NY Board of Regents Gets Rid of January Regent and Language Regents

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I see what you're saying now.

 

I've always imagined that the U.N standards would be very strict, since you're dealing with translations that affect entire countries, so using, say a slang interpretation could be detrimental. I would imagine the standards are strict for court translators as well.

 

It's not just that. It's that the U.N. literally has their own vocabulary that must be used, so in order to work for or with them you must know it. It isn't necessarily evident during the interpretations that you see, but I've worked with them on press releases and such and they can be difficult to work with because they expect to know the terms they use, yet they don't provide the terms that they want to use. If it sounds like it makes no sense it's because it's the U.N. where nothing makes sense.

 

 

Court interpretations have to be on point too. Basically all translations are expected to be on point but especially anything that is being certified becuase then legal complications come into play. :eek:

 

That's why hospitals stopped having family members do verbal translations (interpretations) because family members would just translate the jist of what was said and not what was truly said, leaving out vital information or distorting what was said. A translator or an interpreter must act as the communicator/messenger and focus on what is being said or what is written and must put aside their feelings so as not to interfere with the job that they have to do.

 

You'd be amazed at what long "discussions" to put it lightly I have with folks about words and what I'm willing to change or not change in a translation as the project manager, since I have the last word. Next time you're out and about and you see a translation, tell me what you think of it and I'm sure I can give you info on why it was translated the way it was. The funny thing about the is while they don't translate the information on their website (they provide machine translations ) they do have their slogans and such translated professionally and they do of course use professional interpreters at hearings and such.

[lilbluefoxie]

you could get high marks in your spanish/italian/french whatever class, but unless you really have people to talk to in those languages or are around people who speak those languages you will never get anywhere with it, and probably forget most of it out of high school.

 

I took spanish 1 and spanish 2, in college and got As in both classes but yet I can barely understand spanish.

 

Garibaldi, I don't know how you were able to learn as many languages as you know, and to be able to speak them fluently, but more power to ya if you have found a way to be successful with your knowledge.

[Fresh Pond]

I took my english regents in January (back when I was in HS) and I was in a regular english class. To this day I don't know how I got a 82 on it when english was my weakest subject (that, and the fact that the teacher I had before the regents still failed me with a 50...don't ask). But that's all in the past, I got my Advanced Regents diploma to show for it :cool:...my scores were...

 

English: 82

Math A: 94

Living Environment: 93

Global History: 82

American History: 91

Spanish: 73

[Amtrak7]

I know which green book you are talking about, but it was the Barron's Regents Review Book that she wanted us to get. For some reason, when she gave the class the option of the green book for $3 or the Barron's Book for $9, the class chose the Barron's Book.

 

I guess it worked out better for me because I was able to get the Barron's Book from the library (I don't think the green books are available in public libaries). When the teacher saw that it wasn't the latest edition, all I had to do was print out the extra tests from the school computer.

 

In my middle school, we had that problem of a paper shortage, where many of our tests were printed on color paper (I don't get it. Isn't colored paper more expensive?). In my high school, our teachers skimp on things like copies, so I don't think we've had a paper shortage yet.

 

White paper purchased < white paper needed

Color paper purchased > Color paper needed

 

Because of a rule, we can't buy any paper goods except the big order in August.

 

As for books, around 60% of the class purchased the Barrons book on their own.

[Tokkemon]

I lol'd at the Language Regents when I was in high school. They're a joke. Its about time they remove them.

 

As for cutting January tests, study hard enough to take it in June.

 

I wonder if this is just a step in the direction of elimination of the Regents exams altogether. Lord knows its what everyone in the DOE wants.

[LRG]

I took my english regents in January (back when I was in HS) and I was in a regular english class. To this day I don't know how I got a 82 on it when english was my weakest subject (that, and the fact that the teacher I had before the regents still failed me with a 50...don't ask). But that's all in the past, I got my Advanced Regents diploma to show for it :cool:...my scores were...

 

English: 82

Math A: 94

Living Environment: 93

Global History: 82

American History: 91

Spanish: 73

 

When did you take your English Regents? Normally kids take it in their senior year, but I took it in my sophomore year and I got an 80. Yeah English was my weakest subject until my Sophomore year and I got significantly better.

