My Language Requirement Story

Picking a Language

Most of my New Student Week experiences are a blur. Coming to a brand new place, moving in, meeting new people. It was all a lot to take in. Besides, the scheduled events and talks my New Student Week group went to meant that we were moving all day. Still, one of my core memories from that week was discussing with my new friends what languages we were all going to take. Carleton has a language requirement and offers 10 languages that students can take to fulfill it. A lot of people took placement tests that first week and were able to test out of the requirement or into a higher level. I didn’t, and so in the leadup to class registration for my first term, I was dedicating a lot of time to picking out a language sequence to dive into at the 101 level. 

While trying to pick a language, I would be lying if I didn’t say I was stressed. Coming from a small, rural public school, I had no idea if I could keep up with the Carleton workload. Taking any Carleton class was nerve wracking, let alone learning an entirely new language on top of my other 2. That’s when I learned something interesting. While most language sequences start at 101 in the fall, Greek and Hebrew don’t start until winter term. Our Hebrew professor happened to be on sabbatical my freshmen year which meant Greek would be the only sequence that didn’t start right away. That was all I needed. I figured Greek was as good a language as any, and so I decided to put off worrying until my second term. 

An Unexpected Discovery

Once I settled on Greek, I stopped thinking about the language requirement. When winter arrived, I went to the bookstore and picked up my textbook. The cover said it was for ‘Classical Greek’. I quickly learned that meant I would be taking Ancient Greek and not the modern, spoken kind. By then, I already had the textbook and it was too late to change sequences until next fall. I was in too deep. On the first day of class, we did pretty standard ice-breakers. The first question was why we had chosen Greek. Lot’s of my classmates had read Percy Jackson as kids and became hooked on classical mythology. Others had taken Latin already and were moving to the next classical language. I was just there because it allowed me to procrastinate on taking a language class. That being said, my professor Jordan was amazing right off the bat. He gave us good study strategies, handed out notecards to everyone, and made it clear that he would be a resource for us to use. While I was still nervous, I felt better about my unexpected journey into Carleton’s Classics Department. 

Putting in the Work

Looking back, a lot of my early Greek work would fit nicely into a cheesy training montage. I learned the Greek alphabet, ran new vocab lists endlessly, and put in hours of study time each night. That being said, quizzes and tests in Greek were still some of the hardest I’ve ever taken. I remember my Greek T.A telling me in office hours that I needed to work on not being embarrassed when I made mistakes in class or didn’t do as well as I wanted on a test. The point of the class wasn’t to be a pro immediately. The point was to actually learn, and that meant putting myself out there and making mistakes.

As the term progressed, we eventually got the opportunity to start reading real Greek. That’s when I really found my love for the language. Not to sound cheesy myself, but I loved reading things that people had written thousands of years ago. All that separated me from them was time, and here I was in the year 2023 reading and understanding (at least partially) the things they thought, believed, and cared about. 

Falling in Love

By my second term, I was hooked. Taking Greek not only developed my language learning skills, but also my ability to be a student overall. I was more comfortable making mistakes. I could raise my hand in a class and confidently call out a wrong answer. When my classmates or professors corrected me, I learned to take it on the chin and view it as an opportunity to do better the next time. I had no idea what Classics was as a discipline when I started at Carleton, but I started taking more classes in the department. I eventually decided to declare a Greek minor. After being urged by multiple professors to take Latin, I eventually registered for Latin 101 my junior year. From there, I was so close to having a Classics Major that I dropped my Greek minor and declared the major instead. 

Senior Year and Advice 

As a rising senior, I’m now a Religion and Classics double major. I still have 3 classes left to complete the Classics side of the equation. But from my freshman year as someone nervous to take any language at Carleton, I’ve now got several advanced Greek classes and even some independent research projects in the language under my belt. I’m a more confident student because of my Greek classes, and I’m finishing up my second language sequence this year.

I know a lot of people who advise prospective students to really buckle down on their language studies in high school. The point being that you’re able to test out of the Carleton requirement and avoid having to take a full sequence. Even if you don’t test into a higher level, others might advise you to continue the same language you’ve taken in high school. That way you’ll have an easier time easing into the requirement. Still, if I hadn’t bombed my placement test or taken an entirely random language at Carleton, I don’t think I would have grown nearly as much as a student and a person. You can take it with a grain of salt, but my advice is to take on the language requirement head on and try something new! 

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Chance (he/him) is a rising Religion and Classics double-major from Hardwick MN. When he’s not working in Admissions, he spends time in tbe Office of the Chaplain as a chaplain’s associate. He also conducts research with Carleton humanities faculty. Despite being from the only county in Minnesota that doesn’t have a lake, he’s the vice-commodore of the Carleton Sailing Club, and he can regularly be found biking around on local trails and gravel roads.