If you’ve ever been stuck in a situation where you don’t understand what someone is saying in another language, you’re definitely among the vast majority. Inevitably, your mind starts to wander to that deep, dark place where it’s wondering, “Are you talking about me?” or “Are they saying something important?”
So why not ask yourself, “What if I could figure out what they're saying?” Of course you're thinking of just quietly recording their conversations with Google’s speech option… and your phone tells you that they just said, “There are many oxen in my bed.”
When all else fails, the university has a solution.
With large funding for a large faculty base, the university has the resources to create a large foreign languages program.
“Last time, I was told we are the largest Chinese program in North America,” said Dr Qian Wang, coordinator for UBC’s Chinese language studies. “We can afford to accommodate different streams of students.”
The courses don’t simply jump from level to level of learning a language. First-year to third-year courses are basic speech, grammar, reading and writing. The real interesting part begins when students reach the 400-level courses. In these classes, literature is taught. No longer must readers be forced to suffer through painstakingly translated works, but read the books in their native language.
The 300-level courses offer studies into foreign language media as well with the likes of movies, shows and music.
“You can get really in depth with the history and culture of the place by studying their media,” said Gabey Lucas, a third-year German major. “You can dissect their culture with media and literature.”
Not all students are overly enthusiastic about learning a language. In most undergraduate degrees, it is required to have a certain number of language credits or a transferable high school class. Jonathon Ellis, a second-year undeclared major, finds the requirement unnecessary.
"It asks something of you that should not be required,” he said. “I don’t think having an arts requirement [for language credits] is necessary.”
“If you don’t care about something, you're probably not going to use it to your advantage,” said Lucas, although she still agrees with the language requirements. “I don’t have a solution, but I think there should be a better way to engage students with the language instead of just forcing them to do that.”
And for any students who are still unsure of what to make of the language program, Dr Wang has some advice.
“The idea is to hang in there for the first term. As soon as you enter second term, you’ll say, ‘Hmm, now I see.' Everything starts to make sense … You don’t need prior knowledge of the language.”
In the end, no matter where you go, UBC’s language program will be there. You may want to studere it for geschäft, learn a new language just for весело or to 促进 your scuola notes. Surprise your friends next time you hear them talking trash about you in another language and you’ll finally figure out that they're not actually talking about oxen in their bed.
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