 

Earth Science (June 2006): 84

Math A (Jan. 2007): 85

Global History (June 2007): 82

Living Environment (June 2007): 81

English Regents (June 2007): 80

Chemistry (June 2008): 65 (I actually retook it in August to see if I could do better, but in turn I got a 62...funny thing is, I really didn't need Chemistry as I already had Earth Science and Living Environment.)

U.S. History: (June 2008): 85

Math B (June 2008): 56 (retook it in Aug, got a 54; retook it in Jan. 2009, got a 57, retook it in June 2009 and got a 66! I took the test two days before I graduated and found out about my results on graduation day.)

Latin: 79

 

Honestly, I don't know how I got an 82 on my Global test as my Global teacher was a joke. Except for two other kids I sat next to and myself everyone else pretty much got 70s in the class and the regents, or failed the class and the regents...lol.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

you could get high marks in your spanish/italian/french whatever class, but unless you really have people to talk to in those languages or are around people who speak those languages you will never get anywhere with it, and probably forget most of it out of high school.

 

I took spanish 1 and spanish 2, in college and got As in both classes but yet I can barely understand spanish.

 

Garibaldi, I don't know how you were able to learn as many languages as you know, and to be able to speak them fluently, but more power to ya if you have found a way to be successful with your knowledge.

 

Well I'm Italian-American so while my father generally didn't speak to me in Italian, I still could speak it with my other Italian-American friends to a degree. By the time I was ready to move to Italy to finish my degree I had no problems and could hold my own. I had been taking Spanish since junior high school because they never offered Italian and I figured since I'm of Sicilian background on my father's side that I would take Spanish since it is somewhat close to Italian and because of the Spanish influence from Spain in Sicily and Southern Italy (the Romans invaded Spain and vice versa) .

 

Eventually I took Spanish seriously realizing that I enjoyed speaking it and since I had many Hispanic friends I got the chance from time to time to speak with them, but of course no one wants to be practiced on, so I would basically keep at it and watch Univison or Telemundo and one day sitting at home it just clicked. I was able to understand everything. My main issue had been listening and once I had that the rest all followed. I had a mix of Latino friends in college as a Spanish major and so I got to hear the different accents and idioms that they would like to use. I roomed with a Dominican for a while and learned his "tongue" also, so oddly enough I was fluent in Spanish way before Italian. I didn't take any Italian formally until college. I took two semesters of it and the found out there was no funding so I could not double major in it and Spanish as I had planned, despite getting tons of signatures to create a major program in Italian. :mad:

 

In Italy I took a 6 credit advanced Italian course in which only Italian was spoken even during explanations, lived in an upscale Italian neighbourhood near the Pitti palace in Florence and pretty much lived like an Italian. In fact the only time I spoke English basically was when I called my mother back in the states and maybe once or twice a week with my other Italian history courses which were taught in English by Italians. During travel or anything else I always spoke in Italian. When I returned back to the states, I was sleeping one morning and my mother tried to wake me up and I realized that I couldn't respond in English! I had a mental block and told her as best as I could that she would have to come back. I think I signaled or something. LOL

 

But yeah, during college I messed around with several languages. A Puerto Rican chick that I knew in my dorms would speak to me in French trying to show off, so I said f*ck this, I'm taking French next semester just for the hell of it and the classes were a breeeze since I already spoke Italian & Spanish. I took French for three semesters and got As with relative ease. Then later on I decided to take a semester of American Sign Language. I was cocky about it thinking it would be a breeze, but it was TOUGH. I eventually had to take tutoring courses, so that I could practice the signs, and through practicing and discipline it came and I nailed my 5 minute presentation like I was an ASL pro. You're right though... If you don't use it then you lose it. I had no one to practice ASL with so I don't remember how to sign much. I may try to get back into at some point since there is a big deaf community here in NYC and I enjoy seeing them sign and such when traveling. I know the sign for beer, how to sign my first name (maybe), and the sign for bacon and for pancakes and that's about all I can remember.

 

After I came back to the states, I messed around w/Portuguese for a little while since I was teaching Italian & Spanish on the side and decided to take lessons with a Portuguese teacher, who in turn I taught Italian to. Then I took some German since that language interested me too, so I can speak a bit of French, German and Portuguese as well. The key thing with languages is to make correlations and understand the rules and then let the rest work itself out, although with some languages like German it's much more difficult. That's what I always told my students when I used to teach, many of whom were much older than me.

