Is two languages too much?

[Cappuccinos]

Okay, so I'm doing a BA/BSc and I have no idea why I'm doing a whole arts degree when all I wanted to do was continue Japanese which I did in VCE.

Anywho, after a whole day of looking at other possible areas to study along side with Japanese, I've concluded I'd like to do another language. But is this too much? The languages I'm look at starting at a beginner level Chinese, and German. I've never touched german, but for Chinese it's a complicated story

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Somewhat complicated story
1) Don't speak mandarin at home (no one in my family speaks mandarin)
2) BUT Parents forced me to go to 'Chinese School' for around 8 years (When I was in Grade 2 till Yr 10 I think)
- You'd think I would be semi-decent at Chinese after 8 years? Well no. Between 4th and 5th year or maybe both years, I had a really dodgy teacher who didn't really teach properly (well for $55 a year I think it was, what do you expect), the class didn't learn much and most of us just went for the socialisation/make parents happy. Anywho,  it was a super dodgey system that promoted you to the next grade even though you didn't know jack ****. Anyway yup that's what happened to me. I kept getting promoted higher, even though I couldn't do the work. It was a viscous cycle until the last year, when I had this really serious teacher who did tests everyweek and I freaked out and ditched 2nd week in.

tl;dr I fear I won't be let in Chinese Beginner because I've technically had 8 years under my belt (It was done with the VSL, surely the uni would find out?!)  even though the only things I can say (Not even with the right intonation )   is "How are you?" "Bye" "Sorry" "My name is Steph"  "Why?" Could write 20 characters (including the numbers!) and recognise a few more from learning kanji.
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2 Questions:
1) Is two languages too much to handle? I think I'll be fine but....
2) Will I be accepted in Chinese introductory?  You have to be an "absolute beginner" to enrol into "ATS1001".  What other options do I have? (Is ATS1001 the same as ATS2001?) The next level is Chinese intermediate and people who have done VCE can enrol into that but I am no where near VCE standard...

[aes_999]

If you really really want to do a language that's easy to manage, do Indonesian. Same alphabet as English, none of that masculine / feminine stuff / hard characters to learn. But I'm sure you can manage Jap and Chinese at the same time.

[killer_bot]

tl;dr I fear I won't be let in Chinese Beginner because I've technically had 8 years under my belt (It was done with the VSL, surely the uni would find out?!)  =---

what do you think the chances of them finding out?

[Cappuccinos]

tl;dr I fear I won't be let in Chinese Beginner because I've technically had 8 years under my belt (It was done with the VSL, surely the uni would find out?!)  =---

what do you think the chances of them finding out?

If they asked me, %100. I can see myself getting flustered and telling them.

I'm not sure how else they could find out but surely the uni has its ways? My normal school knew (I had to get enrolment forms stamped by my principal?)

[whisperlightdeliverance]

I don't know if unis would look up that kind of thing... Since you've had a couple of years off studying Chinese... maybe they'll be okay with you studying it at a beginner level? You didn't study Chinese for VCE right? So technically they shouldn't allow you into the intermediate class either.

For doing two languages... my only advice is that you don't do two languages which are similar. I was studying Latin and Italian at the same time for one year, and on one of my Italian tests, I wrote down the Latin equivalent translation of a word instead. My teacher gave me a smiley face and pointed out my mistake... she was both my Latin and Italian teacher.

I learned Chinese in primary school for a couple of years (obviously not as long as 8 years), and I sucked... (and I'm Chinese). The most memorable phrase I remembered was "wo de fang zi" (my house, not with the right intonation). Neither of parents speak Mandarin either. From your recount... it doesn't seem like Chinese came naturally to you so I'm not sure if it's a good idea that you pursue it unless you really want to learn it and speak it fluently for use in what ever you endeavour.

[acinod]

Ahhhhh I've seen the likes of you. Don't worry you are actually part of THE MAJORITY.

However from what I've heard the Chinese faculty at Melbourne Uni is really strict and won't let you in beginner. However I'm not sure about Monash.

[ninwa]

1) You don't have to tell them about your experience. You can just do the placement test and do badly on it. Or you can just enrol in level 1, nobody's going to stop you. (I know people who get "easy credits" by doing this.)

2) Plenty of people do 2+ languages at uni, you'll be fine, especially with two very different languages.

[Starlight]

I did italian and german in yr 12, and let me tell you german is not a piece of cake. It requires a near complete understanding of grammar.

[ninwa]

German at uni is a piece of cake though

[Thu Thu Train]

German at uni is a piece of cake though

Says the girl that studied it in VCE.

[ninwa]

That's the point - I started at level 5 which is the prescribed starting year for VCE graduates, and it was pretty much a repeat of VCE.