# What? What?!? WHAT?!?!?! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 14, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-what-what/188476 "2003-07-14T21:14:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-what-what/188476/21 "2003-07-23T17:45:56Z")
My roomate in college was a German major. His folks had moved here from Berlin, and were foreign language professors at a state university. Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-what-what/188476/22 "2003-07-23T17:53:13Z")
Spanish is one of the most stressfull and aggrivating aspects of my classes. Some of the concepts I can’t wrap my head around, no matter how hard I try. I’m going to have to retake Spanish 1B this semester because I couldn’t handle taking the class all the way through last semester. I had believed that I was doing much worse than I really was, and honestly just wanted to re-do the class and start it off on the right foot the second time around then scrape by with a C-- like I always had up to that point. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-what-what/188476/23 "2003-07-23T18:00:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Devil’s Grandmother \* > \*\*In my experience, people trying to speak Spanish are looked upon with forgiving favor. I used to work with (mostly Hispanic) English-as-a-second-language students, and many of them seemed to be illiterate in Spanish. That’s why I assumed it must be difficult to learn written Spanish than spoken. \*\* The problem there may simply have been lack of education. There are plenty of illiterate people in the world who can speak their own languages fluently and well. There are some (a very few, i think) English-speakers right here in the US, even in the early twenty-first century, who cannot read and write. I think your experience with your ESL students was simply a reflection of their overall educational opportunities, rather than anything specific to the Spanish language. ---
**Author:** ![Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercury)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-what-what/188476/24 "2003-07-24T16:32:02Z")
Well, I took the midterm and I got 100 on it, which was a little higher than I thought I did. I’m very happy about that. [sigh] Today she asked me why I didn’t try to test out of Spanish I. I told her _again_ that I don’t speak Spanish. She said she had to check because of my family. So I checked the policy at [this](http://sip.la.psu.edu/blp/BLPsyllabi/files/SP1_policies_Sp01.doc) site today. > [@](#): > > Spanish 001 is designed for students who have not previously taken any Spanish or who have completed a maximum of one high school Spanish course within four years immediately preceding admission to college. Students with more course work in Spanish will not receive credit for Spanish 001. Am I missing the part about half-Puerto Rican, half-Irish step-cousins disqualifying me from the course? \*And you can take one high-school Spanish course!! \*There are only two weeks left, so I think if there were going to be any funny business of kicking me out, I would have heard about it already. But still, I wish she’d let it go. I’ve got bigger problems in my English class! ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-what-what/188476/25 "2003-07-25T02:51:59Z")
_Sigh_, I remember back when I used to be an overachiever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-what-what/188476.md?page=1)