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what languages are you doing or want to begin?

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Rebecca/Becca

I'm managing OK with French and Italian. To be honest, I used to get more mixed up between French and German when I was studying them both at A level!
And I too would take the 'romantic rubbish' anyday! I couldn't handle the case system in German, it upset me!

I think French and Italian are sufficiently different not to cause too much of a problem. Italian and Spanish, on the other hand, are much closer (says she, having never studied Spanish :rolleyes:

Reply 61

Manatee

Rebecca/Becca

Yes thye are (I think so at least), but I have friends who do Italian and Spanish and they say it's realy easy. I'm not fully decided if I'm actually going to do it or not yet. Would you?

I think I would - Spanish is a really useful language to have (although I must confess that I don't really like the sound of it, I far prefer Italian).

Never turn down a chance to add another language, I would say...

:smile:

Reply 62

Manatee

Rebecca/Becca

Heehee, right I'm 80% decided that I'm going to take Spanish next year now!

Now I feel responsible!

:smile:

Reply 63

sheerframboise

I'm doing French (AS) and Mandarin Chinese (A2), and did German at GCSE. Want to do Spanish, German, Cantonese Chinese and Japanese. Slightly too ambitious, oder?

Reply 64

flaminchocolate

well i took japanese as-level exam today even though im japanese!! its not goin to be added onto my ucas points but i thought i would do it.lol.

Reply 65

flaminchocolate

because it is my native language. i guess it wont be fair on all the non-japanese people. i wish it did though but im not complaining!

Reply 66

Wings_cp

Anyone else doing Latin A levels here?

Reply 67

Madelyn

Wings_cp

Anyone else doing Latin A levels here?

Yes, me! I had AS module 3 a couple of days ago (Vergil, think it was ok) and am now a bit worried about Pliny, which I think is module 5. What texts are you doing? How concerned are you about language? I'm on AQA, by the way.

Reply 68

silver~planet

Wings_cp

Anyone else doing Latin A levels here?

I did Latin AS last year, got a B which I was fairly happy with... always planned to carry it on to A-level but had to move to a college where they don't do it :frown:

Reply 69

Sadako No Deshi

At the moment I'm studying French, Spanish and Russian, which I've just done for GCSE, and I'll be continuing all 3 next year. In the past I've studied German for 2 years, Latin 2 years, and Ancient Greek for 1 term. I'll also be starting Japanese next year. One day I'd like to learn Quechua and maybe some other South American languages. I'd also like to study Korean and Icelandic at some point. I don't think I'll ever get to be fluent in that many languages, but I can hope.

Reply 70

flaminchocolate

Rebecca/Becca

Oh I didn't know that happened! Seems a bit harsh to me!

yeeeah its abit gutting but its like you taking an english exam in japan. you will be far better than japanese people!

Reply 71

Manatee

Rebecca/Becca

I suppose so!! Although there are a couple of people on my degree course (French and Italian) who are native French and Italian speakers! Seems a bit pointless to me!!

Not necessarily - after all, lots of native English speakers study English. Admittedly, a certain proportion of a modern languages degree will be taken up with the study of pure language, where native speaker status is obviously a big advantage. However, there will usually be some literature element (how big depends on the university - Oxford, for example, is heavily geared towards literature), where those advantages are less of an issue.

I myself studied French and Czech for my first degree. Obviously, the fact that Czech is my mother tongue was a big help with the language side (though the translations were still a challenge) but the reason I did it was to study the literature; I ended up studying a lot of medieval texts (both French and Czech), where the challenges were linguistic as well as analytical. Interestingly, one of the other people on the course was a German girl who was studying German and Czech.

Having said all that, sometimes you've got to be careful not to take unfair advantage of your status as a native speaker. In my first year, I applied for a university scholarship which is awarded on the basis of performance in specially set exams. I sat the exams in French only - even though they would have been able to set them in Czech as well, my French tutor thought that it would be unethical for me to sit them (and I agreed with her).

:smile:

Reply 72

Manatee

Rebecca/Becca

Yeah I do see your point there. At Durham it is possible to avoid literature modules though because in first year they offer a history of the French language module. However, if you're French and studying for example a book by Maupassant - something fairly modern that has the same kind of French that is used today (ie not medieval like you studied), you would be at an advantage to an English person - you could read the books far quicker. It took me bloody ages to read Germinal. In the end I read the translation and the original text alongside one another! Far easier than looking up every word!
Lol, hope what I'm trying to say makes sense here! :biggrin:

Absolutely, and I agree with your point entirely. :smile:

On the subject of Zola, have you read L'Assommoir? I've read quite a few of his books but that is by far my favourite (with Germinal a close second). If you haven't read it yet, I would highly recommend it - it's still not the easiest book in the world (lots of 19th century Parisian working-class slang) but I think it's a bit easier than Germinal (all that mining terminology which I wouldn't understand in English, yet alone French). Anyway, don't feel you have to look up every single word - as long as you understand most of it and have a feel for the words you haven't come across before (i.e. you know roughly what they mean because of the context) you should be fine. Having to stop and look words up can really spoil the reading experience! (Sorry, I hope that didn't come across as horribly patronising :eek:

...)

Reply 73

Melanie47

At the moment, I am doing Spanish, Latin and French for GCSE. I plan to carry on with French and Spanish for A level, and French at university. I love learning languages - I'd love to learn Italian, Icelandic, Russian...

Reply 74

Melanie47

Rebecca/Becca

Languages kick ass!!.... :biggrin:

They do indeed!

:biggrin:

Reply 75

Xebby

I'm currently doing A-levels in French and German and am hoping to carry these on next year (Durham hopefully). May also take up Spanish ab-initio......

Reply 76

Rainy

Just to be a break from the norm. Although I'm doing French and German for AS, I don't want to do a straight language degree. I'd like to go into the diplomatic service/international relations, so the most useful languages for me to learn would be Spanish, Arabic and Russian. I'd like to learn at least 2 of them, which would put me in good stead for career options etc. I've got an idea of doing a combined honours, with French. Plus I love languages and the different cultures... :rolleyes:

Reply 77

Rainy

Rebecca/Becca

Ooh ambitions!! I wish I had some! I have no clue what I want to do after uni. It sounds like a good degree for you would be French and Politics or French and Economics. I'd say they go well together!

Or International Relations/French?! They do a course at Durham (where I think you're at) which I'm looking at: Politics (European Studies). I couldn't really do an economics course, as I don't do either of maths or economics for AS. So yeh, without hijacking the thread too much, I'm basically looking at combined courses with languages - most probably French. I've got so much to think about, good thing there's so much time! :rolleyes:

Reply 78

Frogsofhope

You all sound so talented and seem to know so many languages. I'm impressed. All I know is English and GCSE spanish, even then I only got a C, but somehow I got accepted onto a BA Japanese course at leeds, yay, but I can't help thinking its going to be really difficult with my lack of language skills. Would have liked to keep Spanish on for Alevel, but my school didn't offer it and to do it at another local school would have clashed with maths.If I don't struggle too much with the ab-ititio Japanese, might take an elective in spanish just to wake it up in my brain again before i lose what little knowledge of it I have! I am soo jealous of everyone who had the chance to do Japanese GCSE/Alevel!

Reply 79

AmyGrace

wow you guys study so many..really impressed lol
im currently doing GCSE French (have my exam next week) so im continuing that next year too and im also picking up Spanish (GCSE in the 1st year and AS and A2 in the 2nd) so il go into the course without knowing much spanish but come out with a GCSE and a-level under my belt :biggrin: