Language "categories" (was: undergraduate >Honors in Russian)

[Benjamin Rifkin]

The categorization is based on the number of hours of classroom
instruction required by American learners of average language learning
aptitude with no previous background in a related language to achieve
advanced (2) or superior (3) level proficiency as defined by the ACTFL
(or ILR) Proficiency Guidelines.

Sincerely,

Ben Rifkin

On Mar 1, 2005, at 2:13 PM, Paul B. Gallagher wrote:

> Alina Israeli wrote:
>
> >> How related is "related"? Obviously both English and Russian are
> >> Indo-European languages, although not in the same subgroup. How
> >> does German end up in category 2 when it's more closely related to
> >> English than Spanish (category 1)? (I grant that everyone seems to
> >> think Spanish is easier, but why?)
> >
> > Common roots and sentence structure.
>
> Funny, I always figured those categories were influenced by supply and
> demand. An institution offering a degree in Spanish has so many
> applicants with it in their background that it doesn't have to bother
> with newbies starting the language at 18, whereas one offering Russian
> has to take whoever it can get. Accordingly, the level of proficiency
> attained by juniors and seniors would be higher in Spanish than in
> Russian.
>
> But looking at the list posted by Michael Brewer I can see that it has
> largely to do with the degree of difficulty experienced by an American
> adult learner -- which after all is what college students are.
>
> I wonder how the rankings would be adjusted if we were talking about
> seven-year-olds...
>
> --
> War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
> --
> Paul B. Gallagher
> pbg translations, inc.
> "Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
> http://pbg-translations.com
>
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******'
Benjamin Rifkin
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Professor and Chair, Slavic Dept.  (Slavic)
1432 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Dr.
Madison, WI 53706 USA
(608) 262-1623; fax (608) 265-2814
polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/slavic

Director, Center for Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA)
210 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706 USA
(608) 262-3379; fax (608) 890-0267
www.wisc.edu/creeca

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