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Need serous help with my language b choice? (French B, Arabic B or Spanish Ab Initio)

The thing is i can't decide on which language to take. I want to take the easy way out tbh honest since i'll be doing heavy hl subjects. According to the people i've talked to spanish ab initio is a really easy course? My other options are to take arabic b or french b. I've been learning french since year 7 (5 years) and currently take it as an IGCSE subjects and am getting A's/A*'s. Since i don't really like french i really wouldn't enjoy doing it for another 2 years. BUT it seems like a viable choice since i have a good base in it, plus my neighbour is a french tutor and is willing to tutor me if need be.

Or i could do arabic b, since i've been learning the language for a very long time (at school but since the lessons aren't taken seriously we've never actually learned much). I've also been living in a Arab country for the past 13 years which makes understanding arabic very easy. But the problem with doing arabic b is the fact that i was never taught arabic grammar properly and therefore have a much better grounding with french. I'd say my oral is equal for both although i understand arabic more. Like french, i'd easily be able to get a tutor if need be. My current location would make it more advantageous for me to take arabic since i can practice my oral on a daily basis where as i would't be able to do that with french

The final option would be to do spanish ab initio. Is it really that easy? I'm aiming for a 6 in whichever language course I take.

My Subjects:

HL: Biology,Chemistry,Economics
SL: Maths,English lang/lit and ?

Which do you think would be best to do?

Thanks in advance!
Reply 1
Original post by pbunny
The thing is i can't decide on which language to take. I want to take the easy way out tbh honest since i'll be doing heavy hl subjects. According to the people i've talked to spanish ab initio is a really easy course? My other options are to take arabic b or french b. I've been learning french since year 7 (5 years) and currently take it as an IGCSE subjects and am getting A's/A*'s. Since i don't really like french i really wouldn't enjoy doing it for another 2 years. BUT it seems like a viable choice since i have a good base in it, plus my neighbour is a french tutor and is willing to tutor me if need be.

Or i could do arabic b, since i've been learning the language for a very long time (at school but since the lessons aren't taken seriously we've never actually learned much). I've also been living in a Arab country for the past 13 years which makes understanding arabic very easy. But the problem with doing arabic b is the fact that i was never taught arabic grammar properly and therefore have a much better grounding with french. I'd say my oral is equal for both although i understand arabic more. Like french, i'd easily be able to get a tutor if need be. My current location would make it more advantageous for me to take arabic since i can practice my oral on a daily basis where as i would't be able to do that with french

The final option would be to do spanish ab initio. Is it really that easy? I'm aiming for a 6 in whichever language course I take.

My Subjects:

HL: Biology,Chemistry,Economics
SL: Maths,English lang/lit and ?

Which do you think would be best to do?

Thanks in advance!



Personally in your situation I would probably take Arabic. I took French as it was the only other language I had done in the past that my school offered at IB and although I quite enjoyed it and got a 6 overall, I really struggled with the oral part. (My oral grade was a 4, other marks were 7s, I got an A* at GCSE). The thing IB like is idiomatic expressions that locals would use as well as a deep understanding of the culture, which it seems to me you would do best at in Arabic. You can be taught the grammar but being able to understand the language is less easy to pick up. Yes AB initio Spanish may be fairly easy for some , but you really wont know for yourself until you are halfway through the course by which time its too late. I did Spanish at GCSE as well and found it harder than French. Hope this helps :smile:
Reply 2
Original post by gravesy
Personally in your situation I would probably take Arabic. I took French as it was the only other language I had done in the past that my school offered at IB and although I quite enjoyed it and got a 6 overall, I really struggled with the oral part. (My oral grade was a 4, other marks were 7s, I got an A* at GCSE). The thing IB like is idiomatic expressions that locals would use as well as a deep understanding of the culture, which it seems to me you would do best at in Arabic. You can be taught the grammar but being able to understand the language is less easy to pick up. Yes AB initio Spanish may be fairly easy for some , but you really wont know for yourself until you are halfway through the course by which time its too late. I did Spanish at GCSE as well and found it harder than French. Hope this helps :smile:


Thanks for the input! I've decided to take spanish ab initio for the pure fact that the teacher for it is apparently AMAZING! Most of her students get 7's and 6's. And I talked to someone in the school who informed me that the workload is minimal and that's it's an extremely fun (something i certainly wouldn't experience with arabic). Another thing I found out is that the Arabic oral that locals speak is not what is required for the IB oral exam which is my weakness - the natives i spoke to say they struggle with IB Arabic B oral, how on earth would i handle it?
Reply 3
Original post by pbunny
Thanks for the input! I've decided to take spanish ab initio for the pure fact that the teacher for it is apparently AMAZING! Most of her students get 7's and 6's. And I talked to someone in the school who informed me that the workload is minimal and that's it's an extremely fun (something i certainly wouldn't experience with arabic). Another thing I found out is that the Arabic oral that locals speak is not what is required for the IB oral exam which is my weakness - the natives i spoke to say they struggle with IB Arabic B oral, how on earth would i handle it?


Ah that's fair enough. Good luck!

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