Three Languages to A-Level?

I'm currently residing in year 11, and am choosing my options for KS5. At GCSE I do French, German and Spanish, and I am sure that I want to do languages at university (OK, it's possible I'll change my mind - but very unlikely).

French is a given - it's my best language. My question is should I continue both German and Spanish - considering that I don't like one more than the other and I have equal ability (A* grade predicted) in both.

I will do languages plus two other subjects no matter what - but I'm having difficulty deciding whether to do two or three languages. I probably won't want to do three languages at university because it might dilute my fluency. I've already learnt for French a lot of the A-Level vocabulary and for Spanish and German I've memorised all of the pronouns, verb endings for most irregular verb in every tense, adjectival ending and articles for German cases. In all three languages I'm familiar with every tense, going right down to the imperfect subjunctive for each.

I enjoy the languages equally, and I know that if I drop one I'll regret it. I don't know much about the culture of each country, but of course I know about the political, economic and social relevance of each language (i.e. French most asked for by employers, Germany biggest economy in Europe, Spanish spoken by more people). I also know that Spanish is more commonly available ab-initio at university, and German department are closing down (but I'll be looking at a Russell Group uni anyway).

So two or three? (Sorry for making you read all that if you wanted to help me!)

Reply 1

annab1684

I'd say do all of them, taking into account what you've said, but ensure that you choose your 4th subject very carefully, your 2nd favorite thing, but still relevant to languages, in case you change your mind. English Lit or History would be a good choice.

Reply 2

andy12691

Apart from Languages, what else are you interested in?
I'd suggest doing 2 languages, plus something like Sociology, English Lit or Economics. And if you're ok with science, do one i.e: maths, biology... You can always do 4 AS and drop one in second year.

Reply 3

sylarfangirl

Do it, languages are amazing at A-level.
The cross-over in topics can be a little annoying, but it does help! You can swap ideas you learn on them from each language to improve another.
I'm currently doing French and German, and your language sounds like it's at a brilliant level. Heck, if you've done what you've said, I'd wager your German is way better than mine, and I got an A last year.
Good luck!

Reply 4

username330427

Do what you enjoy. That's the best advice I've ever been given. :smile:

It also sounds like you enjoy your languages a lot more than I enjoy mine, so it's so much more worthwhile you doing them. :wink:

Reply 5

Ooh La La

I'd say go for it. You can always drop or swap one in the first couple of weeks if you're not enjoying it. You're so lucky to be able to do all of them. Good luck :smile:

Reply 6

BeckyIsOptimistic

I was in the same position as you a year ago, but there's not much of a point doing a 5th AS unless you want to do it for the enjoyment of learning the language, but it's quite a bit of extra work. You mentioned that 3 languages at uni could dilute your fluency, and this could happen at AS too simply because you don't have the time to focus more on two of them.
Do it if you enjoy it and you believe you can do well even with the extra work load (: In my case I didn't love French enough and had literally no French accent so I dropped it!

Reply 7

xmarilynx

It sounds like you have a lot of ability in languages, so it would be a shame to drop one. I'd say choose one or two other subjects to keep your options open, but that are also relevant to languages, such as History, English Lit or even a logic-based subject such as Maths or a Science. The workload shouldn't be too great, because if you've done all you've said then getting A's at A level for the languages should be fairly straightforward.