Multilingual and Polyglot Wannabee Thread! MK I

Original post by MangoFreak

It just does :tongue:

Prepositions are weird :lol:

One thing to remember is that often if the preposition is used figuratively, then it is more often than not accusative (unless it's exclusively dative). There are exceptions, but:

Ich denke an DICH
Wir sprechen über DEN Hund.
Es wirkt auf DAS Glück.

I can't think of any exceptions on the top of my head, but I remember that I've had annoying situations where it has turned out dative. If you're not sure though, and you're in an exam, it may be some help.

Reply 762

Original post by L'Evil Fish

Yeah, I get that... But fluency in a language doesn't guarantee you a grade really...

Remember, this is coming from universities who have written entire lists of A-level subjects, that in their opinion, people are guaranteed good grades in!

From that perspective, it's pretty fair to also apply the same to MFL A-levels. I've also heard on TSR that Cambridge refuses to count A-level Mandarin in offers for the degree in Chinese Studies, because they don't approve of the spec...

Reply 763

Original post by constantmeowage

One thing to remember is that often if the preposition is used figuratively, then it is more often than not accusative (unless it's exclusively dative). There are exceptions, but:

Ich denke an DICH
Wir sprechen über DEN Hund.
Es wirkt auf DAS Glück.

I can't think of any exceptions on the top of my head, but I remember that I've had annoying situations where it has turned out dative. If you're not sure though, and you're in an exam, it may be some help.

That's actually really useful to me, I've always been confused by what case to use with non-positional prepositions :awesome:

Thanks

Reply 764

Doglamlico

Original post by Ronove

If you actually research what the exam units are about and do some minor preparation, yes, it really does guarantee you a good grade.

And again, the question of how to stop people doing it is not the point here. It doesn't affect whether or not it's wrong.

Yep, you'd be hard pushed not to manage 95%+ in the reading/listening sections, and then you'd be guaranteed an A in the speaking, probably full marks at AS-level. That means that all you'll really have to do is get the essay technique right, and even then you'd only need a B/C in it to get yourself the A grade overall.

^ And that's basically been the case for the native in my class. The only thing he's had to concentrate on is essay technique, a few specialist bits of vocabulary, and brushing up on grammar - even if he hadn't done any of that he'd still have got an A.

Reply 765

Original post by Ronove

X

I do entirely agree that it is underhand to get a university place under false pretences.

I think cohort-referencing needs looking at. It's a sight better than norm-referencing was, but the smaller the cohort becomes, the more skewed it becomes. For comparison, A-level Maths had 86,000 candidates last August, A-level German had around 5,000.

Reply 766

Original post by Octopus_Garden

they would not be able to run A-level MFL courses without native speakers, due to low class numbers otherwise.

Reply 767

Original post by MangoFreak

Have you considered importing some 16/17 year old Germans to your home town? :biggrin:

Reply 768

Original post by Octopus_Garden

Have you considered importing some 16/17 year old Germans to your home town? :biggrin:

Damn, I knew a German girl in my year like 10 years ago :colonhash:

She left in year 4 :lol:

(admittedly this was in Australia so it wouldn't really help :mmm:

)

Gove's been ****ting around with the E.Bacc and such things when he should be making British students love language more :unimpressed:

Reply 769

L'Evil Fish

OP

18

Original post by MangoFreak

Of course it doesn't guarantee a grade, but it is severely simpler for a native speaker to get an A* in German A2 than a non-native. You appear to be missing the point :colonhash:

What?

EDIT: If you're saying what I think you're saying, I'm not discussing the practicality of preventing native speakers from taking MFL qualifications in this country. I'm telling you why it's not at all fair for native speakers of foreign languages to be able to access university by taking those qualifications.

Original post by Ronove

If you actually research what the exam units are about and do some minor preparation, yes, it really does guarantee you a good grade.

And again, the question of how to stop people doing it is not the point here. It doesn't affect whether or not it's wrong.

Original post by Octopus_Garden

Remember, this is coming from universities who have written entire lists of A-level subjects, that in their opinion, people are guaranteed good grades in!

From that perspective, it's pretty fair to also apply the same to MFL A-levels. I've also heard on TSR that Cambridge refuses to count A-level Mandarin in offers for the degree in Chinese Studies, because they don't approve of the spec...

Okay... I don't really care, let natives take it :tongue:

more of a challenge :colone:

Reply 770

thatitootoo

Original post by Octopus_Garden

I do entirely agree that it is underhand to get a university place under false pretences.

I think cohort-referencing needs looking at. It's a sight better than norm-referencing was, but the smaller the cohort becomes, the more skewed it becomes. For comparison, A-level Maths had 86,000 candidates last August, A-level German had around 5,000.

Only 86000 for Maths? I expected the figure to be more
Considering all those year 10/11 pupils who seem to be doing it nowadays :O

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 771

Original post by thatitootoo

Only 86000 for Maths? I expected the figure to be more
Considering all those year 10/11 pupils who seem to be doing it nowadays :O

Posted from TSR Mobile

It's a big number compared to 10 years ago!

This is of course, full A-level results. The number of A-level entries will be much lower than the number of AS entries the previous year!

Look, pretty data available here!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/aug/16/a-level-results-data-gender-region-subject#data

Reply 772

Original post by MangoFreak

Damn, I knew a German girl in my year like 10 years ago :colonhash:

She left in year 4 :lol:

(admittedly this was in Australia so it wouldn't really help :mmm:

)

Gove's been ****ting around with the E.Bacc and such things when he should be making British students love language more :unimpressed:

Craven College for you, then!

(They must be coining it...)

Reply 773

Original post by Octopus_Garden

It's a big number compared to 10 years ago!

This is of course, full A-level results. The number of A-level entries will be much lower than the number of AS entries the previous year!

Look, pretty data available here!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/aug/16/a-level-results-data-gender-region-subject#data

I feel like it's a seriously outdated method of statistical analysis to separate genders :tongue:

Reply 774

Original post by Octopus_Garden

Craven College for you, then!

(They must be coining it...)

Obviously I'm missing something here :lol:

Reply 775

thatitootoo

Original post by Octopus_Garden

It's a big number compared to 10 years ago!

This is of course, full A-level results. The number of A-level entries will be much lower than the number of AS entries the previous year!

Look, pretty data available here!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/aug/16/a-level-results-data-gender-region-subject#data

Ooh! bookmark :wink:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 776

thatitootoo

Original post by MangoFreak

Obviously I'm missing something here :lol:

I could never do distance learning! I hope you can keep yourself motivated! :tongue:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 777