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The Romanian language to be taught at Oxford University for the first time

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Ty Kendall
Ty Kendall  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:34
Hebrew to English
Drop in the ocean Oct 31, 2012

There's something quite sad when something is described as "popular" when TENS of people have signed up for it. (I'm guessing less than 30 by how they've phrased it). If that's the level of interest at somewhere like OXFORD, imagine trying to drum up any interest anywhere else.
 
Diana Coada (X)
Diana Coada (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:34
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Tens of people is enough! Oct 31, 2012

It's more than the ''interest'' in Portuguese or Italian in other universities... Great news, in my opinion.
 
Ty Kendall
Ty Kendall  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:34
Hebrew to English
Don't get me wrong..... Oct 31, 2012

I also think it's good news (even 1 person signing up is a step in the right direction). I just despair at the lack of interest in languages in this country sometimes (and I'm not sure that any half-hearted Government initiative or messing around with the national curriculum etc will do anything to change it).
 
Diana Coada (X)
Diana Coada (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:34
Portuguese to English
+ ...
You're not the only one Oct 31, 2012

Ty Kendall wrote:
I just despair at the lack of interest in languages in this country sometimes (and I'm not sure that any half-hearted Government initiative or messing around with the national curriculum etc will do anything to change it).


It's a very sad situation indeed. I never saw the point in learning algebra or astronomy over learning a language. One thing governments have to keep in mind though: kids have to start learning languages before the age of ten, because who wants to study German 101 at the age of 15?
 
Christo Metschkaroff
Christo Metschkaroff  Identity Verified
Bulgaria
Local time: 16:34
German to Bulgarian
+ ...
An X language to be taught at Oxford University Oct 31, 2012

I have always insisted on the approach that universities should be the place where one can master, foster, broaden, upgrade etc. his/her linguistic knowledge. If someone wants to learn a foreign language starting from zero, there are other places - evening courses, language schools, stays abroad, etc.
 
Peter Shortall
Peter Shortall  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Romanian to English
+ ...
Not entirely new Nov 1, 2012

The article mentions that "Students will also be able to... study Romanian in graduate courses in Linguistics", but that was possible before, as I studied Romanian as part of my masters at that university under Professor Maiden's supervision in 2006-2007. Anyhow, it's nice to see him in the limelight!
 
Angela Dickson (X)
Angela Dickson (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:34
French to English
+ ...
Romanian Nov 1, 2012

Peter Shortall wrote:

The article mentions that "Students will also be able to... study Romanian in graduate courses in Linguistics", but that was possible before, as I studied Romanian as part of my masters at that university under Professor Maiden's supervision in 2006-2007. Anyhow, it's nice to see him in the limelight!


I knew before I read this that Prof Maiden would have something to do with this. I think what's new is that he has got funding for a native speaker to teach the language (I think that's what they mean by a "lectorship").

Oxford never used to teach languages "starting from zero" as part of the Modern Languages degree - if you were admitted to study a language and hadn't studied it to age 18 you had to undertake to get it up to A-level standard by the time you started. I'm not sure if that's changed since my time.

It sounds as though Romanian will be available as an "extra" course for those studying Modern Languages as undergraduates, rather than as a full language, but it's not quite clear from this article.
 
Chris Dawe
Chris Dawe  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:34
Portuguese to English
+ ...
UCL Nov 2, 2012

Dennis Deletant at UCL will be over the moon!
 


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The Romanian language to be taught at Oxford University for the first time







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