French and German? (1 Viewer)

[Borbor]

The time has come for me to start thinking about subject choices and currently I do French & German in year 10. I'm considering of continuing both as Continuers but is this complete suicide?

Has anyone else who has done French & German for HSC shed light on what it was like to do both for HSC?

Any thoughts or opinions will be much appreciated.

 

[el gwapo]

for senior years, yes it is suicide. That is, unless you're fluent in one of the languages. But even in that situation, you'd be more inclined to be interested in the one you're better at.

 

[James747]

Yes, doing two languages will be complete suicide, esp when theyre both at continuers level. Just pick and stay with the one you're most interested in, not which ones fgives better scaling.
Cheers

 

[roadrage75]

If you like them both, I'd say keep them both, (if you like them both and are good at both),.... i know LOTS of people who do two languages.... I do, even if one is dead, and I don't regret my decision..... anyway, you're only in year 10, and by the end of next year, if you find your workload is too big, you can always drop one...

 

[JuliaGulia07]

IF you're very talented at foreign languages, then I definately encourage you to do both. It's not suicide if you're good at them. Put it this way, if you pick another subject you're not very keen on, you're likely to not do as well. Trust me, I'd know lol. I wish I'd picked another language instead of Chem. You gotta think about whether you'd do better in something else, and also consider how the subjects you're considering scale in comparison to each other.
PS: french in senior school is awesome!

 

[Doctor Jolly]

I'm going to do Japanese Continuers, and thats probably suicidual enough! But if you're good at the language then go for it! Languages take ages to memorise! Keep some of that brain space for your other topics! And don't forget, with languages you always have 3 extra exams, thats your Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Exams. So if you want to do both, then that'll be 6 extra exams in year 11.

 

[roadrage75]

I'm going to do Japanese Continuers, and thats probably suicidual enough! But if you're good at the language then go for it! Languages take ages to memorise! Keep some of that brain space for your other topics! And don't forget, with languages you always have 3 extra exams, thats your Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Exams. So if you want to do both, then that'll be 6 extra exams in year 11.

that's not entirely true......there are really only 2 exams for French, in the long run, listening and reading and writing make up one exam out of 80 marks, and speaking is done separately, and is out of 20 marks....... so hence, its made out of 100 marks, just like any other exam


and to add to my point, i find that french is much easier than physics or chemistry etc, because now, (in yr 12), that we've covered all grammar etc, I don't find im actually having to learn facts etc, but rather its more about practising..

 

[Doctor Jolly]

that's not entirely true......there are really only 2 exams for French, in the long run, listening and reading and writing make up one exam out of 80 marks, and speaking is done separately, and is out of 20 marks....... so hence, its made out of 100 marks, just like any other exam


and to add to my point, i find that french is much easier than physics or chemistry etc, because now, (in yr 12), that we've covered all grammar etc, I don't find im actually having to learn facts etc, but rather its more about practising..

My bad. French all the way though!

 

[anthropoestin]

go for it! but the thing about languages for HSC is that you can't afford to be complacent. You probably won't receive much HW, so if you want top marks you must be sure that you can push yourself in the language. It's too easy to just ride along and before you know it you're laxidacical in your approach and you won't be very fluent.

But generally scoring a good mark isn't toooo hard, and it's lots of fun and generally lacking in stress. But if you want band 6 be prepared to supliment personally, or choose a safer subject where the teachers will dictate your heavy workload for you e.g chemistry, history etc

Go for it! I do german and french, as well as russian, latin and classical greek, and although you do have to remember more vocab for more languages, it's not too hard, and you will find that the languages compliment each other as you begin to see the similarities. And no matter what anyone says, you won't get confused between them - that just doesn't happen!

good luck xx

 

[Borbor]

go for it! but the thing about languages for HSC is that you can't afford to be complacent. You probably won't receive much HW, so if you want top marks you must be sure that you can push yourself in the language. It's too easy to just ride along and before you know it you're laxidacical in your approach and you won't be very fluent.

But generally scoring a good mark isn't toooo hard, and it's lots of fun and generally lacking in stress. But if you want band 6 be prepared to supliment personally, or choose a safer subject where the teachers will dictate your heavy workload for you e.g chemistry, history etc

Go for it! I do german and french, as well as russian, latin and classical greek, and although you do have to remember more vocab for more languages, it's not too hard, and you will find that the languages compliment each other as you begin to see the similarities. And no matter what anyone says, you won't get confused between them - that just doesn't happen!

good luck xx

Yea I find that as well now! My German seems to complement my French and vice versa eg. the grammar corresponds and the general feel of each helps the other.

