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Should I self study German or Spanish at A-level?

My A-levels are coming up soon and my school doesn't offer any of them at A-level! But I am sure I want to do one as I want to take a language at degree level. I have a German GCSE and think I've done well on it so at least I have a basis on German, however, a lot of people say the grammar is a lot harder and so may be harder to self-teach. I would be learning spanish from scratch, but my mum is fluent in spanish so I could have help there, and heard it was slightly easier. I am definitely doing one but which one?
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Asolare
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The step up to German grammar at A-Level is not as bad as that of Spanish or French which have a much bigger step up at A-Level.

I would say that unless you have access to a private German tutor or a native speaker of some kind, you would be better off going for Spanish providing your mum can teach you properly and she's aware of the specification. It will be quite hard to self-study a language A-Level unless you're 100% clear on what you need to study.
Original post by Elllayla
My A-levels are coming up soon and my school doesn't offer any of them at A-level! But I am sure I want to do one as I want to take a language at degree level. I have a German GCSE and think I've done well on it so at least I have a basis on German, however, a lot of people say the grammar is a lot harder and so may be harder to self-teach. I would be learning spanish from scratch, but my mum is fluent in spanish so I could have help there, and heard it was slightly easier. I am definitely doing one but which one?


I've just finished my A-levels, and I did French and Spanish. Personally, I would choose German as it sounds as if you have a solid understanding of the language already, although having a parent who speaks Spanish would put you in good stead for practising your conversational skills.

I found that in terms of vocabulary and grammar, A-level isn't as big a step up from GCSE than some people say, particularly if you've done well at GCSE, so I'm sure you could self-teach yourself those parts of the course quite easily. Memrise is a good resource for this!

What I think would be a bit more difficult would be self-teaching history and literature, as A-level has a far bigger emphasis on this. However, if you choose one of the more common books/films/periods of history then there will be tonnes of resources online. And let me know if you have any questions about this, I studied the Spanish Civil War!

The speaking might be an issue as well, as it's really not something you can do on your own. If you choose Spanish, obviously you can chat to your mum, but if you take German there are plenty of conversation clubs/Skype groups out there to practice your conversational skills. If you're staying at your current school for A-levels, maybe you could set up a short time each week when you could practice speaking in the language with your GCSE teachers. They're sure to either be native speakers, or at the very least have a degree in the language, so their knowledge won't stop at GCSE!

The experience will be what you make of it. You won't have a teacher to make sure you're working, but if you're really good at motivating yourself and if languages are what you're passionate about then I'm sure you'll do great. Buy some textbooks off Amazon, get yourself a copy of the specification, and take all the help that your mum/the internet can give you!

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