response 51 of 71:

Nov 5 12:20 UTC 1994

I'd developed an interest in Greek letters as early as 4th grade. I
later became interested in Latin, but was stuck inSpanish because Latin
wasn't offered at my junior high. I eventually took five years of Spanish,
and also studied French for a year and a half. I'm planning to minor in
both languages in college.

response 53 of 71:

Nov 26 23:50 UTC 1994

I started taking spanish in jr high, but I learned almost nothing of the 
language, which was still more than I think my classmates learned, since at
least I was totally in love with the language (I thought I might be a Spanish
major while I did my requirements for engineering)  In college, because of my
ability to read Spanish, (the placement test was written), I placed into
Spanish three adn that was _Scary_ since I had never had to actually converse
much in High School (I'm not kidding, the class was conducted in English, and
it was an accelerated class too!)  But I picked it up relatively quickly, and
lost it quickly, too, since the summer after I took it, it took a term of
French, and then went back and took a term of Spanish.  I still love the
language and I truly beleive that the reason to take a language is to
understand that other people talk in other languages and I beleive that the
real reason people should take languages is to communicate with others and
learn how others who speak different languages think differently.  (and
similarly, of course) now, I'm  in love with a Mexican who gets thrilled when I
try and talk to him in Spanish, but my skills have all but left me, and I find
I'm scared sometimes to talk  because I can hear how bad my Spanish is. 

response 55 of 71:

Dec 19 06:44 UTC 1994

I find, when I'm struggling with Irish, Spanish seems SO much easier, and
even the little bit of French and Hebrew I retain comes leaping to the
front of my mind (leaving me to wade through it all for the right Irish
word...)

response 57 of 71:

Mar 16 22:35 UTC 1995

Languages fascinate me.  There is nothing else I'd rather study.  Unfortuatly,
I live in the Sault, also known as HICKTOWN.  The only people who can speak 
anything are the teachers, but I long for someone to talk to, who doesn't \
make me feel like a pathetic learner.  I have studied French, Spanish,
German, and Italian, and I want to learn everything else!!  My continent  
of choice is Africa ( I want to learn a Khoisian [click] language) and I
would love to be a part of the Peace Corps, the Un , or UNESCO.  Any
advice would be appreciated.  I know I sound like a starry-eyed dreamer, 
but there's always got to be a few of us around.

response 59 of 71:

Mar 17 19:02 UTC 1995

r 57:  I used to hire peace corps "graduates" but found they were
starry eyed dreamers.  I really enjoyed what I learned from their world
perspectives tho'--it is a field worth pursuing, and language proficiency
is not mandatory.  They do like some technical backgrounds, you 
may want to want to contact them before they are slashed out of 
the budget.  The UN has far more foreigners employed than US citizens, 
to compensate for our influenceby virtue of its location.
There aare many futures which allow you to indulge in a daily hobby of
enjoying languages without being an interpreter, internat'l flight
attendant, or language teacher.  

I started with Biblical Hebrew in 4th grade (forced) and lousy teachers.
Thought I'd hate languages, but tried Spanish in 7th, nad enjoyed it.
One language was required in HS for the college-bound students (not
forced, but Very Strongly Recommended).  I continued w/spanish & took
French also.  We had a choice of those, or German, Russian, Italian, 
Greek, Lati.

response 61 of 71:

Apr 6 01:12 UTC 1995

There are a lot of fields where knowledge of languages is not the main
thing but can be a big plus.  My wife has a nodding acquaintance with
several languages (though really fluent only in English); she found this
very helpful working as a cataloguer in the UM library.  Books come through
in all kinds of languages; to catalogue them one need not read them in
detail, but must identify certain significant pieces of information.
I've known engineers who were busy studying German and Chinese in order
to deal with clients, vendors, or peers in Germany and China.  I'm certain
that in many such jobs a solid knowledge of some particular languages,
coupled with some background in another field, can find a home.

response 63 of 71:

Jan 18 22:22 UTC 2006

I chose German when I was in High School, because I'd heard that a lot of
technical things were written in German.  21 years later, that finally paid
off, when I passed the German test as part of the requirement to get my
Ph.D.  In retrospect, I probably would have been better off with Spanish or
even Latin.

But studying a foreign language taught me a lot about English, too.

response 65 of 71:

Jan 19 01:27 UTC 2006

I also took German in high school (3 years) and it paid off when I passed
the German test for my degree (although doctoral programs in science no longer
have a language requirement) and, most amazingly, when I went to Europe on
a German liner and discovered I could converse in German. 

response 67 of 71:

Jan 21 04:18 UTC 2006

You are quite right for the doctorate in Math at UM. There is no foreign 
language requirement for a Masters in Math. The Engineering College has 
eliminated it across the board. I checked on the requirement in 
Mathematics at MIT, and one can satisfy their language requirement by one 
of the following:

# native fluency
# two years of the language in high school with the grade of C or better
# one year of the language in college with the grade of C or better
# one semester of the language courses being given at MIT with the grade of
  C or better
# taking the language examination given at MIT

So, in effect, there is only a vestige of a language requirement.

A more general search found that there are still some language 
requirements for the doctorate in particular disciplines at some schools. 
It hasn't disappeared entirely. 

response 69 of 71:

Jan 21 20:59 UTC 2006

As far as I can find out, Boston College does not offer any advanced 
degrees in athletics. However in "arts and sciences" it has no overall 
language requirement for the doctoral degree but leaves this up to the 
individual departments. But you have a connection with BC, Sindi: what 
degree program would the student be in that apparently has a language 
requirement and accepts "# native fluency"?

response 71 of 71:

Apr 22 19:06 UTC 2006

took several years of spanish in middle/high school, but passed on the fifth
year because i didn't like the guy who taught it.

took a semester of French and another semester of Spanish in college, although
by having had at least two years in high school i'd already satisfied the
college's general-studies requirement. . .