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Which language should I study???

Etoile

Okay, so I'm in year eleven and I have to choose my as levels now. I know I'm taking maths, english literature, french and history. My final option is another language, but I don't know which to take between:
- German
- Spanish
- Russian.

I do GCSE German but I haven't studied the others. Pros & cons of each? Anyone studying any of them with advice? All help appreciated!

(edited 13 years ago)

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Reply 1

Lewis :D

Spanish

.

Pros.
Easier grammar than German and French.
Similar to French.
2nd most spoken language in the world.

Cons.
Can get mixed up between French and Spanish
French and Spanish are the two most common combinations of languages

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 2

cestvrai

Castellano of course.

Reply 3

Xurvi

As usual, there are two main points to take into consideration when choosing a language to learn:
- your own motivation to learn the language and culture: learning a language you don't like the sounds of, or the country's culture is bound to fail. It's much, much better to learn a weird obscure language you're interested in than a simple language you'll be reluctant to learn.
- your goals in life. Spanish might be spoken by a lot of people, if you don't plan on going to Spain, South America or South USA that'll be useless. On the other hand, if you want to work for the EU, they usually want French and German.

Now, if you're equally motivated to learn those three languages and all of them will be useful in your future, I'd suggest either German (because it's one of the most important countries in the EU) or Russian (because it's hard, sounds nice, and isn't quite as spoken as Spanish which means you'll differentiate yourself on the market)

Reply 4

username549578

Spanish. Gives you more options in the future.

Although i think french and german sound really cool as well.

Reply 5

un-besito

I'd recommend either Spanish or German :biggrin:

You say you're already doing GCSE German - do you like it? Do you find it difficult? Are you enthusiastic about carrying on with it for 1/2 more years? :smile:

Reply 6

Celtic_Jewel

Hiya

Personally I would take Spanish, however I'm biased because I love it. Also, I have had no experience of taking the others - I have done French but gave it up. The grammar is slightly easier than French, but don't underestimate it! :wink:

On the other hand given the chance I would love to learn Russian, but again that's personal preference.

Since you're starting French from scratch it might be less of a workload to continue with German as you already have the basics from GCSE.

Anyway that's just my two pennies & good luck! Whatever you choose a third language will definitely be an advantage.

Ema :smile:

Reply 7

oxy402

German. then you can stand in the mirror and pretend you are Hitler. :fuhrer:

Although 'The Hitler's Downfall' parodies on Youtube will loose their funniness.

Reply 8

rugbyladosc

Spanish because of latin america

Reply 9

fortunecookie

Go with whatever one you think you will enjoy the most.
I love German as I just think it's cool and the grammar appeals to a really dorky side of me, so I think you need to have a similar kind of interest so you stick at it and enjoy it.
Not many people learn Russian, so you went down that route it would be great for your CV and learning a new script would be really cool.
Spanish is a clever choice as it's spoken in loads of places and I've heard it's not too hard to learn. Though in relative terms its still going to be pretty difficult!

Having said that cool-ness probably isn't the right criteria you should use for picking what languages to learn!

Reply 10

JesusIsMyHomeboy

German

I'm doing it for AS right now and it's pretty cool.

Therefore you must do it too.

Tschüs!

Reply 11

KingofSpades

Since you're doing 4 other AS's, I would reccommend Spanish, it being far easier than German, and, I presume, Russian.

Reply 12

lolo66

DEUTSCH! definitely german. it's the most entertaining and not many people learn it compared to french and spanish. plus you get to say fun words like Umgebung and Taschenrechner :smile:

Reply 13

emeleh

I'd say Spanish. Apparently the gap between German gcse and a level is bigger than most language, although i might have just gone to a school with a dodgy German department...
Although the gcse German might help you a bit?

According to my flatmate Russian isn't too hard to pick up (although the different alphabet looks scary! :| ), and is a bit different from the others so might be a nice change for you, and your cv!

Reply 14

LRJones

German. Without a doubt. Best language ever :biggrin:

(I am NOT biased :tongue:

)

Reply 15

asparkyn

Are you allowed to take Spanish or Russian as an elective subject having never done the GCSE for it? (I'm actually asking partly for my sake as well :frown:

)

Anyway, I'd recommend either Spanish or German. Russian is a fantastic language but I don't know how heavy the workload may be at A-level. You already have a base in German, so why not try it out? :smile:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 16

Etoile

Original post by asparkyn

Are you allowed to take Spanish or Russian as an elective subject having never done the GCSE for it? (I'm actually asking partly for my sake as well :frown:

Yeah, we can take Russian, Spanish, Italian and Japanese all ab initio. I don't want to take Italian or Japanese though because Japanese is just an asset languages course and Italian...well, it isn't very useful :biggrin:

Reply 17

RNBen

Russian is fun, did that for 5 years and loved every minute of it. Currently learning Spanish and also enjoy it thoroughly. Out of the three I would choose Spanish, mainly because it just interests me more as a language and culture.

Reply 18

Beleg Cuthalion

German! Of course. Though Russian would be sweet too. It would probably look better on a resumé, though be harder to learn. German would definitely be the most useful for traveling Europe.

Reply 19

deej3005

OP, what are your reasons for wanting to learn a language in the first place? It all depends on that.

If you want to learn languages for business, then Spanish is the most widely spoken, if you're looking for an easy language then again Spanish is the easiest, but what are your motives for learning in the first place?