I am moving to England for sixth form (I will be boarding) and I want to do one of either French or Chinese as an a level. I have already chosen maths + fm, history, theology + philosophy, but my school is asking me to pick one more, and I would like it to be one of the aforementioned courses. I will have to do these 5 courses from September until the Febuary half term when I can drop one.
The problem is I am not doing GCSEs (I live overseas) and I have not studied French before (but I have completed the first unit on duolingo)
My mother is Chinese and I speak it at home to a very good level but I cannot read/write characters (but I am currently learning).
Would it be realistic for me to pick up either of those courses at A-level without prior experience (I have 6 months between now and starting school to study though)?
Also with the Chinese A-level I have heard things like it is impossible for a non-native speaker to get an A because the grade boundaries are pushed up by international students, and it is not very respected as a Chinese course, and you would be better off doing the HSK? Is this true?