 

Now I work with nothing but languages as a project manager all day and through work, music, friends and tv, I'm always immersed in one language or another. We have a few translators here in the office that like to talk about languages so we get into deep conversations about why one word isn't popular and such and why we use one word or another from language to language. I watch Italian or Spanish programs when I'm in the mood in those languages and sometimes I'll flip the tele to listen to some French as well. There is a website that allows you to watch international tv, so I would use that back in the day to see programming in German and other languages. If I can find the site I'll post it. One of my old Italian students who is a good friend of mine may know the name of it, so I'll ask him. :cool:

[Forest Glen]

I took my english regents in January (back when I was in HS) and I was in a regular english class. To this day I don't know how I got a 82 on it when english was my weakest subject (that, and the fact that the teacher I had before the regents still failed me with a 50...don't ask). But that's all in the past, I got my Advanced Regents diploma to show for it :cool:...my scores were...

 

English: 82

Math A: 94

Living Environment: 93

Global History: 82

American History: 91

Spanish: 73

 

I attended high school from 1999 to 2003

 

Earth Science: 85

Sequential Math 1: 79

Sequential Math 2: 94

Sequential Math 3: 94

 

Biology: 79

Global History and Geography (I think they eliminated this): 88

 

Chemistry: 93. This surprised me, since I was bombing Chemistry all year long.

 

US History and Government: 93

Spanish: 91

English: 82. I was pissed off. I was an A student in English. I simply choked.

Physics: 68. I took this exam in June 2002. I think nearly everyone flunked this exam. I had a 90 average in Physics. Still, I'm proud to say that I never actually failed a Regents.

[TheKorean]

I was done with all my Regents junior year. Thank goodness.

[checkmatechamp13]

I attended high school from 1999 to 2003

 

Earth Science: 89

Sequential Math 1: 79

Sequential Math 2: 94

Sequential Math 3: 94

 

Biology: 79

Global History and Geography (I think they eliminated this): 93

 

Chemistry: 93. This surprised me, since I was bombing Chemistry all year long.

 

US History and Government: 93

Spanish: 91

English: 82. I was pissed off. I was an A student in English. I simply choked.

Physics: 68. I took this exam in June 2002. I think nearly everyone flunked this exam. I had a 90 average in Physics. Still, I'm proud to say that I never actually failed a Regents.

 

They didn't eliminate the Global History & Geography Regents. I'm taking mine in a couple of weeks.

[Fresh Pond]

When did you take your English Regents? Normally kids take it in their senior year, but I took it in my sophomore year and I got an 80. Yeah English was my weakest subject until my Sophomore year and I got significantly better.

 

Earth Science (June 2006): 84

Math A (Jan. 2007): 85

Global History (June 2007): 82

Living Environment (June 2007): 81

English Regents (June 2007): 80

Chemistry (June 2008): 65 (I actually retook it in August to see if I could do better, but in turn I got a 62...funny thing is, I really didn't need Chemistry as I already had Earth Science and Living Environment.)

U.S. History: (June 2008): 85

Math B (June 2008): 56 (retook it in Aug, got a 54; retook it in Jan. 2009, got a 57, retook it in June 2009 and got a 66! I took the test two days before I graduated and found out about my results on graduation day.)

Latin: 79

 

Honestly, I don't know how I got an 82 on my Global test as my Global teacher was a joke. Except for two other kids I sat next to and myself everyone else pretty much got 70s in the class and the regents, or failed the class and the regents...lol.

 

I took all my regents in...

 

Math A & Global History: June: 2006 (sophmore)

Living Environment & US History: June 2007 (Junior)

English: January 2008 (Senior)

Spanish: June 2009 (super senior...that's right I got left back lol)

 

I couldve taken the Earth Science regents instead of the Living Environment but I failed almost all of the classes

[Santa Fe via Willow]

Are CA and NY still the only states with Regents?

[Infamous85]

Smh I'm jealous but don't care at the same time.

 

I could've had an Advanced Regents Diploma lol. I HATE Language requirements, like damn I'd rather get Rosetta Stone and actually learn properly.

 

Living Environment: 90 (June 2007....9th Grade)

 

Math A: 86 (January 2008....10th Grade)

 

Earth Science: 82 (June 2008....10th Grade)

 

Global: 87 (August 2008....10/11th Grade) *I was late in June due to the stupid Q44 + Rain

 

English: 88 (June 2009....11th Grade)

 

Edit: I forgot all about U.S. History, idk what I got on that or if I even took it.

