Modern languages at A-Level / uni

Hi i’m in year 11 atm and take both French and Spanish. They are my best and favourite subjects but i’m not sure of taking them at A-Level because it’s supposed to be a lot harder and i’m especially worried about the speaking bit with IRP (would be aqa). Also thinking about after A-Levels if I did both I’d want to do a languages degree at uni but i’d be terrified of year abroad because i get very scared when speaking and i’m bad at speaking to new people in any language. Any advice appreciated

Hi i’m in year 11 atm and take both French and Spanish. They are my best and favourite subjects but i’m not sure of taking them at A-Level because it’s supposed to be a lot harder and i’m especially worried about the speaking bit with IRP (would be aqa). Also thinking about after A-Levels if I did both I’d want to do a languages degree at uni but i’d be terrified of year abroad because i get very scared when speaking and i’m bad at speaking to new people in any language. Any advice appreciated

Hey! I took German GCSE and A-Level (AQA both) and I am now studying German at Uni as a first year. In terms of taking languages at A Level, honestly yes it is quite daunting at the beginning and I was intimidated by it- but that being said it is a very rewarding subject as you build on those skills you have learnt at GCSE (which you seem to be confident with!!) and you widen your general knowledge of the language and target country- modern languages are also highly respected by Universities as they are known to be a challenge. But when I was sat doing my A Level speaking exam for German (IRP), I realised that I was capable enough and I could do it and most importantly, I loved the language, and I had chosen a topic which I enjoyed researching for my IRP- I really recommend taking a language basically.
In terms of year abroad, I feel the same way but I'm hoping that by 3rd year (year abroad year) I will feel confident in my abilities and be ready to go and explore Germany/Austria!!
In the meantime, I hope Year 11 goes well and go smash your GCSE's!! <33

Hi i’m in year 11 atm and take both French and Spanish. They are my best and favourite subjects but i’m not sure of taking them at A-Level because it’s supposed to be a lot harder and i’m especially worried about the speaking bit with IRP (would be aqa). Also thinking about after A-Levels if I did both I’d want to do a languages degree at uni but i’d be terrified of year abroad because i get very scared when speaking and i’m bad at speaking to new people in any language. Any advice appreciated

I did an MFL degree (French and beginners' German) and I'm also naturally a very introverted person. I think confidence is something that comes with doing more learning. Certainly at GCSE level I wouldn't have felt confident speaking French or Spanish (which were my MFL GCSEs/A-levels) with a native speaker, but as I did A-level and learnt and practised more, I became a lot more confident. The first two years of the uni course are also a great help in easing you in gently to working with natives!

Thank you for advice
If you don’t mind me asking what job do you do now (assuming finished uni and things)?

Nothing particularly related to the languages I studied – I'm a civil servant in a Welsh-language team.

Thank youuu this is very encouraging
If you don’t mind me asking what uni do you go to and what do you plan to do after?
Also what was your IRP on like did it have to have a very strong link to things you were studying or just anything to do with German-speaking things? Tysm <3

Nothing particularly related to the languages I studied – I'm a civil servant in a Welsh-language team.

So I'm at the University of Warwick studying Politics, International Studies and German and honestly I don't have much of a plan after uni yet, but depending how things go, I may seek a job to do with the UN, or something to do with German Politics as that is my interest
& My IRP was based around refugees in Germany and for my German A-Level there was a topic on Immigration and Integration within Germany, so I suppose it had a link with what I was studying but was also relevant to the German speaking world 🙂

That's really cool- being a civil servant is defo a potential career prospect of mine

Thank you is Warwick good?
Also would you say it’s more beneficial to do like a joint honours with languages as in language and another subject rather than just language(s)?
<3

hey sorry for the long reply but yes I'm really enjoying Warwick thanks
And in terms of the joint-honours question I wouldn't say its more beneficial or less beneficial, it just depends what you want to do- I originally wanted to just do politics but realised my German was a really useful skill that I wasn't ready to give up!! There are lots of people on the German course who are doing Linguistics so they are doing German + one or two more languages, meanwhile there are people doing solely German