[RosieInWonderland]

Hello I'm wanting to apply for German, and possibly another language with it too but I am unsure
The universities I have looked at are Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Reading and Durham - I got onto the Sutton Trust Summer School at Durham
Good luck to everyone and I hope you get the grades you need next year

[Butterfly9595]

(Original post by Squaresquirrel)
Not really sure tbh with you, It started out with one book and now all I listen/read/breathe is Scandinavian stuff, What about you how did you become interested in German?

Fair enough, only asking because it's quite unusual and generally not taught in schools - do you already know any Swedish??

And funnily enough I didn't actually like German when I was younger - it was only when I was able to sort of understand things written and spoken in German after fasttrack GCSE that I had a sudden desire to learn more!

[Hael_Roy]

I'm wishing to learn some Asian languages, hopefully a joint honour with Japanese. The one I'm thinking about is Jap and Korean in SOAS.

[Squaresquirrel]

(Original post by Butterfly9595)
Fair enough, only asking because it's quite unusual and generally not taught in schools - do you already know any Swedish??

And funnily enough I didn't actually like German when I was younger - it was only when I was able to sort of understand things written and spoken in German after fasttrack GCSE that I had a sudden desire to learn more!

I started self teaching myself a few months ago but Ive been really lax about it lately so have forgotten alot

[Buongiorno]

Hello fellow linguists

Spanish & ab initio German here. Looking at Cambridge, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Durham... Is anyone else going on the Sutton Trust summer school at Cambridge?

[Bambirina]

Hello there !

I'm French and Italian, currently living in Strasbourg, France (I came back from Italy almost a year ago .. time goes by so fast !).
I'm learning English, German (I live at the border, that's why) and Chinese at school (Italian too, but it doesn't count for me, you can imagine why).
I'm going to study Chinese at Tsinghua University in Beijing for my gap year.

I can't quite decide what I want to study at uni but I know it'll be languages-related !
I'm thinking Chinese, Medieval History with ab initio Spanish, Italian with Spanish, and ASNaC if I can apply to Cambridge.
I'm considering Oxbridge, Durham, St Andrews and Edinburgh.

Cheers !

[Kerrias]

Hey, I'm thinking of applying to do Spanish and ab initio Portuguese at university, probably at Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen (well it has to be one of those three, only three in Scotland that offer Portuguese and I can't afford to leave Scotland). I'm applying for 2013 but might defer until 2014 if I can get a job in France for a bit. Anyone else going to the edin & Glasgow open days next week? Anyone else applying for languages in 2013 doing scotquals? Anyone done/planning work experience because I honestly have no idea what sort of thing?

[Squaresquirrel]

(Original post by Bambirina)
Hello there !

I'm French and Italian, currently living in Strasbourg, France (I came back from Italy almost a year ago .. time goes by so fast !).
I'm learning English, German (I live at the border, that's why) and Chinese at school (Italian too, but it doesn't count for me, you can imagine why).
I'm going to study Chinese at Tsinghua University in Beijing for my gap year.

I can't quite decide what I want to study at uni but I know it'll be languages-related !
I'm thinking Chinese, Medieval History with ab initio Spanish, Italian with Spanish, and ASNaC if I can apply to Cambridge.
I'm considering Oxbridge, Durham, St Andrews and Edinburgh.

Cheers !

Yay for ASNaC - I would definately be applying for that if I thought I had even the smallest chance at getting into cambridge.

[Bambirina]

(Original post by Squaresquirrel)
Yay for ASNaC - I would definately be applying for that if I thought I had even the smallest chance at getting into cambridge.

Well, I'll know in less than a month if I have a chance at getting into Cambridge ... their entry requirement for French people is 16/20 at the bac and mine pretty much depends on grade in philosophy ! But this subject couldn't be more random, so I can only hope for the best - a nice teacher who would be in a really, really good mood.

[Squaresquirrel]

(Original post by Bambirina)
Well, I'll know in less than a month if I have a chance at getting into Cambridge ... their entry requirement for French people is 16/20 at the bac and mine pretty much depends on grade in philosophy ! But this subject couldn't be more random, so I can only hope for the best - a nice teacher who would be in a really, really good mood.

Good luck with it!!

[pink pineapple]

Does anyone have any recommendations of French books which are fairly easy but of a good standard?

[Bambirina]

(Original post by pink pineapple)
Does anyone have any recommendations of French books which are fairly easy but of a good standard?

I'm a native French-speaker so I never studied French as a foreign language but I'd say you could try Maupassant's novels and short stories such as Le Horla. Louis-Ferdinand Céline is also a good, well-known writer although he doesn't use a very formal language but I think it'd be useful to you if you want to know French as we speak it (written French being usually so different from how we speak it). My favourite novel from him is Voyage au bout de la nuit.

[pink pineapple]

(Original post by Bambirina)
I'm a native French-speaker so I never studied French as a foreign language but I'd say you could try Maupassant's novels and short stories such as Le Horla. Louis-Ferdinand Céline is also a good, well-known writer although he doesn't use a very formal language but I think it'd be useful to you if you want to know French as we speak it (written French being usually so different from how we speak it). My favourite novel from him is Voyage au bout de la nuit.

I was having a flick through the 2012 applicants thread and came across the book 'l'etranger'. Is this worth a read?

[Bambirina]

(Original post by pink pineapple)
I was having a flick through the 2012 applicants thread and came across the book 'l'etranger'. Is this worth a read?

I personally don't like it but it's definitely a classic of French literature. The books I told you about are more out of the syllabus, while I believe this one is often studied in England, isn't it ?

[kayleigh.jean]

(Original post by pink pineapple)
Does anyone have any recommendations of French books which are fairly easy but of a good standard?

Thérèse Raquin has fairly straightforward language, but is a proper Classic, so it's worth a read! There are English translations, both online and in book form, so that can help when reading it
A lot of people recommend Le Petit Prince and L'Étranger too

[Pi!]

I applied for 2012 entry for Spanish/Spanish and Japanese but didn't get any offers I was happy with so I am taking a gap year and re-applying. Going to decide where to apply when I have my results.

Considering:
Sheffield
Manchester
Newcastle
Oxford Brookes

[Bambirina]

(Original post by Pi!)
I applied for 2012 entry for Spanish/Spanish and Japanese but didn't get any offers I was happy with so I am taking a gap year and re-applying. Going to decide where to apply when I have my results.

Considering:
Sheffield
Manchester
Newcastle
Oxford Brookes

Hey the same thing happened to me ! I applied for Chinese/Chinese studies but I wasn't happy with any of my offer so I'm taking a gap year to China and re-applying, but not for Chinese/Chinese studies this time !

Good luck

[WillowSummers]

Hey, I'm thinkin' of doing French and Spanish (or possibly English, not sure - I'll see how my grades go) at KCL, QMUL, Edinburgh, Warick or Durham. Possibly Cambridge if I do really well.

Certainly going to follow this thread, hear what people say.

[WillowSummers]

(Original post by Bambirina)
I personally don't like it but it's definitely a classic of French literature. The books I told you about are more out of the syllabus, while I believe this one is often studied in England, isn't it ?

It is, I'm doing it for A2. That and L'avare, which I prefer.

[WillowSummers]

(Original post by pink pineapple)
Does anyone have any recommendations of French books which are fairly easy but of a good standard?

I like Voltaire, especially Candide and Micromegas.