical soapbox. I hope this is what you wanted to hear.

By Glowingamy (Glowingamy) on Sunday, May 09, 2004 - 11:26 pm: Edit

response type-1: why must you jump through these nonexistant hoops? do things for LOVE.

response type-2: Well, if you work this into an essay and plan to major in it, maybe start a club, you'll have a great "hook".

By Oasis (Oasis) on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 08:54 am: Edit

Well, like people said, you should learn a language because you love it, not because you want it to look good on your transcript. Like Glowingamy said, it is a good idea to start some club/program/show with some other Japanese students and exhibit your talent.

I've been learning Japanese for quite some time, and it is a cool language by itself (though I like French/German better...lol) and you can take SAT II Japanese even if there is no AP Japanese.

Good luck to you!

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 11:09 am: Edit

lot's of people who study languages that have an AP don't take end up taking the AP exam in it. Just take the language you are most interested in it. It will be on your transcript, and once you get to college they will have some way of figuring out appropriate placement if you want to continue.

By Happystudent (Happystudent) on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 12:29 pm: Edit

I'm interested in taking Japanese in college. Is it particularly difficult in comparrison to Korean and Mandarin?

By Wolfpiper (Wolfpiper) on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 05:43 pm: Edit

I've never taken Chinese or Korean, but I generally feel it gets a bad wrap in terms of difficulty. Yes, you DO have to memorize kanji (Chinese characters) and two syllabaries, but the conjugation is minimal and there are very few irregular verbs. There are no plurals and no case changes. It's totally different than English but shares some similarities with Korean grammar. I'd reccommend it if you can take it college or high school.

By Brockpojo767 (Brockpojo767) on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 09:46 pm: Edit

Yuo are a bold person to be able to break from the norm and travel on your own path. Your Japanes classes will fully provide to colleges that you are one determined soab! Being a Japanese major, my addmissions office for the University Of Florida was thrilled that I took such an exotic language in highschool. Keep it going.

By Nikelaos (Nikelaos) on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 09:52 pm: Edit

... exotic? *cringe*

By Blacksheep (Blacksheep) on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 09:54 pm: Edit

you know.. like a flamingo or one of those plants from South America..

By Wolfpiper (Wolfpiper) on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 07:19 pm: Edit

"Exotic" is used more to mean "different" in the context than anything else.

Brock-san,
Daigakusei desu ka. Nannensei desu ka. Koukou de nihongo o benkyou shimasu ka. Tokidoki nihongo o benkyou shimasu ga, tanoshi kute omoshiroi desu ne. Watashi wa onna no ko desu kara "soab" ja arimasen ).

By Brockpojo767 (Brockpojo767) on Sunday, May 16, 2004 - 11:00 pm: Edit

Edited. Dial it back or you'll need to post elsewhere.
Moderator

By Shhh (Shhh) on Tuesday, May 18, 2004 - 05:48 pm: Edit

colleges will like that u took classes that you enjoyed rather than classes that "look good"

especially if you plan to do something with japanease in your future.

Brok, how did you know they were thrilled? did they tell you somehow?

By Monekit (Monekit) on Tuesday, May 18, 2004 - 08:32 pm: Edit

I don't know where it was but somebody once asked how was AP Art History etc. and one guy said if you really like and want to study Art History and your school offers a regular Art History course, take that instead of those AP exams which mainly empahsizes your test taking skills. I really agree with that saying, for the most part.