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Ask a Languages Student!

Hello! :hello:

Are you considering doing languages as your degree, or part of your degree?

Feel free to ask any questions you might have - I am at the University of Sheffield studying Modern Languages (French, Russian and Spanish).

@¿PuedoAyudarte? is also a very helpful student, studying Modern Languages and Translation (French and Spanish) at Cardiff University.

Another University of Sheffield student who is great for advice is @pizzanomics - studying Modern Languages (German, Dutch and Luxembourgish).

If you're also a languages student and fancy helping others out in this thread, please do!

Hopefully we can help! :h:

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(edited 5 years ago)

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Hi- I am considering doing French as part of my degree! I was wondering if you could tell me how big the jump is from a level (at an A grade). Also, are most of your lectures in the target language or are they delivered in English. I presumed the cultural lectures would be delivered in English?
Thanks
Reply 2
Original post by EmmaRBarker
Hi- I am considering doing French as part of my degree! I was wondering if you could tell me how big the jump is from a level (at an A grade). Also, are most of your lectures in the target language or are they delivered in English. I presumed the cultural lectures would be delivered in English?
Thanks


Hi! Awesome! I'd recommend!

The jump from A level: First year, It really wasn't too bad in terms of language. I think they used the first year to make sure everyone was on track, yet I was still able to learn things that were past the A level spec.

In terms of lectures, it depends. Most of my first year classes were seminars (smaller classes) - our lectures were in English (Those were on French history and culture / movements) but our Grammar / Language tutor always spoke to us and worked in French (unless it was a new concept / something we needed clarity on). We also had weekly oral classes - these were entirely in French.

(For Spanish, first semester she tried to use as little English as possible but we were beginners, and through second semester it was mostly taught in Spanish - Russian was taught in English even though they still spoke lots of Russian to us and we got tested on it every class in first year! :O )

In second year at my uni, we had to choose a specific french taught module, and then I had the option of taking on another french taught module or English taught module. So in second year, we've got culture modules in our target language.

Hope this helps :smile:
what career(s) can you do with a language degree or what job would you like to have once you graduate. I ask because I really want to do languages at university but I feel discouraged because I have no idea what I would do with it :/
Thanks so much for your response! So do the exams/assessments of each module/section of the degree correlate to what language the module is taught in? e.g. are the cultural modules (like French history) assessed in English because they are taught in English, while the grammar and oral is assessed in French?
Thanks
Original post by Harry171
what career(s) can you do with a language degree or what job would you like to have once you graduate. I ask because I really want to do languages at university but I feel discouraged because I have no idea what I would do with it :/

Language degrees open up to so many opportunities so I don’t think it matters too much if ur not entirely sure on ur career just yet. Atm I’m interested in translation and tourism but not 100% sure just yet, there are many paths for u to choose and I’m sure once u finish ur degree u will know what u wanna do :h:
@¿PuedoAyudarte? @Simbess , as two language students I'd be interested to know what you think of this old TSR guide to language degrees?:holmes:

The bits that are there anyway.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Languages_Degree
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by 04MR17
@¿PuedoAyudarte? @Simbess , as two language students I'd be interested to know what you think of this old TSR guide to language degrees?:holmes:

The bits that are there anyway.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Languages_Degree

AFAIK that explains stuff brilliantly :biggrin:
Reply 8
Original post by Harry171
what career(s) can you do with a language degree or what job would you like to have once you graduate. I ask because I really want to do languages at university but I feel discouraged because I have no idea what I would do with it :/


Hello! Thanks for asking!

I must admit, I initially did have this worry, going into the degree, but I've found out there are so many prospects - both directly related to the subjects themselves and then some from the skills you gain in a languages degree specifically.
Obviously there are jobs such as language teachers, translator, interpreter etc, with the chance to work in places such as MI5/6, GCHQ and MOD, but you could really go into any company with your languages degree.
I've found this list from University of Kent - it's pretty long but it just showed how varied the options are, and how a languages degree is still useful for so many places.
I've also got this list from my university, which shows where graduates went after they graduated. I hope these help!

Kent list of potential job opportunities: https://www.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/degree/modern-languages/index.html , https://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/modernlanguages.htm

Sheffield where graduates go: http://www.careers.dept.shef.ac.uk/studentgems/external/graduate.php - Check all of the Language options in Faculty of 'Arts and Humanities'.

