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What would be the benefits of taking German A level?

Hi. You may be already aware but I'm in an AS options dilemma, between History and German (the others are Maths (fast track), Bio and Chem). At the moment I'm leaning towards the science side, but I'm not 100% certain - I might suddenly change to take an arts degree, in which case history might be more beneficial.

Anyway, what is the benefit of learning German at A level? I love the subject, but it's a shame that it's not a very widely spoken language. Plus, most German people are excellent in English anyway, so there is not as much demand or necessity to be able to speak German compared with, say, Spanish. So:

- Would I be able to speak German if I take it at A level (at the moment, I can only say things that are strictly related to speaking exams)?
- Would it be much use to me in the future?
- Are the myths true that German is 'the' hardest A level and it's practically impossible to get an A?
- Would I be better off taking perhaps evening classes in Spanish or something (I do Spanish GCSE too)?
- Any other information about doing German (or any MFL) A level?

Thanks for any advice.

Reply 1

Fleece

15

it may not be widely spoken, but its tenth in the world and theres about 110 million native speakers, so its more widespread than you'd think. French actually comes in AFTER german, at number 11, which may surprise you.

And as for most germans being excellent in english - thats not true. I have met more germans that cant speak english very well, than i have those who can. particularly in the south, english just isnt needed or used.

as for your questions

- you'll not be fluent by any means, but you'll certainly know more than GCSE. You'll understand why you're saying things too, rather than just learning set phrases.

- its very big in the business world. and there are 5 countries that speak it...

- id say it was one of the hardest a-levels but its really not impossible to get an A...depends how you apply yourself

- you could do that with spanish - you just need to decide which language you prefer

- my alevels were quite a while ago but they are a lot of work with languages....be prepared.

Reply 2

deutschsweetie

8

GERMAN IS THE HARDEST A LEVEL? wat about french!!!!! ohh deary i know my subjects arnt brilliant for making life easy on myself... in reply to your post topic.... i sometimes ask myself the same question now... im doing AS and the grammar is harder than many other langs like italian and french . i will b honest with you but the rest is fine . but if grammar isnt your forte like me... well i dno.. its your choice.. German is a great passion of mine and ive always loved it as a language :smile:

Reply 3

Excalibur

OP

15

Grammar isn't too much problem, I shouldn't think. I don't mind it, and we've done a fair bit beyond GCSE. The things I'm worried about are probably speaking & listening, because those are the two areas I'm weakest in at the moment. Oh, and the writing - especially that huge long essay at the end of the paper...

Thanks for the replies though :smile:

Reply 4

mellow-yellow

1

Excalibur

Grammar isn't too much problem, I shouldn't think. I don't mind it, and we've done a fair bit beyond GCSE. The things I'm worried about are probably speaking & listening, because those are the two areas I'm weakest in at the moment. Oh, and the writing - especially that huge long essay at the end of the paper...

Thanks for the replies though :smile:

Do you know what board you would be doing? Becuase it might be useful to have a look on their website to see the syllabus etc and what the exam papers consist of. Each board is slightly different.

Also if you want I can send a couple of essays I've done or something so you can see the kinda stuff you write about and the standard of German used. (although I don't think my German is as good as it should be hehe! I sooo need that A so I'm gonna have to sort it out)

Reply 5

discombobulation

2

Maths and German are considered two of the hardest A levels, so doing both may be a struggle. Going from statistics the least number of people get A's in German and Maths.
I take both German and History and German is harder than History, but much more satisfying.
History is good depending on what syllabus you get stuck with, and depending what your interests are really.
I'd go German cause Sciences and languages fit together really well, whereas History would stick out a bit

Reply 6

paddy

14

Excalibur

Hi. You may be already aware but I'm in an AS options dilemma, between History and German (the others are Maths (fast track), Bio and Chem). At the moment I'm leaning towards the science side, but I'm not 100% certain - I might suddenly change to take an arts degree, in which case history might be more beneficial.

Anyway, what is the benefit of learning German at A level? I love the subject, but it's a shame that it's not a very widely spoken language. Plus, most German people are excellent in English anyway, so there is not as much demand or necessity to be able to speak German compared with, say, Spanish. So:

- Would I be able to speak German if I take it at A level (at the moment, I can only say things that are strictly related to speaking exams)?
- Would it be much use to me in the future?
- Are the myths true that German is 'the' hardest A level and it's practically impossible to get an A?
- Would I be better off taking perhaps evening classes in Spanish or something (I do Spanish GCSE too)?
- Any other information about doing German (or any MFL) A level?

Thanks for any advice.

No!! For a start I'd be much more worried about doing Chemistry, now THAT'S what I've heard is the hardest subject at A Level, like Maths and Latin.
MFLs at A Level are NOT that hard, especially if you have a talent in it. I know I'm doing Spanish, *THE* easiest language, but German is not that hard if you like it, you may have to put in a little bit of effort for an A but it's worth it if you like German.
I'd say go for it. With an A Level in a language most unis will let you start another language from scratch (always a useful option). If you don't want to do German, definitely do Spanish, it's such a good language and far easier, but it sounds like German would be better for you.
Paddy

Reply 7

Cunning Linguist

3

i TOTALLY agree with paddy!! chemistry is, honestly in my opinion, about five times harder than German.

