Choosing Arts Subjects

mato

Wanted to do Irish in 1st yr. Have been told that it is very difficult. Anyone do Irish recently? Any advice for me?

Also had Philosophy on my list but being put off that by people. Any opinions on this?

Anyone know what Celtic Civ. is like?

Badly stuck for subjects due to timetable clashes.

innocentsmile

I'm in Arts but didn't do Irish. Three of my friends did though and all of them are keeping it on, even one who didn't intend to. It seems a pretty well-run department. If you like the language and are capable, you shouldn't have problems.

What's your fourth?
I'm going into second year and did French, Spanish, Chinese and Greek & Roman Civ last year if that's any help.

mato

whats the chinese like? i'm thinking of doing irish, english, maths studies and i'm debating my fourth which is why i've been asking.

innocentsmile

Chinese was my favourite subject up to Christmas.
The teachers are great craic and it's nice to be in a small class [about 20-25] in Arts because it's quite hard to make friends in such a huge course.
The first few months are just oral work and Pinyin [written in "our" letters] and that's all pretty manageable, there are constant orals and written exams though. I felt like I spent my life doing them.
The trouble is when ye start doing the characters because it's all a bit sudden.
One day we were just expected to know all the ones we'd seen so far. My advice for a 1st year would be to familiarise yourself with the characters from the beginning, don't just disregard them like we did.
The final exam was hard enough but I passed it, as did most of my friends.

Culture classes are interesting and you only need to do two essays during the year, having no end of year exam is nice.

Overall, it just got too hard for me.
The department staff are absolutely lovely and the teachers will basically make themselves available to help you 24/7.
They rescheduled exams and things for me when other depts just told me it was my problem.
If you're willing to work [I took it a bit too easy last year] and have a leaning towards languages you should be well able for it.
Hope that helped in any way.

mato

very much so thank you! it sounds good all right!! you wouldn't happen to know what comp sci (1st yr just) is like? last q, promise! you've been a great help thanks!

innocentsmile

Haha no problem.
My best friend was doing it and absolutely loved it.
She found the projects challenging enough but doable and was actually very disappointed that she could only continue with it as a 10credit subject after 1st year.

Do you not have to put in your subjects in the next few days?
Be sure to put them in the order you really want them in, i.e. if you put English third or fourth you won't get it. I'm not sure about second.

KeyLimePie

innocentsmile wrote: »

Chinese was my favourite subject up to Christmas.
The teachers are great craic and it's nice to be in a small class [about 20-25] in Arts because it's quite hard to make friends in such a huge course.
The first few months are just oral work and Pinyin [written in "our" letters] and that's all pretty manageable, there are constant orals and written exams though. I felt like I spent my life doing them.
The trouble is when ye start doing the characters because it's all a bit sudden.
One day we were just expected to know all the ones we'd seen so far. My advice for a 1st year would be to familiarise yourself with the characters from the beginning, don't just disregard them like we did.
The final exam was hard enough but I passed it, as did most of my friends.

Culture classes are interesting and you only need to do two essays during the year, having no end of year exam is nice.

Overall, it just got too hard for me.
The department staff are absolutely lovely and the teachers will basically make themselves available to help you 24/7.
They rescheduled exams and things for me when other depts just told me it was my problem.
If you're willing to work [I took it a bit too easy last year] and have a leaning towards languages you should be well able for it.
Hope that helped in any way.

would you recommended doing chinese studies if you're planning on doing french english spanish as well............?
French and english are my main ones and i'm REALLY interested in doing chinese like I'm only gonna do spanish cause it's meant to be easy but french+spanish+chinese...wud i go mad?! spanish is expendable btw :P i'd rather do chinese than spanish

genovafrancesco

Irish is a good choice if you intend to do the H. Dip and become a secondary school teacher afterwards. I know that you are not probably thinking about these things in first year arts but you should at least have an idea of what you want to do afterwards to guide you in your subject choices at this important time..i speak from bitter bitter experinece:( Although I would never ever ever advise anyone to study arts, as I did, best of luck:D UCC is great though! You will enjoy it!!!:p

innocentsmile

KeyLimePie wrote: »

would you recommended doing chinese studies if you're planning on doing french english spanish as well............?
French and english are my main ones and i'm REALLY interested in doing chinese like I'm only gonna do spanish cause it's meant to be easy but french+spanish+chinese...wud i go mad?! spanish is expendable btw :P i'd rather do chinese than spanish

Have you done Spanish before?
I would never every say it's a doss subject in Arts. It was the one with the most work for me.
I did French, Spanish and Chinese - it was ok, but if I could go back I wouldn't choose Spanish.
If you're really interested in Chinese, go for it! If you love it, fantastic and if you hate it, it's only a year.

KeyLimePie

innocentsmile wrote: »

Have you done Spanish before?
I would never every say it's a doss subject in Arts. It was the one with the most work for me.
I did French, Spanish and Chinese - it was ok, but if I could go back I wouldn't choose Spanish.
If you're really interested in Chinese, go for it! If you love it, fantastic and if you hate it, it's only a year.

i've never done spanish apart from watching dora the explorer but i'm planning to be a teacher and i suppose it'd KINDA be useful but then chinese is so cool, what two subjects did you take onto second year?

innocentsmile

I wanted to take French and Chinese culture but it's not looking like it'll be possible so I'll have to do 40credits French, 20 in Spanish.
I was doing advanced but my friend who began Spanish this year found it very very hard.
They are trying to get you to Leaving Cert standard in a year after all.

fated2pretend

It's obviously too late for advice now as all the subjects have now been confirmed, but just speaking as a fellow 1st Year, I found the easiest way to choose was to ignore the 'advice' everyone was keen on giving and go with my gut instincts. I also chose Irish and was told it would be very hard, but there's little or no 'easy' subjects, and if it's crossed your mind that you want to study it, that obviously shows you have an interest in it, which is the most important thing.

In the end I chose English, German, Irish and Philosophy, and got the confirmation of those last night. It'll probably be tough enough all right, but I'm genuinely interested in all of them, so I'm looking forward to it