 

I probably would've gotten higher but I NEVER studied for anything.

[checkmatechamp13]

Smh I'm jealous but don't care at the same time.

 

I could've had an Advanced Regents Diploma lol. I HATE Language requirements, like damn I'd rather get Rosetta Stone and actually learn properly.

 

Living Environment: 90 (June 2007....9th Grade)

 

Math A: 86 (January 2008....10th Grade)

 

Earth Science: 82 (June 2008....10th Grade)

 

Global: 87 (August 2008....10/11th Grade) *I was late in June due to the stupid Q44 + Rain

 

English: 88 (June 2009....11th Grade)

 

Edit: I forgot all about U.S. History, idk what I got on that or if I even took it.

 

I probably would've gotten higher but I NEVER studied for anything.

 

You can take the Regents without taking the class, though. You can just get Rosetta Stone instead of sitting through a Spanish class.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

You can take the Regents without taking the class, though. You can just get Rosetta Stone instead of sitting through a Spanish class.

 

Rosetta Stone... :mad: :tdown:

[checkmatechamp13]

Rosetta Stone... :mad: :tdown:

 

You can also try if you are a native speaker. I would've done it except that the Spanish and Italian Regents are at the same time (though, unfortunately, I wouldn't get any extra credit for doing it).

[Via Garibaldi 8]

You can also try if you are a native speaker. I would've done it except that the Spanish and Italian Regents are at the same time (though, unfortunately, I wouldn't get any extra credit for doing it).

 

I'm old school, especially since I taught both Spanish & Italian for years. All Rosetta stone can do is teach you how to say a sentence, but it can't teach you how to apply it, nor can it give you the hands on experience that you need to learn a language. Hearing a machine is honky-dory, but speaking to and understanding a native speaker is something totally different.

[Joel Up Front]

It's "hunky" dory...

[LRG]

Smh I'm jealous but don't care at the same time.

 

I could've had an Advanced Regents Diploma lol. I HATE Language requirements, like damn I'd rather get Rosetta Stone and actually learn properly.

 

Living Environment: 90 (June 2007....9th Grade)

 

Math A: 86 (January 2008....10th Grade)

 

Earth Science: 82 (June 2008....10th Grade)

 

Global: 87 (August 2008....10/11th Grade) *I was late in June due to the stupid Q44 + Rain

 

English: 88 (June 2009....11th Grade)

 

Edit: I forgot all about U.S. History, idk what I got on that or if I even took it.

 

I probably would've gotten higher but I NEVER studied for anything.

 

I'm the same way when it comes to my tests...the only test I really studied for was Math B which I had to take four times before I passed it (barely) to qualify for the Advanced Regents Diploma.

 

Unfortunately old habits die hard. Since I stopped giving a rat's ass about school starting with senior year my indifference carried along with me into college. I can't recall the time I really devoted any time into hardcore studying when midterms and finals came about.

[IntExp]

Sorry to revive and old thread, but it's an important update to this story.

 

Walcott leads push to revive January Regents test

BY the NY Daily News

 

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott - along with superintendents from four other cities - has called on the state to restore the Regents exams in January.

 

The exams, part of the requirements for graduation, were given three times a year until last month, when state education officials voted for cutting the mid-year testing dates to save $1.4 million.

 

"The decision will have a devastating impact on students throughout New York State, particularly for the students in the Big 5 Cities," the school leaders wrote in letters sent Friday to Gov. Cuomo, state Education Department Commissioner John King and state Chancellor Merryl Tisch.

 

The cut could delay graduations for some students, the letter notes, since 2,400 New York City kids this year graduated in January after passing Regents.

 

The cut, approved by the state's Board of Regents, comes at the same time as state Education Department officials have launched an effort to raise the standards for graduation.

 

State Education Department spokesman Tom Dunn said agency officials continued to "advocate aggressively" for more funding because the state budget provided only $7 million of the $15 million required to pay for the exams.

 

"We share Chancellor Walcott's disappointment that the funding has not materialized," he said.

 

Finally, the NYC DOE does something right.

[checkmatechamp13]

Sorry to revive and old thread, but it's an important update to this story.

 

 

 

Finally, the NYC DOE does something right.

 

Thank God! I get my week off from school back. :tup: