Multilingual and Polyglot Wannabee Thread! MK I

Meh. I'll use it at home too

Urmmmm...

Intel i5, 15.6", resolution isn't great (1366 x 768) but screen isn't bad, sound is amazing though sub woofers and that... It's Windows 8

Sont Fit 15



Can you say:

J'espère que pouvoir commencer...

It's just that I really don't get any enjoyment from analysing literature. I do read, but a lot of the reading I do is informative, educational or news related; I haven't read a novel in the past six months and I've never sat down and read a piece of poetry. That probably should have been a complete red flag that I shouldn't have chosen English Literature. The last few days have really made me question if I want to study a degree in foreign languages. I think language learning is something I could achieve by myself; I've taught myself Spanish and German up to a basic level with not much trouble. It seems I have a lot of thinking to do!

Meh. I'll use it at home too

Urmmmm...

Intel i5, 15.6", resolution isn't great (1366 x 768) but screen isn't bad, sound is amazing though sub woofers and that... It's Windows 8

Sont Fit 15



Can you say:

J'espère que pouvoir commencer...

Hmm. I have to say, the more German and French I learn, the more a degree seems essential for me to become fluent. I could have taught myself GCSE-level reading, writing (and listening if we're talking about German) by myself. At the end of the GCSE German course, I felt that if the A-level didn't run, I would be able to continue by myself at a similar level of progress, given enough self-discipline.

Now I've completed A-level, that idea I had seems completely and totally delusional! Admittedly, that may reflect my abysmal lack of language ability more than anything else, rather than the universal difficulty of self-teaching languages from the CERF for Languages level B1 onwards...

That said, if I was in your place, I would keep the languages, drop English Literature and History, and pick your two favourite Sciences in their place. I do not advise A-level Maths until you have covered the whole of GCSE Higher and feel totally happy with it. Doing three A-levels in subjects you've not really done since 2011 while trying to get to grips with C1 without a confident and complete grasp of higher is a recipe for disaster. Sorry.

Doing two languages, two sciences and doing GCSE Maths in your spare time sounds more achievable. You would have more options open to you. You could go down the language degree route, or the scientific one with a year abroad.

At the end of AS, you will have a better idea of which way you're leaning, and if necessary, you could take A-level Maths as an express/fast-track course, having done loads of work during the holidays after the AS and GCSE exams.

I, personally, would never take English Literature or History because I'm well aware it would doom me to a U*. Doing my GCSE coursework on the "soliloquies of Macbeth", etc was hard enough!

Remember, dual and triple linguists get out of the literature modules, if you haven't already read that. It's part of the reason I took up French!

*In fact, I took AS Classical Civilisation, which should have been renamed English Literature translated from the Greek. The literature component came as a terrible shock to me and I did end up with a U.

Thank you, Octo. I value your opinion. Sadly, the problem is that the two languages are distance learning and I think that I have to be more realistic now and admit that studying two languages via distance language for 2 years would not be much fun.

Admittedly, I obtained my science GCSEs in the year 2011-12 but I never struggled with any of the material; it was Maths that gave me a hard time. I've spoken to my tutor just now and even though I have a C, she said that as she taught me GCSE Maths and knows what sort of student I am, that she is willing to let me onto the course for a trial; hopefully in a smaller group so she can focus on getting me up to speed. She's an excellent tutor. I have all my old materials so the first few weeks will be quite frantic whilst I go over it all.

The idea of doing a fast track AS/A2 Maths course would work, but unfortunately it is not an option; my college does not allow this due to high levels of previous failure.

I know it sounds like a potential disaster, but it's a risk I will have to take, I guess. I often find I learn best when thrown into the deep end. I'm willing to try it out.

My passion for languages remains entirely unchanged.

Well, I suppose the only conclusion is:

Good Luck and prove me wrong!

And don't abandon us!

Hah! Oh no I'm not going anywhere. Honestly, my feelings towards learning languages haven't changed. I've just re-evaluated the focus of my studies to gain a more pragmatic approach. Let's hope I can succeed!

Apply for German and Spanish next year with your A2's. Maybe they'll run next year!

Possibly! But also extremely unlikely. This is the fourth year that the German AS course hasn't ran now.

But. But. But. E-bacc!

X

On the subject of doing a lot of literature in modern languages:

I absolutely loathe fictional analysis. With a passion. Condemn it to hell. It is truly awful, in my opinion, and I hated it enough in English. When I went to look at unis to see what's on offer, I recoiled when I saw that a lot of places were like 'Here's some Goethe, here's some Dumat' because of my bad experience in English Lit. It's one of the reasons I didn't apply to Oxbridge (the other being I never would have gotten in ). But you can avoid them entirely, you just need to make sure you choose modules that you're interested in instead, which is entirely doable. Mummy Octo, as ever, gives the best advice, you can do completely pragmatic courses if you wish to; I heard Newcastle isn't type for literature enthusiasts, for example. If you want a degree which proves you can speak these languages fluently, a dislike for literature should not be something that stops you.

On the subject of doing a lot of literature in modern languages:

I absolutely loathe fictional analysis. With a passion. Condemn it to hell. It is truly awful, in my opinion, and I hated it enough in English. When I went to look at unis to see what's on offer, I recoiled when I saw that a lot of places were like 'Here's some Goethe, here's some Dumat' because of my bad experience in English Lit. It's one of the reasons I didn't apply to Oxbridge (the other being I never would have gotten in ). But you can avoid them entirely, you just need to make sure you choose modules that you're interested in instead, which is entirely doable. Mummy Octo, as ever, gives the best advice, you can do completely pragmatic courses if you wish to; I heard Newcastle isn't type for literature enthusiasts, for example. If you want a degree which proves you can speak these languages fluently, a dislike for literature should not be something that stops you.

Ich wäre elf Jahren gewesen, als du geboren bist!

Wie hoch sind die Erfordernisse für Oxbridge, dann?

Thanks for the reply, meowage. (I always chuckle when I read your username, as it makes me think of my cat who meows incessantly )

I know that one can avoid the study of literature, but I have before questioned my intentions of wanting to study a language degree. Before I went on a little summer trip to France and Italy, I was dead set for studying the Sciences and Maths, but I changed my mind...and now I've changed it back again! No, I think language learning is something I will keep as a passion or hobby in my spare time. If anything, I think I could remain teaching myself them and take the CEFR or equivalent tests, if I wanted to prove any later gained proficiency to employers. I'm not questioning the validity of studying a languages degree, but I've really had a drastic change of thought recently.

I've made some calls and apparently my former science tutors are all excited to have me back. It's going to be hard, and I hope I can do it.

AAA but from my GCSEs, I wouldn't have had much 'potential' :L (Cambridge was A*AA)

It's not often I do this, but I just need to get this out of my mind and I thought I'd do it here. I think I've made a grave error in my A level choices, and it's made me completely reconsider my options for the future. I love languages, but I also love the sciences. I never really thought much about English Literature and History, but I chose to study them. Now that I've had a few classes, I really don't think I'm going to enjoy the arts subjects, and that coupled with the fact I can't study my languages at college, I'm doubting whether I really should study a language degree when it would primarily feature history and literature; obviously...

Tres sympa Need to get a new laptop, might get one after christmas...

Take out the 'que' and yep, that's actually the better and more correct version.

French class... Only boy and the other kids were so crap and they were all amazed at my crappy French. Have to translate a whole brick of text for Friday, did most in class, might ask for some help!

There always seems to a gender imbalance in MFL classes. My Spanish class only has three boys out of 14, and the other class has a similar male:female ratio as well. I often think that if we weren't compelled to learn a foreign language for IB, the male:female ratio would probably be more like 1:10.