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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
Reply 1
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,

This website should be quite useful for you and see if any of the careers interest you. https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/modern-languages

However a bit of life advice is to take risks, speak to people and travel. I think a study abroad year in uni will really benefit you.
Reply 2
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
Reply 3
Original post by beccacrw
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

Thank youuu this is very encouraging :smile:
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
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!
Reply 5
Original post by Saracen's Fez
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)?
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 :lol: I'm a civil servant in a Welsh-language team.
Reply 7
Original post by Saracen's Fez
Nothing particularly related to the languages I studied :lol: I'm a civil servant in a Welsh-language team.

Ok thank you :smile:
Reply 8
Thank youuu this is very encouraging :smile:
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

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 :smile:
& 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 🙂
(edited 10 months ago)
Reply 9
Original post by Saracen's Fez
Nothing particularly related to the languages I studied :lol: I'm a civil servant in a Welsh-language team.

That's really cool- being a civil servant is defo a potential career prospect of mine :smile:
(edited 10 months ago)
Reply 10
Original post by beccacrw
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 :smile:
& 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 🙂

Thank you is Warwick good? :smile:
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
Original post by beccacrw
That's really cool- being a civil servant is defo a potential career prospect of mine :smile:


Yes I've always been a politics nerd since I was about 12 (that's why I'm a section leader for D&CA on here :lol:) and even though my role is operational rather than policy-based it is nonetheless cool to work for the government!
Reply 12
Thank you is Warwick good? :smile:
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 :smile:
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 :smile:
Reply 13
Original post by beccacrw
hey sorry for the long reply but yes I'm really enjoying Warwick thanks :smile:
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 :smile:

Np re long reply :smile:
Thank you again very helpful ❤️
Reply 14
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 hope this still makes its way to you even though you posted 8 months ago!

As someone who thoroughly enjoyed GCSE French & Spanish and walked away with 9s in both, it excites me a lot that you are interested in studying them at A Level. I have just finished A Level French (would have done Spanish as well but the situation for that subject was bad at my school however I'm thinking about picking it up in my gap year) and I can tell you that out of my three A Levels it was by far my favourite one. Honestly, you may think the course looks difficult now but it is genuinely really fun and interesting with topics on all sorts of different things like heritage, music, diversity, prisons etc and the language isn't too difficult because a lot of it is cognates.

As for the IRP, if you pick something you really enjoy (for example I did mine on women's football in Francophone countries as football is one of my biggest interests) it becomes something really enjoyable to do rather than a chore. You don't really have to pick your topic straight away too as we didn't start doing IRP prep until A2 in my school and it worked out just fine. I think teachers make out they are a lot more difficult than they really are!

At first I felt in a similar way to you regarding speaking. It feels really terrifying especially when speaking to people in their native languages when its not yours, but even just a language at A Level really builds your confidence up with speaking and you don't even notice how good you become at it because the course makes it feel so natural. I should hope that by the time you would reach a study abroad year in uni you would be feeling much more confident and comfortable with your languages.

I am personally thinking of pursuing languages at uni and I would be very excited for you if you did too! All the best of luck with whatever you decide on :smile:

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