Hi everyone! I'm Oscar, a '28 from Flushing, NYC. My academic interests are a mix of the arts (studio art, graphic design), the sciences (psychology, biology, sustainability), and maybe even anthropology? All of which I'm thinking of merging with a major in Cognitive Science with a focus area on Design. Outside the classroom, I'm passionate about giving back to my community, fiber arts, and em dashes. Welcome to my blog—I'm excited to explore Dartmouth together!
From Arabic, to Japanese, and Ukrainian, Dartmouth offers many languages as an opportunity to engage with international cultures. Learning new languages can help deepen understanding of other cultures, allowing students to view issues from a variety of perspectives.
That's why every Dartmouth student takes at least one course in a language other than English. Between Language Study Abroads (LSA) or accelerated courses, this requirement can be fulfilled in multiple ways, with special pathways for those who are native speakers or have significant prior experience of a language other than English. Depending on the amount of experience in a language and if the language is offered at Dartmouth, students are placed into the Big Green, Lone Pine, or BEMA language paths.
Prior to arriving on campus, incoming students are offered online and in-person placement tests for a variety of subjects including languages. I took the Chinese placement test, which consisted of a self-survey, reading, writing, listening, and speaking portions. From my submission, I was placed by the Chinese language professors into CHIN 4: Advanced First-Year Chinese.
CHIN 4 is designed for Chinese learners who have significant prior experience, with uneven levels of speaking, reading, and writing ability. In my self-survey, I explained that I had confidence in speaking and listening to Mandarin, but lacked confidence in writing and reading skills. Rather than jump to second-year Chinese (CHIN 22, CHIN 23), I wanted to make sure my baseline knowledge was solid. For that purpose, CHIN 4 is perfect! It's a very fast-paced course which relies on the student having previous experience with grammar, vocabulary, and a bit of Chinese culture. So it's consistently challenging, but draws on my previous experience. Through class, I'm able to refresh some of the vocabulary I forgot from high school, while learning a few more advanced grammar structures and phrases.
Anonymous Hall, where I have CHIN 4!
Something I was nervous about when choosing to take Chinese was that First-Year courses are taught in Traditional Chinese. I've only had experience with Simplified Chinese characters from my classes in high school. But because of the learning structure of CHIN 4 and professor support, I quickly caught on. Each week, we go through two lessons, with a vocabulary quiz at the beginning of each lesson, a writing-based homework, and an exam at the end of the week. From the consistent language exposure and repeated practice using the Traditional system, Traditional Chinese characters don't seem so scary anymore.
CHIN 4 is an example of an accelerated language course. While the standard beginning Chinese curriculum spans three terms (CHIN 1, CHIN 2, and CHIN 3), CHIN 4 compresses all three courses into one. For students who are placed into CHIN 4, completing CHIN 4 completes the language requirement in one term! Other language departments also offer accelerated courses, including FREN 11 (FREN 1 + FREN 2), UKRA 11 (UKRA 1 + UKRA 2), and PORT 11 (PORT 1 + PORT 2). However, you will have to take the 3rd course in the language sequence or go on an LSA for the respective language in order to complete the Big Green language path, as only CHIN 4 combines all three terms.
As with all the beginning language courses, students are required to attend 50 minute drill sessions biweekly as an opportunity to practice speaking and listening skills. CHIN 4 drill sessions are a bit different from other languages. Our drills are intimate, with two student and one instructor groups, where we just speak in Chinese—we've talked about campus food recs, our dorms, and anything else that happened throughout the term.
The language requirement isn't as scary as it seems. Through CHIN 4, I've revived some of my forgotten high school Chinese, learned a ton of Traditional characters, and feel more confident in my language skills. CHIN 4 has been a great introduction to academics and language learning at Dartmouth. I'm excited to explore more advanced Chinese classes and possibly go on an LSA!
What my afternoons look like: studying characters in Sanborn Library
In addition to blogging, I work as a Fellow for the Tucker Center, which focuses on promoting spiritual and ethical life on campus. As part of this role, I'm leading the Interfaith Alternative Spring Break Trip. Read on to learn more about my work!
