With six mandatory semesters of language and culture classes for Arts and Sciences students, Tufts' strong foreign language requirement is one of the university's most prized characteristics and a logical extension of the its emphasis on global citizenship. Although the requirement makes some students anxious, others exceed the expectations by studying multiple foreign languages at once.
Sophomore Maxwell Fathy is one of many international relations majors required to take eight semesters of a foreign language. He studies both Spanish and Arabic and cited personal interest, career objectives and a desire to further his job prospects as reasons for doing so.
"I hope having a background in two foreign languages will make me a better job applicant in the future," Fathy said.
Another international relations student, sophomore Michelle Cerna, sees the natural advantages of knowing several languages when she will be looking for jobs in diplomacy or foreign policy analysis. She chose to study high-level German and intermediate Russian for other reasons as well.
"Regardless of the line [of work] I'm considering, I firmly believe that the study of foreign languages is important in the development of any student into a cosmopolitan individual with a global perspective," Cerna said.
Sophomore Rachael Filer, a biology and Spanish double major, is driven to study French and Spanish by her genuine love for languages.
"If I had the time, I would take as many languages as possible," Filer said. "If I wasn't limited by my own abilities, I would never stop."
Age is often considered a determinant in achieving full language fluency. However, Senior Lecturer at the Department of German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literatures Saskia Stoessel, who researches second language acquisition, doesn't fully support this claim and says that there are benefits to studying foreign languages later in life.
"You gain so much more in analytical skills and cognitive ability as an adult," she said. "Clearer and stronger motivation can also be a factor for putting more efforts and getting out more from your foreign language classes."
Stoessel explained that interference — data coming in that doesn't match the already learned language and that disturbs the foreign language acquisition process — is common when one is learning several languages simultaneously. But gaining an increased sensitivity to all languages, including the mother tongue, is an advantage, Stoessel said.
These processes come into play especially when one is studying similar languages, like Filer, who is taking two romance languages and has previous experience with Latin.
"Sometimes I go into Spanish class when my mind is in French more, or vice versa," she said. "Then I have trouble speaking in the right language."
Filer said that the transition is easier if she tries to speak to herself and listen to music in the proper languages.
Cerna, who grew up bilingual in Czech and English, said that taking two languages at the same time has given her a greater appreciation of languages in general.
"If nothing else, I'm much better at paying attention [to] the proper use of cases, adjectives and endings and tenses simply because I now have to keep track of them in not one, but two, classes," she said.
According to Cerna, studying multiple languages at once may seem overwhelming, but it keeps the mind "sharp and focused."
Fathy added that having different levels of proficiency in two languages could be helpful because of the contrasting types of exercises.
"I'm at a higher level in Spanish and a beginner level in Arabic, so I spend a lot more time on simple grammar and vocabulary exercises in Arabic, while I read more articles and watch movies for Spanish," he said.
While these students enjoy taking more than one language class, going beyond the foreign language requirement can be stressful and unfeasible. For example, Filer said that she might not be able to continue taking French because of the other classes she has to take for her double major. Cerna, on the other hand, has already run into this problem.
"Sophomore year seems like one continuous scheduling conflict between my German and international relations classes," she said. "In the future, I run the risk that courses I will want to take will only be offered once at the same time."
One of the benefits of taking multiple foreign languages that students mentioned has been the opportunity to experience different teaching styles and classroom environments. Filer praised her professors for their teaching abilities and engaging personalities.
"The professors are all fantastic and you actually get to interact with the people in your classes," Filer said. "Typically I look forward to my language classes more than any other class."
While lower-level courses deal primarily with textbooks and workbooks, teachers in higher-level classes have more freedom in developing curricula that are geared towards studying aspects of the country or culture, Cerna said.
"It almost seems as if the courses are actually about some aspects of Germany and only happen to be conducted in German, thus reinforcing the language knowledge," Cerna said.
Even though Fathy likes Tufts' foreign language classes, he said that there is not enough opportunity to practice speaking skills, especially in Spanish.
"Although I have a recitation, it is very difficult to practice speaking skills and achieve oral fluency," he said.
Jose Mazzoti, the Chair of the Department of Romance Languages, said that many students study multiple languages because of their passion for foreign cultures and appetite for knowledge. He added that these students understand that not everything can be communicated through translation and are motivated to experience the real flavor of a foreign culture.
"The more languages you speak, the more people you are," he said.
This is true for Filer, who sometimes feels braver when she is not speaking English, because she knows that people's expectations of her are different.
"I don't have to pretend to be talented or intelligent," she said. "I can just talk and hope that it's enough."
Cerna doesn't feel like a different person, because she finds her languages to be surprisingly interconnected. For example, while observing the cultural connections between two of her languages, she discovered that the German and Czech words for "faucet" — "Wasserhahn" and "kohoutek," respectively — both incorporate the word "rooster."
"The Czech Republic shares a lot of similar history and culture with both Germany and Russia, so the cultural aspects I learn in class tie in really well to who I already am," she said.
Mazzotti said that, "speaking in English [with a foreigner] is like tourism, rather than real research." However, Filer had her favorite foreign language moment while she was traveling in the French Alps during her month in Annecy at a Tufts immersion program.
"I was in the car with my host mother and roommate and we stopped to pick up a hitchhiker," she said. "His English was limited but he spoke Spanish, so I translated to French for my host mother. The whole thing was pretty surreal."
