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Is studying two languages at GCSE hard?

Please help, I am wanting to study Spanish and French at GCSE, and i am good at both and I enjoy both too. So...should I?

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Heyy!! I'm choosing my GCSEs this year too, and I'm going to pick French and Spanish too:smile: here's some of the advice I've been given -

- The two languages complement each other, and doing both will help you in reading and listening exams. You may get a little more confused in writing and speaking, but not enough to change your grade.
- For those that have a natural flair for languages, the workload is quite light and it requires less revision come your exams.
- Languages are really well regarded by employers but few people can speak a second foreign language nowadays, so it is particularly desirable and impressive.
- If you have a high target grade in both you will almost certainly do well.

I have made a few threads previously about doing two languages so if you'd like anymore advice check out my profile, or private message me:smile:
Here's a thread that helped me when I was choosing:biggrin: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2359871#primary_content
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by zstudent13
Please help, I am wanting to study Spanish and French at GCSE, and i am good at both and I enjoy both too. So...should I?


if you enjoy then do it!! you're lucky that they both compliment each other, because i also studied 2 languages which were COMPLETELY different (japanese and spanish). i sat jap in yr 10 and im sitting spanish in yr 11 xx
Reply 4
If you think you can manage it, I do it. I have a natural thing for languages and enjoyed both (currently doing A Level French) - although i had to do a lot of controlled assessments (don’t think those are a thing anymore though), I did the least revision for these two and came out with full UMS in both! I’m sure you will manage just fine :smile:
Reply 5
My friend did both and she didn’t regret it! In fact, she wanted to do both languages for A Level, but only managed to do only one because our school didn’t do Spanish. Also, the workload is light and I did the least revision for it out of all my GCSEs.
Reply 6
Original post by tooschool4cool
Heyy!! I'm choosing my GCSEs this year too, and I'm going to pick French and Spanish too:smile: here's some of the advice I've been given -

- The two languages complement each other, and doing both will help you in reading and listening exams. You may get a little more confused in writing and speaking, but not enough to change your grade.
- For those that have a natural flair for languages, the workload is quite light and it requires less revision come your exams.
- Languages are really well regarded by employers but few people can speak a second foreign language nowadays, so it is particularly desirable and impressive.
- If you have a high target grade in both you will almost certainly do well.

I have made a few threads previously about doing two languages so if you'd like anymore advice check out my profile, or private message me:smile:


Okay! Thank you so much, it’s good to have advice from people in the same position as you! Your advice is really useful and helpful, because I haven’t been asking around lots and lots but that was very useful. I enjoy both languages, and I will definitely end up doing two! May I ask, have you definitely submitted you are doing both Spanish and French for GCSE or do you still have time to confirm ?
Reply 7
Original post by leavidal
My friend did both and she didn’t regret it! In fact, she wanted to do both languages for A Level, but only managed to do only one because our school didn’t do Spanish. Also, the workload is light and I did the least revision for it out of all my GCSEs.


Thank you! Generally, Is it a lot of coursework in languages or not? They are both completely fine for me, I just wanted to know :smile:
Reply 8
Original post by mikela
if you enjoy then do it!! you're lucky that they both compliment each other, because i also studied 2 languages which were COMPLETELY different (japanese and spanish). i sat jap in yr 10 and im sitting spanish in yr 11 xx


Thank you for the advice ! I love languages, so I generally feel they both turn out great for me! Is it going well for you? Is it a lot of revision or not ? xx
Original post by zstudent13
Please help, I am wanting to study Spanish and French at GCSE, and i am good at both and I enjoy both too. So...should I?


Back in the day- I thought about doing both (I loved both in years 8 and 9).
My school advised just doing the one. So I did French. I wish I'd done Spanish instead though.
Reply 10
Original post by Emma:-)
Back in the day- I thought about doing both (I loved both in years 8 and 9).
My school advised just doing the one. So I did French. I wish I'd done Spanish instead though.


Do you think you would have managed doing both of you could have ?, was one language hard or easy to do than you thought ?
Reply 11
Original post by zstudent13
Thank you for the advice ! I love languages, so I generally feel they both turn out great for me! Is it going well for you? Is it a lot of revision or not ? xx


im the type of person who can handle languages fairly well, so it wasnt such a struggle for me. spanish is similar to my home language (tagalog) so i dont revise that too much, but that being said, i still revise anyway. ngl, i revised for japanese two weeks before the exams and got an a. i wish i revised earlier tho :^) learning languages is so fulfilling, you'll definitely enjoy it in GCSE xx my MAIN tip is to REVISE TENSES!!!!
Reply 12
I did French and Spanish at GCSE and I had no problems. In fact, they complimented each other :smile:

I would go for it if you enjoy them.
Original post by zstudent13
Thank you! Generally, Is it a lot of coursework in languages or not? They are both completely fine for me, I just wanted to know :smile:


I don’t know about the new GCSEs but it’s not daunting. Also, I wouldn’t say a lot, but my teacher made us do more than what’s needed so we can get a pretty good hang of it. It’s pretty enjoyable and fascinating, I’m sure you’ll love it.
Reply 14
Original post by mikela
im the type of person who can handle languages fairly well, so it wasnt such a struggle for me. spanish is similar to my home language (tagalog) so i dont revise that too much, but that being said, i still revise anyway. ngl, i revised for japanese two weeks before the exams and got an a. i wish i revised earlier tho :^) learning languages is so fulfilling, you'll definitely enjoy it in GCSE xx my MAIN tip is to REVISE TENSES!!!!

THANK YOU! I think I could enjoy it more because I find languages very exciting anyway! Your advice really helped, congrats on your A ! And good luck in any future exams (Spanish!), be sure to tell me how it goes ! Xx
I’m in year 11 and i do two languages at GCSE (Mandarin and French) which are tbh my favourite subjects. If you have a knack for languages and put effort in consistently then they’re much easier than expected:tongue:
Also with the new gcse there aren’t any controlled assessments (I noticed someone mentioned controlled assessments above^)

Original post by zstudent13
Please help, I am wanting to study Spanish and French at GCSE, and i am good at both and I enjoy both too. So...should I?
Original post by zstudent13
Okay! Thank you so much, it’s good to have advice from people in the same position as you! Your advice is really useful and helpful, because I haven’t been asking around lots and lots but that was very useful. I enjoy both languages, and I will definitely end up doing two! May I ask, have you definitely submitted you are doing both Spanish and French for GCSE or do you still have time to confirm ?


I still have time to change my mind but I'm very happy with my options as they are at the moment (I plan on taking english lit + lang, maths, biology, chemistry, physics, geography, spanish, french and drama) good luck with your decisions!! xx
Reply 17
Original post by sundae
I did French and Spanish at GCSE and I had no problems. In fact, they complimented each other :smile:

I would go for it if you enjoy them.


Thank you! I do love them both, and languages for me are very enjoyable:smile: Did you manage to revise all in time, or was it a lot of workload ?
Reply 18
Original post by zstudent13
THANK YOU! I think I could enjoy it more because I find languages very exciting anyway! Your advice really helped, congrats on your A ! And good luck in any future exams (Spanish!), be sure to tell me how it goes ! Xx


thank you so much x and you're welcome!! if you want, i can message you some of my spanish advice and resources xx
Original post by zstudent13
Do you think you would have managed doing both of you could have ?, was one language hard or easy to do than you thought ?


Doing French wasn't too bad tbh. It wasn't too hard. I just think I'd have preferred Spanish instead.
I think my school advised against doing 2 as they thought it could be restricting your options a bit, with 2 out of the 4 optional subjects being languages.

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