My advice? BEFORE you start your German AS (i hope now that you've been convinced to do it!) learn ALL your grammar inside. seriously, it is just a matter of sitting down and learning it. and when you keep practising your spoken (and written) German, you will enjoy it! and you'll laugh at those who can't do it. mwahahahah how evil.

Reply 8

Excalibur

OP

15

Thanks everyone for the replies :smile:

After talking with my parents & sisters & teachers & friends etc, I think I'm convinced about taking German!

mellow-yellow: Well, at the moment our school does OCR, but the head of MFL said that they may be switching to AQA for the new year. If you could send me some stuff, that would be most helpful! I'll PM you my email addy. Good luck in getting that A!

Reply 9

veryrandom

10

The fact that you love it I think is reason enough to do it!

Reply 10

ange de la nuit

11

personally, if i wasn't passionate about languages and i didn't want a career with german, i don't think i'd do languages - everyone who liked it last year wants to drop it now apart from those who are serious about it for a career, because it's so much hard work. having said that, if i didn't want a career in langs, i'd probably still have chosen geman cuz i'd have gone for an english related career and i'm a languagey sort of person, and i'd have stuck at it cuz i don't want to have to drop anything.
but yeah, it's hard (i'm sooooooooooooooo much better at german but at school i find french easier)

good luck, hope i haven't put you off or annoyed anyone, don't get me wrong - german is the most amazing language :wink:

ooh and is it true about people not being so good at english in the south...might have to test that one out... :wink:

Reply 11

austrian guy

hmmm. History or German. I would go for history (provided you are learning other foreign languages). if not, do german.

A good reason for learning german is being able to communicate with austrians, but on the other hand, A-level german students won't understand real german...:

Euda, des is ois ur orsch. Des is ma ziemlich blunzn. Oba Deitsch is scho leiwand.

Reply 12

Loz2402

what_a_shambles

Maths and German are considered two of the hardest A levels, so doing both may be a struggle. Going from statistics the least number of people get A's in German and Maths.
I take both German and History and German is harder than History, but much more satisfying.
History is good depending on what syllabus you get stuck with, and depending what your interests are really.
I'd go German cause Sciences and languages fit together really well, whereas History would stick out a bit

paddy357

No!! For a start I'd be much more worried about doing Chemistry, now THAT'S what I've heard is the hardest subject at A Level, like Maths and Latin.

and what am i doing? : french, german, chemistry and maths. well for AS anyway, am dropping chemistry lol.

german isnt as hard as you're making out i dont think and of course its possible to get an A! the only thing with this is that the course starts off with the grammar and its quite difficult (well thats what happened in my lessons). but once you get over the initial shock of discovering that there are 4 cases and each have rules etc etc, its fine.

people say that it is a huge jump between GCSE and A-level languages, but i think you will cope. its not that bad, i find that i have learnt quite a lot already. im not finding a lot of difference difficulty wise between french and german though.

maths isnt hard at the moment. but then again ive always been lucky and been able to understand maths very quickly and pick up things easily. chemistry is quite hard, probably the most difficult of my four AS's, but thats also because i find it very boring lol, and dont have much of an interest in it as i do with my other subjects. needless to say thats the subject im dropping next year :-) lol

german is a good choice to go with sciences i think, but at the end of the day i think you should do the one that interests you most. im guessing this subject you would drop at the end of the first year? or would you keep them both up?

hope thats helped a bit!

Reply 13

Fleece

15

austrian guy

hmmm. History or German. I would go for history (provided you are learning other foreign languages). if not, do german.

A good reason for learning german is being able to communicate with austrians, but on the other hand, A-level german students won't understand real german...:

ooh that just reminded me of when i had Bayerisch lessons :biggrin:

sounds completely different to german, but its cool. Geh ma!

Reply 14

nikki

9

Excalibur

Hi. You may be already aware but I'm in an AS options dilemma, between History and German

[...]

Anyway, what is the benefit of learning German at A level? I love the subject, but it's a shame that it's not a very widely spoken language. Plus, most German people are excellent in English anyway, so there is not as much demand or necessity to be able to speak German compared with, say, Spanish. So:

- Would I be able to speak German if I take it at A level (at the moment, I can only say things that are strictly related to speaking exams)?
- Would it be much use to me in the future?

When you think about it, history isn't directly useful for a lot of things either, I doubt you'll be stopped in the street at knifepoint and only set free if you can answer questions on World War 2 :wink:

. It's all about the skills you learn. I think that language skills, no matter what the language, are a very good thing to have, but I'm probably biased. :smile:

Reply 15

Cunning Linguist

3

nikki

When you think about it, history isn't directly useful for a lot of things either, I doubt you'll be stopped in the street at knifepoint and only set free if you can answer questions on World War 2 :wink:

. It's all about the skills you learn. I think that language skills, no matter what the language, are a very good thing to have, but I'm probably biased. :smile:

not at all...i think you've got a very good point.

lol imagine being stopped in the street at knifepoint being asked a question on WW2. i'd just tell the guy to kill me there and then! (or fight back obviously...)

Reply 16

Fleece

15

but if you study german, then chances are you'll know a lot about WW2 anyway, so you're set :tongue:

Reply 17

Cunning Linguist

3

Fleece

but if you study german, then chances are you'll know a lot about WW2 anyway, so you're set :tongue:

nope - i know ZILCH about ww2!! i guess i should do really, it'd obviously help to realise how the country has been shaped by past events. but i'm just more into the language aspect of it all tbh