(Directed to other responses as well)

I completely understand and agree that you need to put in that extra effort for languages. I don't find it stressful at all compared to other subjects and it's quite stress relieving.

Anyway thank you for all your fantastic comments! I submitted my form last Friday and I chose French & German (OHS). However I do plan to drop one and take up Economics as I personally believe that two will be too much for me. Just can't decide which one so I'll take both for a couple of weeks and see.

 

[milady]

I think you made a very good decision there.

I was the same as you in yr 10. i had two electives (french and german). And i thought (stupidly) i can't do both, that would be crazy, it would be too hard. I thought (stupidly) that I should do an essay/humanities subject like history, to add balance to my subject selection.

Long and short, i dropped german and did history instead. I disliked history, and found it much more work than german had ever been, and besides, I'd enjoyed German more (when you enjoy it, it's way easier to motivate yourself).

Languages aren't really extremely hard in yr 12. They're not knowledge-based (i know that sounds counterintuitive with all the vocab, but it's true). like that person above said, they're more like a skill. (Modern) languages are so much more relaxing than other subjects where you have to learn a ton of content.

The only thing i would suggest is that make sure you put in a good amount of study in your own time. (eg. watching the news, reading books, listening to internet radio in the language, doing practice tasks etc). It's pretty fun compared to studying for certain other subjects (english...)

Anyhow, if you're good enough, and you like it, go with it. I know several people who do two languages (and i don't go to a selective school). Just don't let one language take over (if you learn a word in french, make sure you know what it is in german and vice versa... otherwise one language will evilly supplant the other.)

 

[Borbor]

I think you made a very good decision there.

I was the same as you in yr 10. i had two electives (french and german). And i thought (stupidly) i can't do both, that would be crazy, it would be too hard. I thought (stupidly) that I should do an essay/humanities subject like history, to add balance to my subject selection.

Long and short, i dropped german and did history instead. I disliked history, and found it much more work than german had ever been, and besides, I'd enjoyed German more (when you enjoy it, it's way easier to motivate yourself).

Languages aren't really extremely hard in yr 12. They're not knowledge-based (i know that sounds counterintuitive with all the vocab, but it's true). like that person above said, they're more like a skill. (Modern) languages are so much more relaxing than other subjects where you have to learn a ton of content.

The only thing i would suggest is that make sure you put in a good amount of study in your own time. (eg. watching the news, reading books, listening to internet radio in the language, doing practice tasks etc). It's pretty fun compared to studying for certain other subjects (english...)

Anyhow, if you're good enough, and you like it, go with it. I know several people who do two languages (and i don't go to a selective school). Just don't let one language take over (if you learn a word in french, make sure you know what it is in german and vice versa... otherwise one language will evilly supplant the other.)

Do you regret dropping German then? Like would you go back to German if you could?

Gargh, German is really getting to me now with all this dative, nominative, accusative crap that the teacher never explained properly.

I think French seems easier now I'm heading to senior school.

As for a humanities subject I'm not too bad at them either but my preference is still lang over anything else.

 

[el gwapo]

French isn't any more different in terms of all the grammatical rules. How about doing a beginner's language? Is that in your plans? Or do you think that's actually a lot harder than a Continuers Course?

 

[anthropoestin]

i can't say what it is like at the OHS...that would be my only qualm. I've heard of quite bad experiences of doing Spanish for example via OHS, and so on those grounds you might consider that you'll be better off doing a subject taught at the school. However, having said that, doing both can easily be done, as long as your willing to work outside of what the OHS sets you - because, trust me, they don't demand much.

It's a lot more independant; therefore less stressful, but relies on your motivation to be rewarded with a good result...

be sensible either way...

 

[Kiim2507]

My friend is doing both French and German and she's keeping both for HSC. Bt she's amazingly talented at languages so I dunno. =\
But if you enjoy them and are good at them then why not?
Will help you alot in the future

 

[sandersen]

I realise it´s a bit late, but wanted to affirm anyway that it is possible to do well in two languages (in my case at extension level), with neither of them the language I spoke at home and I didn´t go on exchange to Germany.

Languages scale pretty well if you do well in them (ie my UAI rode on my language results), and the best thing is the creative things you can do to "study" - ie watching films, listening to music, emailing/writing to native speakers and going out for coffee with a fellow language student, attempting to practice the language.

The thing also with Continuers is that there shouldn´t be too much new material introduced - it´s basically a consolidation of previous study. All material should supposedly relate to "your world", so there shouldn´t be lack of interest.