Mathematics GRE

I just found out my programme requires me to learn either French, Russian or German. Any suggestions?

I like French. I am Asian and the ladies back home love French.

It seems like the language test is usually reading a mathematical text in the language and demonstrating an understanding. I am currently using Pimsleur to learn German and I think it is wonderful (it is quite expensive but I got it at my local library). It's conversational based, but I think it's a great start, especially if you have to commute each day (I use it while I drive). Other than that, you can always enroll in a summer class at a community college to pick up the basics.

I'm learning French, too. There's an app in apple store called trés bien that is very nice. You will learn phrase by phrase, with the reading from a native speaker. Try the free version first.

Depending on your field I think French is the best choice as many important papers in for example algebraic geometry are in French and I believe they still publish in French?

In any case reading a paper in another language is a lot easier than reading say a novel. The language is math.

I intend to study German for use with number theory. At most schools, there is a course you can take specifically designed towards readiing for research (though not specifically for the mathematics discipline). Also, I don't think any of the grad students I have talked to take it very seriously. They all say that you can get by with very minimal preparation. I still think that it would be extremely useful, so if I have time, I plan to take the course.

qbranch wrote:I intend to study German for use with number theory. At most schools, there is a course you can take specifically designed towards readiing for research (though not specifically for the mathematics discipline). Also, I don't think any of the grad students I have talked to take it very seriously. They all say that you can get by with very minimal preparation. I still think that it would be extremely useful, so if I have time, I plan to take the course.

For number theory I definitely recommend French as a lot of major recent advances in number theory from Weil and co are in French.

PNT wrote:

qbranch wrote:I intend to study German for use with number theory. At most schools, there is a course you can take specifically designed towards readiing for research (though not specifically for the mathematics discipline). Also, I don't think any of the grad students I have talked to take it very seriously. They all say that you can get by with very minimal preparation. I still think that it would be extremely useful, so if I have time, I plan to take the course.

For number theory I definitely recommend French as a lot of major recent advances in number theory from Weil and co are in French.

This is true. I hadn't thought about that. I was thinking about all of the older stuff like Hasse, Hecke, etc.

The thing is, most of the older stuff has been translated and covered in English books ect. Where as most of the stuff in French has not (legally I don't think people are allowed to publish translations of Grothendieck's and Deligne's work ect) and they still publish papers in French today. Certainly in my own work already I have come across a lot of sources in French that I have had to decipher, I think French would be the most useful.

I second PNT. Even though I have a minimal knowledge of another international language, I am keen on learning to read mathematical French for reasons already given above.