Re: Umlauts (was Re: Elves and Ill Bethisad)

Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...> writes:
>Over the years, I've become amazed at the number of
>people who have a four-year college degree, but have
>never taken as much as one semester of a foreign
>language in either college or high school. Invariably
>they believe that learning another language simply
>consists of memorizing long lists of corresponding
>words with no thought that the grammars might be
>different.
At my highschool, two years of foreign language were compulsory if one
wanted to attend any California State University, and i think four years
if anyone wanted to attend any University of California (both public
universities).

At my university, a major point of contention is that all majors are
required to take foreign languages for at least three semesters. Language
students, business majors, and global studies majors are required to do
four. Language majors also take classes that of course are taught in the
target language. Most people think it's a crappy requirement and hate it
(i know many graduating seniors who wait until their very last semester to
take their last course in the language of choice).

The other option is, if you speak a foreign language, you can "asess" out,
meaning you're tested on your speaking ability (not writing though). The
beauty of having the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, is that there
is someone to do asessments for students who choose that option.