AQA A2 French- 19th JUNE 2012

Original post by Parle à ma main

Oooh that's a cool choice! Apparently German is the most in demand language, so maybe that? But I would personally love to learn Spanish cos it's a beautiful language! Or something with a new alphabet could be cool e.g. Russian/Arabic. Are you leaning towards any language?

No, I have a choice of Spanish Italian and german and I can't choose

Reply 162

cerrr

Original post by retrodisco666

No, I have a choice of Spanish Italian and german and I can't choose

Hate to butt in but pick Spanish! I do Spanish A2 and am taking it on to uni because it's something like the 3rd most spoken language in the world, plus it is beautiful to speak. It's not too hard, especially if you've got French in your back pocket and it is a joy to learn.

Reply 163

Hicky

Original post by imno-superman

Haha, I find French quite hard to revise for - with more spec-based subjects (like the sciences, economics etc) you pretty much just sit down and learn everything you've been taught, but with French you can't be taught every word in the language! I need an A as I'm doing French at Uni but I always seem to fall at the essay part - especially on content :/

With regards to my other revision, I've just been doing spider diagrams on each of the subtopics and vocab and tenses and such, translating relevant news articles from the archives two years ago (when AQA create the paper) from le monde and France2 and going over my chosen topic which is Baudelaire's poetry collection, 'Les Fleurs du Mal'. Is anyone else doing poetry? Are you learning quotations - I read somewhere that you have to :frown:

Some useful websites I've found:
http://quizlet.com/BoBeauxs - all the vocab you could possibly need or want :smile:

https://www.youtube.com/user/lsfrench - this guy is great at explaining the different tenses and such, learnt more from a few of his videos than in seven years of french :P
http://info.france2.fr/archives/?theme=&page=161 - the archives of France2, this is where the 2010 articles begin so just work your way backwards. There's some really helpful ones in about May. AQA have been known to use their articles on papers before, hence why I'm doing the old ones :smile:

http://www.lemonde.fr/ - Other articles, just for general translation practice :biggrin:

Hope this helps you more than me, as I'm probably screwed anyway :biggrin:

The first link has quite a few errors - it says 'l'ere industrielle' is 'industrial area' when it's 'industrial era' and 'bouleverser' is spelled wrong...

Reply 164

Original post by retrodisco666

No, I have a choice of Spanish Italian and german and I can't choose

Ahhh well that's not a bad choice of languages at least! Maybe try learning some over the summer and see which one you click more with?

Reply 165

L-C

Are people revising equally on their two topics, or choosing just one to focus on? My teachers haven't told us either way and I know I feel more confident on the film over the book but don't want to put myself in a difficult position in the exam if I don't like the film questions....

Also any suggestions on possible film director/musician/architect/painter questions?!

Reply 166

chucklybunny08

Original post by Parle à ma main

Oooh that's a cool choice! Apparently German is the most in demand language, so maybe that? But I would personally love to learn Spanish cos it's a beautiful language! Or something with a new alphabet could be cool e.g. Russian/Arabic. Are you leaning towards any language?

I'm au pair-ing! You should look into it if you like kids, english-speakers (esp natives) are pretty high in demand :smile:

You wouldn't be on your own either because you'd be living with a family who generally feel a sense of responsibility towards you.

ah okay! what agency did you go with?

Reply 167

<3 inbetweener =D

9

anyone else really scared about the english to french translation? :s i never do amazing on them because the markschemes are so ridiculously specific even when the meaning is the same

Reply 168

Original post by Parle à ma main

Ahhh well that's not a bad choice of languages at least! Maybe try learning some over the summer and see which one you click more with?

Probably yeah :smile:

Reply 169

Original post by Parle à ma main

I'm au pair-ing! You should look into it if you like kids, english-speakers (esp natives) are pretty high in demand :smile:

You wouldn't be on your own either because you'd be living with a family who generally feel a sense of responsibility towards you.

Really?! I'd love to au pair next year (gap year) but I thought you had to be 21? How did you organise that?

Reply 170

Original post by <3 inbetweener D

anyone else really scared about the english to french translation? :s i never do amazing on them because the markschemes are so ridiculously specific even when the meaning is the same

Yes, I'm terrified about both translations - for the past month-ish, I've got close to or even on 100% on listening and reading, but I utterly fail on the translations, I don't think I've ever got more than 15/20 on Fr-En and 13/20 on En-Fr, and they were flukes. :/ I wouldn't be so panicky about it if I actually knew how to write an essay, but my teachers actively refuse to mark any, so I've only written two (in October). And I think the oral went badly too... So I'm pretty stressed now! :P

