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French vs Chinese at A level with no GCSEs?

I am moving to England for sixth form (I will be boarding) and I want to do one of either French or Chinese as an a level. I have already chosen maths + fm, history, theology + philosophy, but my school is asking me to pick one more, and I would like it to be one of the aforementioned courses. I will have to do these 5 courses from September until the Febuary half term when I can drop one.

The problem is I am not doing GCSEs (I live overseas) and I have not studied French before (but I have completed the first unit on duolingo)

My mother is Chinese and I speak it at home to a very good level but I cannot read/write characters (but I am currently learning).

Would it be realistic for me to pick up either of those courses at A-level without prior experience (I have 6 months between now and starting school to study though)?

Also with the Chinese A-level I have heard things like it is impossible for a non-native speaker to get an A because the grade boundaries are pushed up by international students, and it is not very respected as a Chinese course, and you would be better off doing the HSK? Is this true?

Reply 1

TSR Jessica

Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown:

Are you sure you've posted in the right place? :smile:

Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses if you post there. :redface:

Reply 2

olivesyas

Original post by dire_rear

I am moving to England for sixth form (I will be boarding) and I want to do one of either French or Chinese as an a level. I have already chosen maths + fm, history, theology + philosophy, but my school is asking me to pick one more, and I would like it to be one of the aforementioned courses. I will have to do these 5 courses from September until the Febuary half term when I can drop one.
The problem is I am not doing GCSEs (I live overseas) and I have not studied French before (but I have completed the first unit on duolingo)
My mother is Chinese and I speak it at home to a very good level but I cannot read/write characters (but I am currently learning).
Would it be realistic for me to pick up either of those courses at A-level without prior experience (I have 6 months between now and starting school to study though)?
Also with the Chinese A-level I have heard things like it is impossible for a non-native speaker to get an A because the grade boundaries are pushed up by international students, and it is not very respected as a Chinese course, and you would be better off doing the HSK? Is this true?

Hi, Im currently studying Maths, FM and philosophy at A level, and for a period studied Spanish at A level also. As someone in a class of people who could speak a fair bit of it as they had Spanish parents, they were definitely better off, despite their writing being poor. Id entirely recommend mandarin as French will suffer from the same problem with international students and with your prior experience and my knowledge of Mandarin as my mum speaks the language you should have time to do work on your writing and Im sure support can be in place to help you especially given youre going to be boarding (is it a private school you’re boarding at?) Much luck to you and I hope you enjoy A levels here