Taking French or German 1 Senior Year?

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi,
I always feel that the parents forum gives the best and most thorough advice! So that's why I post my questions here.</p>

<p>Background info: I am fluent in TWO languages (Hebrew and English), with Hebrew I can speak, write, and talk in complex manner (lived 8 years in Israel.) </p>

<p>Now, with those two, I'm also in my third year of Spanish (I'm a Junior.) I know colleges love 4 years of the same foreign language, but to be honest, Spanish BORES me, I don't like the language that much, the teachers are really annoying, I just don't enjoy it like I used to.</p>

<p>I AM A CURIOUS CHILD. I love learning new things. Recently I've began to adore the French and German languages, and although I will be with a bunch of Freshman, I am TEMPTED so much to take French or German 1 my senior year.</p>

<p>The question is, will colleges think I "gave up" or "quit" on Spanish? And is it ok to only have 3 years of Spanish if I'm already fluent in another language?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>It is OK to move to another language. It might even be a good essay topic.</p>

3

<p>When it comes to language in high school, go with the teacher (or other good reason). Then explain the choice. And then, don’t worry about it! Schools know that there are a lot of good reasons for picking languages.</p>

4

<p>Concur with above posters. You can’t totally bend your decisions to what you think will look best on your college apps. Except in very borderline cases, it won’t make a difference. I like the idea of exploring different languages. You might find that you want to study whichever you pick (French or German) some more in college.</p>

5

<p>If you didn’t already speak two languages fluently, I’d have a different answer, but since you do, I don’t see a problem with switching from Spanish to something else.</p>

6

<p>You will most likely be in a class of 9th graders. Some seniors wouldn’t be bothered by this, would you?</p>

7

<p>If you are bored with Spanish, German might be a better choice than French.</p>

8

<p>Go ahead and take German. It has a different construction than French/Spanish and the contrasts may intrigue you. My eons ago experience was HS French and college German. Be prepared for the slow pace of HS languages, but you can do some self study to keep it interesting. One thing I found with languages is that once you reach a certain level of competance if you are not into that particular culture the fun is gone- better to start a new one.</p>

9

<p>Thanks to everyone for your replies!</p>

<p>Yes, I wouldn’t be bothered by being in a class full of freshmen, and in fact I have a few friends who have finished languages wanting to jump on the bandwagon with me. </p>

<p>I’m considering either French or German, both teachers are SO NICE and love me (because my mom is a teacher at the school so I know like half the faculty aha) but I’ll be honest, French intrigues me more for now. I just think it sounds more beautiful, German was always kind of harsh sounding to me. My best friend though is fluent in German so I have been exposed to a lot of it and a lot of their culture.</p>

<p>What can I say. I didn’t study a language in Middle School, got all excited about studying Spanish, and now after my third year, I’m just sick of it. I have the toughest teacher for Spanish (Spanish 3 Honors) and it’s pure memorization, no fun, and she has a very thick American accent, and I just don’t enjoy studying it.</p>

<p>I’m leaning more towards French- it’s so beautiful!! But I’m considering German as well. Should I still stick with Spanish 4 Honors?</p>

10

<p>^You could take both. Or all three!</p>

11

<p>If you weren’t already fluent in Hebrew, there would be no question that you should stick with Spanish. But since you are, at least you have the option to make a change if you want.</p>

<p>Here’s why you shouldn’t do it: </p>

<p>– Unless the teacher is sensational and you go to Exeter or something, one year of high school language study is worth nothing. You won’t learn enough of the language to get anywhere with it without further study, and you won’t be anywhere near far enough to skip even the first semester of a college class. So essentially you will be spending a whole year to get nothing except for making the first few weeks of your college class a little easier. If you take the college class.</p>

<p>– If you have already studied two foreign languages (and two quite disparate ones, Hebrew and Spanish), you already know a lot about grammar, and a huge portion of Anything I in high school will be teaching you stuff you already know.</p>

<p>– In general, high school language instruction is the pits. It’s not surprising that you hate Spanish after three years of it. But. You are just, finally, getting to the good part. You ought to know enough now to start really experiencing what’s out there in Spanish – books, movies, magazines, music, conversation with people. The stuff that people actually love. Even if your teacher isn’t great, that should start to make less difference, because it will be you and an entire world full of Hispanic culture, not just you and the teacher.</p>

<p>That said, I agree completely with the poster above who said to go with the best teachers in high school. Everyone should take that advice . . . but not to the extent of wasting a class in 12th grade.</p>

<p>Finally . . . I am reasonably fluent in both Spanish and French, do about 2/3ds of my pleasure reading in one or the other, follow pop culture in both, etc. (I also have some German reading ability, but never studied German.) I don’t know why someone would consider one language better than the other, except for the teachers. I can tell you that 17th-19th Century French literature is amazing, and Spanish literature during that period much less so, but Spanish lit pre-1600 and post 1950 kicks French’s butt. I have a really hard time finding contemporary French literature that’s worth reading; that is not a problem in Spanish. (Graphic novels are another matter.) In cinema, France is declining and Mexico, Argentina, Spain are where it’s at, although you could spend a year watching pre-2000 French films and not have to see a bad one. Music . . . the variety and interest of Hispanic music is unparalleled in any language, including English. There’s a lot to get interested in, in Spanish.</p>

12

<p>Awesome answer!
I have considered taking all three, but that would mean no study hall!</p>

13

<p>JHS how have you become fluent in both Spanish and French. Were you able to accomplish that in college? I am currently in Spanish 4 and in addition to continuing Spanish, I am contemplating if I should pick up French also in college. The only problem is will there be enough time to learn both while majoring in something like business, or preparing to go to pharmacy school?</p>

14

<p>I studied both French and Spanish in high school (French for three years and Spanish for four). They are so similar that once you are grounded in the basics of either one of them, the other is very easy, at least when it comes to grammar. The OP might or might not see this as an advantage.</p>

<p>French pronunciation is of course harder than Spanish pronunciation, but it is fun!</p>

<p>I don’t know how things are at the OP’s high school, but my son took fourth year AP French and it was so poorly taught that none of the students got a decent score on the AP test. He never got anywhere remotely near the “good part” of language study referred to by JHS.</p>

<p>Studying either French or German for one year at the high school level would give you an introduction to the culture at least, and that would be worthwhile.</p>

<p>Prev22, I would say that in order to become fluent in a language you would really need to spend a little bit of time (a summer, or a semester) in a country where it is spoken. After three years of h.s. Spanish, a summer in Mexico rendered me fluent.</p>

<p>I studied German for two years in college. We were reading a simplified novel at the end of freshman year and challenging works of literature in sophomore year, but nobody who began language study in college learned to speak the language well at all. I discovered, somewhat to my consternation, that the main objective of studying a language in college is to get to the point where you can analyze literature…even if it must be done with a bi-lingual dictionary at your side.</p>

15

<p>Could you self-study French (for example, through an online program) and go directly to French 2?
French is so similar to Spanish and English that this might be do-able.
I went through Spanish 6 in high school, took no language in college, and was shocked recently during a visit to Montreal. I could not understand anyone, but I could read everything (for example, at museums)! That is because French is so similar to Spanish and English.
Then, in college, you could study Portuguese, Italian, and Ladino! :)</p>