Reply 171

Original post by NickyJWatkinson

Yes, I'm terrified about both translations - for the past month-ish, I've got close to or even on 100% on listening and reading, but I utterly fail on the translations, I don't think I've ever got more than 15/20 on Fr-En and 13/20 on En-Fr, and they were flukes. :/ I wouldn't be so panicky about it if I actually knew how to write an essay, but my teachers actively refuse to mark any, so I've only written two (in October). And I think the oral went badly too... So I'm pretty stressed now! :P

I do quite well for the translation and this is what i do (the last one i did i got 20/20 Fren-Eng and 19/20 on Eng-French and that's only because i didn't know the word for provided) Break it up into small sections so if you take the one from two years ago the first mark was for Environ 300 personnes - around 300 people. For me you need to actively seek the 20 sections within it to get the grade. Then with a pen write above each word the literaly translation even it makes no sense, then put it into good english from that, but using as many of those words as possible...Try it on one of that past ones and see if it helps :smile:

Reply 172

Original post by retrodisco666

I do quite well for the translation and this is what i do (the last one i did i got 20/20 Fren-Eng and 19/20 on Eng-French and that's only because i didn't know the word for provided) Break it up into small sections so if you take the one from two years ago the first mark was for Environ 300 personnes - around 300 people. For me you need to actively seek the 20 sections within it to get the grade. Then with a pen write above each word the literaly translation even it makes no sense, then put it into good english from that, but using as many of those words as possible...Try it on one of that past ones and see if it helps :smile:

Oooh, good idea! :smile:

I always get stuck on French-English because of either vocab I don't know, not picking up tenses or just thrown off by really weird word order. :/ I'll have to try that! :biggrin:

Reply 173

Original post by NickyJWatkinson

Oooh, good idea! :smile:

I always get stuck on French-English because of either vocab I don't know, not picking up tenses or just thrown off by really weird word order. :/ I'll have to try that! :biggrin:

They put topic specific in D: Like last year they had oil tanker, oil and shipwreck...Just got to learn them i guess :/

Reply 174

Original post by NickyJWatkinson

Really?! I'd love to au pair next year (gap year) but I thought you had to be 21? How did you organise that?

Nope, you have to be 18. :smile:

I used au pair world, great au pair, easy au pair, abc families etc (au pair world is easily the best), set up a profile and contacted a load of families until eventually I found the perfect family :smile:

You get to know the family through email, then skype and then I went to visit them a few weeks ago, which is a good idea imo, but generally people only really skype.
Or if you want to make it easier, you could apply through an agency (but the paperwork is horrendous, you need references etc) and they match you with a family so it cuts out the time you'd spend searching. Although I do think looking on your own is better because it's YOU that has your best interests at heart/knows what you want more than anyone else.

You should definitely go for it! Feel free to PM if you have questions or anything :smile:

Original post by chucklybunny08

ah okay! what agency did you go with?

I didn't go with an agency because I wasn't 18 at the time when I started looking for a family so none of the agencies would take me on haha, but I'm glad I didn't because I honestly think I've found a family with more benefits than I would have with an agency (I'm gonna work less hours next year for the same wage, have more time off than the family is legally obliged to give me, have more paid holiday than the family is legally obliged to give me, and they only have one kid... and that's not that uncommon, I've seen families on au pair world etc, who pay more than you'd get if you found a family through an agency). I can understand why you'd want an agency but given France is a stone's throw away from England and in the EU and we don't need a visa or anything, I don't actually think it's that risky to not go through an agency :p:

But there are some good ones out there that aren't that expensive, if you do want to use an agency!

Reply 175

Original post by <3 inbetweener D

anyone else really scared about the english to french translation? :s i never do amazing on them because the markschemes are so ridiculously specific even when the meaning is the same

Yes! I thought french to engish would be decent but it's really hard, the english never sounds right and there's always loads of words which I don't have the faintest clue what they mean :frown:

Reply 176

Deceiver

I find English-French translation quite easy at this level but last year the French-English one was ridiculous... praying for one with not too much topic specific vocab!

Reply 177

<3 inbetweener =D

9

Original post by Parle à ma main

Yes! I thought french to engish would be decent but it's really hard, the english never sounds right and there's always loads of words which I don't have the faintest clue what they mean :frown:

I don't find the french to english as hard, although its mean when they throw in specific vocab, but the english to french one is always a mess :frown:

Reply 178

Original post by <3 inbetweener D

I don't find the french to english as hard, although its mean when they throw in specific vocab, but the english to french one is always a mess :frown:

I actually find english to french easier, in a way. :frown:

Because at least it's only short sentences so you don't have to worry about flow and word order as much. Dreading translation so much, but at least last years was on a horrific topic, so hopefully ours will be nicer. I'd love something on immigration!

Ahhh French A2 is so hard!

Reply 179