As for myself, I don't really know. I'd love to do a Masters either in Translation or International security (purely out of passion), but after that, I haven't thought about jobs yet.

Hope this helps? Any other questions feel free to ask :smile:

Original post by EmmaRBarker
Thanks so much for your response! So do the exams/assessments of each module/section of the degree correlate to what language the module is taught in? e.g. are the cultural modules (like French history) assessed in English because they are taught in English, while the grammar and oral is assessed in French?
Thanks


Hi, that's alright! What we're here for. Yep, that's exactly right. For example, in first year, our french history modules were taught in English, so the questions were in English, and we answered in English. Vice versa if the module is taught in French. It's not as scary as you might think, answering a module in your target language - you'll have learned everything for it in French anyway. Although our first year language module was taught mostly in French, the exam was written for us in English and they make it clear which language you need to answer in (usually French). Which is nice :smile:

Original post by ¿PuedoAyudarte?
Language degrees open up to so many opportunities so I don’t think it matters too much if ur not entirely sure on ur career just yet. Atm I’m interested in translation and tourism but not 100% sure just yet, there are many paths for u to choose and I’m sure once u finish ur degree u will know what u wanna do


Thank you for your comment! What do you study and where? Are you enjoying it? :smile:

Original post by 04MR17
@¿PuedoAyudarte? @Simbess , as two language students I'd be interested to know what you think of this old TSR guide to language degrees?

The bits that are there anyway.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Languages_Degree


I think it explains things pretty well! Maybe a few more contact hours (most of my friends are on 16) but the descriptions and everything are up to date.
Original post by Simbess

Thank you for your comment! What do you study and where? Are you enjoying it? :smile:


Hey :hi: Ur very welcome :h:
I study Modern Languages and Translation (Advanced French and Beginners Spanish) at Cardiff :smile:
I absolutely love it :love:
Reply 10
Original post by ¿PuedoAyudarte?
Hey :hi: Ur very welcome :h:
I study Modern Languages and Translation (Advanced French and Beginners Spanish) at Cardiff :smile:
I absolutely love it :love:

Awesome! I'll tag you in the intro as another helpful student :h: I'm glad you're enjoying it, the added translation part sounds cool!
Original post by 04MR17
@¿PuedoAyudarte? @Simbess , as two language students I'd be interested to know what you think of this old TSR guide to language degrees?:holmes:

The bits that are there anyway.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Languages_Degree


(I've just finished 2nd year studying German, Dutch & Luxembourgish @ Uni of Sheffield)

I think it's mostly correct. I definitely agree with unis being quite lax with entry requirements. Also I had an impressive 18 hours a week in first year.

I might edit it later to make it more 'modern' and just fluff it up a bit.
Original post by pizzanomics
(I've just finished 2nd year studying German, Dutch & Luxembourgish @ Uni of Sheffield)

I think it's mostly correct. I definitely agree with unis being quite lax with entry requirements. Also I had an impressive 18 hours a week in first year.

I might edit it later to make it more 'modern' and just fluff it up a bit.


Hey, I'm about to start studying Modern Languages at Sheffield (Spanish, Dutch and Catalan) and was wondering how you went about organising your notes? At the moment my plan is to get three notebooks, three ring binders etc but idk if thats overkill. Thanks :smile:
Original post by pizzanomics
(I've just finished 2nd year studying German, Dutch & Luxembourgish @ Uni of Sheffield)

I think it's mostly correct. I definitely agree with unis being quite lax with entry requirements. Also I had an impressive 18 hours a week in first year.

I might edit it later to make it more 'modern' and just fluff it up a bit.


Luxembourgish :shock: I had no idea u could learn it at uni :redface:
How r u finding it? :h:

Original post by jjcairns
Hey, I'm about to start studying Modern Languages at Sheffield (Spanish, Dutch and Catalan) and was wondering how you went about organising your notes? At the moment my plan is to get three notebooks, three ring binders etc but idk if thats overkill. Thanks :smile:


I know u weren't asking me in particular but I had 3 lever arch folders (1 for French, 1 for spanish and 1 for both my translation modules) :smile:

Also I'm jealous of u doing Catalan :gah: It was a 2nd year module but Cardiff ruined the course :frown:
i have to choose my alevel options tomorrow and i am unsure about whether to do french or not. i think i will get a 7 or 8 (A or A*) but i am no t sure if i will need a 9 to do well in alevel as i really need to get 3As for uni. what did you get in your gcses and alevel in the language and is it really hard in alevel to get a good grip on?
Original post by miadaisy247
i have to choose my alevel options tomorrow and i am unsure about whether to do french or not. i think i will get a 7 or 8 (A or A*) but i am no t sure if i will need a 9 to do well in alevel as i really need to get 3As for uni. what did you get in your gcses and alevel in the language and is it really hard in alevel to get a good grip on?

U definitely don’t need a 9 to take A-level French, a 7/8 will be great (I got an A at GCSE)

Tbh I don’t think it’s that much harder at A-level, u just learn new tenses and grammar stuff but as long as u did well at GCSE there shouldn’t be any difficulty :smile: Also at AS we did easy topics like music and TV and at A2 it got harder like environment and multiculturalism but it’s really not too hard

I got a C at AS and B overall :h:
hopw this helps :thumbsup:
Original post by jjcairns
Hey, I'm about to start studying Modern Languages at Sheffield (Spanish, Dutch and Catalan) and was wondering how you went about organising your notes? At the moment my plan is to get three notebooks, three ring binders etc but idk if thats overkill. Thanks


Nope, not overkill at all. That's exactly what I do.

I have 3 ring binder folders, one for each language and all different colours (German Red, Dutch Orange, Luxembourgish Blue). I only put worksheets and booklets in these. I have a plastic wallet at the very front with everything contained from first year, then second year, etc. I fill up from the front with language work and fill up from the back with cultural modules work.

I have a stack of like 4/5 lined A4 note books, and take one with me to uni for the day and just scribble in it during the classes, all using the same colour ink. When I get home I rip out the pages and write each one up in the neat books for the corresponding languages, using black ink for anything in English, then red for the target language, and green and/or blue for highlighting specific grammar (I have like 10 of those bic push down black/red/blue/green pens lol), and I draw up neat tables in pencil too. Again, I fill up cultural modules from the back.

Hasn’t failed me so far. Regarding uni work, I only use my laptop for accessing MOLE (Sheffield’s online learning portal), writing essays and researching.

Original post by ¿PuedoAyudarte?
Luxembourgish I had no idea u could learn it at uni

How r u finding it?




Sheffield is the only uni in the world where you can do it. :wink:



I enjoy it. Not as much as Dutch or German, but it's still good. The teachers are great too and we've done a lot of unique and interesting stuff too this year - such as presenting research about Luxembourg to both the Luxembourgish Ambassador to the UK and the UK Ambassador to Luxembourg. As a language it's very, very similar to German, but if you're interested in linguistics and have even a vague interest in Luxembourgish/Luxembourg then it's definitely a module worth picking up!
Original post by miadaisy247
i have to choose my alevel options tomorrow and i am unsure about whether to do french or not. i think i will get a 7 or 8 (A or A*) but i am no t sure if i will need a 9 to do well in alevel as i really need to get 3As for uni. what did you get in your gcses and alevel in the language and is it really hard in alevel to get a good grip on?


If you enjoy it, then do it.

I got a B in German at GCSE when I wasn't really interested in it, then took it at AS because I was alright at it and had no idea what to choose, but I got one mark into a D at AS, then absolutely smashed resits and got an A in all modules apart from the A2 paper which was a C.

But I went to a different uni to do a completely different course, but realised that I did actually want to carry on with German, so I applied to do it at Sheffield after not having done it for a whole year. It was scary since most people either came straight from Sixth Form or had a gap year doing a ski season in Austria, but it was totally fine. I’m killing it.

If your teacher is good and you work hard you will be fine. Do a little bit (20 mins) every day, as opposed to setting aside specific days for it, and you'll be golden.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by pizzanomics
If you enjoy it, then do it.

I got a B in German at GCSE when I wasn't really interested in it, then took it at AS because I was alright at it and had no idea what to choose, but I got one mark into a D at AS, then absolutely smashed resits and got an A in all modules apart from the A2 paper which was a C.

But I went to a different uni to do a completely different course, but realised that I did actually want to carry on with German, so I applied to do it at Sheffield after not having done it for a whole year. It was scary since most people either came straight from Sixth Form or had a gap year doing a ski season in Austria, but it was totally fine. I’m killing it.

If your teacher is good and you work hard you will be fine. Do a little bit (20 mins) every day, as opposed to setting aside specific days for it, and you'll be golden.

Hey,
Sorry to keep bothering you 😂 I’m coming to the end of my gap year now so I will have had a year out of learning Spanish (similar to you having a year off). Do you have any advice about how to bridge the gap and build yourself back up to your old standard because it’s my main concern at the moment!

Also thanks for the notebook advice, I’ll probably follow a similar system to yours :smile:
Reply 19
Original post by pizzanomics
(I've just finished 2nd year studying German, Dutch & Luxembourgish @ Uni of Sheffield)

I think it's mostly correct. I definitely agree with unis being quite lax with entry requirements. Also I had an impressive 18 hours a week in first year.

I might edit it later to make it more 'modern' and just fluff it up a bit.


Yaaaaaas, let the BAML students unite!! Do you want me to add you into the intro as another helpful student? How did you find Second year? I'm going into second year come October 2018 :O

Original post by jjcairns
Hey, I'm about to start studying Modern Languages at Sheffield (Spanish, Dutch and Catalan) and was wondering how you went about organising your notes? At the moment my plan is to get three notebooks, three ring binders etc but idk if thats overkill. Thanks :smile:


Amazing! :woo::yay:I definitely recommend it here, it's awesome! I think Pizzanomics has summed it up perfectly, I had nearly an identical system. 3 plastic wallet folders (one for each subject, for sheets, lesson by lesson notes, homeworks etc) and it's mental how similar that is - I put all my language work at the front then filled up with my cultural module (notably for Spanish) from the back. :h:
I'd definitely recommend bringing A4 lined paper with you - I used to write up my notes neat and during the class, then I'd put straight in my folder. Ilove my laptop but again only really use it to access our online portal and emails.

In terms of a colour system, I did something similar but mostly for vocab - I'd yellow highlight if it sounded similar to the English version / was indec from English etc, Black for English then a colour of my choice (just whichever I was feeling) for the new vocab / grammar.
I found for Spanish that our book was in Spanish and our teacher spoke in Spanish to us nearly all the time, so bear that in mind when thinking how you want to lay out your notes.

I'd also recommend verb flashcards, if you think that kind of thing might help you? I do them for Russian and it's useful for me.

Are you excited to start? Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask us!

I was debating taking on a Luxembourgish module, but if you're already studying three languages (or BAML, as it is fondly refered to as) then they tend to say just focus on the three :dontknow: With that said though, first year is incredibly flexible, so you can try out different languages to make sure your degree is right for you :smile:

Original post by ¿PuedoAyudarte?
U definitely don’t need a 9 to take A-level French, a 7/8 will be great (I got an A at GCSE)

Tbh I don’t think it’s that much harder at A-level, u just learn new tenses and grammar stuff but as long as u did well at GCSE there shouldn’t be any difficulty :smile: Also at AS we did easy topics like music and TV and at A2 it got harder like environment and multiculturalism but it’s really not too hard

I got a C at AS and B overall :h:
hopw this helps :thumbsup:


Original post by miadaisy247
i have to choose my alevel options tomorrow and i am unsure about whether to do french or not. i think i will get a 7 or 8 (A or A*) but i am no t sure if i will need a 9 to do well in alevel as i really need to get 3As for uni. what did you get in your gcses and alevel in the language and is it really hard in alevel to get a good grip on?


Hey @miadaisy247 - how was your french result? I would definitely recommend taking it at A level - if its something you enjoy then I'd say it's well worth it! As PuedoAyudarte said, you don't need a 9 to succeed at A level.
I did the same French A level type as PuedoAyudarte ,however I know the syllabus has changed since? From what I've heard, you actually have more flexibility with the new course - your IRP gives you the chance to explore any area of french culture you want but in much more depth than you'd get from a standard class. Have a look around TSR and see what students who have just finished their A level have said about it.
(edited 5 years ago)

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