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Cambridge modern languages

Hi,

I am in the process of choosing my As levels...

I want to do modern languages (french and italian) one day at university (hopefully cambridge).

However, I can only take french A level and no other languages. Would this disadvantage me from achieving my dream?

What would be the best three other A levels to take that would help me get onto this course? Please be as specific as possible.

Thanks

Reply 1

cactussed

15

There are no specific subjects that they require, usually it's only an A Level in the language you want to study. However, some universities offer ab initio languages, where you can study them from scratch, and so you would be able to do Italian ab initio if you wanted to. I know UCL, Warwick, Birmingham and I think Southampton do this, but I doubt Cambridge would, you'd need to check their website.

It might be useful to take English, purely for the essays. But as long as you take a language at A Level, you can do it at uni. It's not like something like medicine which needs Chemistry and Biology.

Reply 2

Duck and Cover

15

How come you can't take any other languages??

Seeing as you're only doing 1 language, it'd probs be best to make your other A-Levels "worth it" so to speak! I did Economics and Psychology as well as languages, but more traditional subjects like English Lit and History would probably be good bets!

You certianly wouldn't need to have for example A-Level Italian to do Italian at uni, although have you done any other languages at GCSE??

Reply 3

AnonyMatt

15

It's fine.
Take English literature, possibly history and any other A level you'd like to do.

Reply 4

Duck and Cover

15

Oh yeah, Cambridge do ab initio languages for everything except French. All they ask is that you learn a bit before you start, i think, like basic grammar, but nothing overly serious. A lot of people doing ab initio languages would just read one of those teach-yourself type books for a general intro.

Reply 5

123banana123

OP

2

Duck and Cover

How come you can't take any other languages??

Seeing as you're only doing 1 language, it'd probs be best to make your other A-Levels "worth it" so to speak! I did Economics and Psychology as well as languages, but more traditional subjects like English Lit and History would probably be good bets!

You certianly wouldn't need to have for example A-Level Italian to do Italian at uni, although have you done any other languages at GCSE??

I haven't done any other language GCSEs because I didn't get on well with spanish due to teacher problems etc...! Will this disadvantage me in anyway or can I still go on to do Italian (ab initio) and French?
Thanks loads

Reply 6

james99

1

123banana123

I haven't done any other language GCSEs because I didn't get on well with spanish due to teacher problems etc...! Will this disadvantage me in anyway or can I still go on to do Italian (ab initio) and French?
Thanks loads

I don't think it would disadvantage you too much as long as you can prove in other ways that you're interested in languages. They'll certainly ask you this in your interview so you'll need plenty of examples of things you've done that involve languages.

Reply 7

Duck and Cover

15

123banana123

I haven't done any other language GCSEs because I didn't get on well with spanish due to teacher problems etc...! Will this disadvantage me in anyway or can I still go on to do Italian (ab initio) and French?
Thanks loads

It certainly isn't a requirement to have studied any other languages at GCSE, so that shouldn't put you at a disadvantage!

Reply 8

yellowwdaisy

1

123banana123

Hi,

However, I can only take french A level and no other languages. Would this disadvantage me from achieving my dream?

What would be the best three other A levels to take that would help me get onto this course? Please be as specific as possible.

Thanks

i did french, german and italian (followed the course for 1 1/2 years- supposedly ab initio to a-level but I only did 1 module)

I found all 3 a thorough waste of time (esp. AQA)- I would say the best grounding for mml at cambridge are English literature and history, and a good grounding in french (grammar and comprehension mainly, also written expression- mainly essay writing)

since you need french to get a place (and may not want to rely on going to france at some point to bridge the gap), Id say English lit, History and French with whatever 4th subject you want (preferably an academically worthwhile AS). if you really hate both english lit and history, the cambridge course is probably not for you (unless you are passionately interested in linguistics- in which case a science a-level would be a good idea). even so- you have to write discursive essays in the linguistics paper as well as any of the other options- so it would be a good idea in any case to take at least 1 or english or history (because the 'essays' you write in french arent proper essays- and your french teacher probably won't teach you very well how to construct an argument- which seems really to be the cornerstone of any oxbridge arts course)

Cambridge modern languages

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