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What languages did you study in school? | ||
Tags: School Education | Foreign Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| skyr Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5033 days ago 15 posts - 43 votes Speaks: English*, German, Swedish Studies: Italian, Icelandic, Czech, Slovak, Serbian | Message 73 of 94 23 February 2011 at 9:41pm | IP Logged |
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I lived in Iran (1.5 years) Holland (5 years) and Germany (6 years) until I was 13. I spoke Dutch/German as my main languages with my native English as a rarely-used third language. French was the playground language at the Dutch school. Since 13 I was only taught in England.
At school I studied: English as a 2nd language in Germany aged 4-9 - now that was easy :) French - aged 9-13 and 15-18 (High School, Secondary School, GCSE and A Level). German - aged 15-18 (GCSE and A Level) No other languages were offered at the German, Dutch or English schools I went to - years 1980-1995. I'd loved to have studied Greek, Latin, Russian or Portugese. The last I heard was that language study is no longer obligatory in England, but primary schools may offer taster afternoons in languages if they wish. Please correct me if this has changed! At university I studied: Swedish - Major (Degree level) Norwegian (Bokmål och Nynorsk) and Danish - Minor (Reading only - Degree level) Icelandic - Elective (Beginners - grammar and speaking only, self-taught afterwards) Old Norse - Elective (Translation course) Medieval Swedish/Danish - Elective (Grammar and translation course) German - Elective (1st and 2nd year degree level) Dutch - Elective (A level) Italian - Elective (A Level) Serbian - Elective (Beginners - one module) Old German - Elective (Translation module) Greek - Elective (Beginners - one module) Lots of other languages can be studied at national universities. The Germanic Department I studied is long gone, but the Spanish Department is flourishing. Edited by skyr on 23 February 2011 at 9:42pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Élan Senior Member United States Joined 5444 days ago 165 posts - 211 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Persian | Message 74 of 94 24 February 2011 at 1:08am | IP Logged |
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At my high school, 2 years of foreign language study were required. They only offered Spanish classes, but you could do self study if you wanted. I chose the Spanish classes! In university, I studied Chinese/Mandarin for 2.5 years. I have since "divorced" both languages.
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| Saulekker Newbie Portugal ilearnportuguese.bloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5022 days ago 1 posts - 2 votes Speaks: Portuguese* | Message 75 of 94 24 February 2011 at 1:11am | IP Logged |
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First I've studied french, Then English, German and Latin. At University I've studied Dutch and Russian. I've lived in Africa so I know something about creole. Oh yeah, and I know a sentence in czech (not very good to say it in here...).
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| zecchino1991 Senior Member United States facebook.com/amyybur Joined 5258 days ago 778 posts - 885 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew, Russian, Arabic (Written), Romanian, Icelandic, Georgian | Message 76 of 94 24 February 2011 at 9:31pm | IP Logged |
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I live in Southern California and I studied Spanish for 5 years (grades 8-12) and
French for two years (grades 11 and 12). However, I was weird for doing that. Most people study only one, and only for an average of 3 years. This is because most universities require a minimum of 3 years of a language, but prefer 4, so many people take 4 or even 5 years during high school and middle school. (Five years is the maximum possible). However, most high schools don't require a language for graduation, so lots of people who don't care about college take no language at all. Also, some people take sign language cause I guess they think it should be easier than spoken languages... Anyway, the only languages offered at my school were Spanish, French, Chinese, and Sign Language. The majority of people took Spanish, a few take French, and Chinese people take Chinese (my friend took the only Chinese class offered at my school and he was the only non-Chinese person in a class of about 7 people). And then like I said some people take ASL either because they think spoken languages are too hard, or they are simply just interested in it. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| RV1428 Triglot Newbie Belgium Joined 5017 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: Flemish*, English, French Studies: German, Norwegian | Message 77 of 94 01 March 2011 at 8:26pm | IP Logged |
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Because I live in Belgium we get quite a bunch of obligatory languages in high school.
A summary: Dutch/Flemish (native language) French in the fourth year of primary school (9 years old) English in the first year of secondary school (12 years old) German in the fourth year of secondary school (15 years old) Some schools offer Spanish instead of German, mainly in Brussels. However from the fifth year of secondary school you can drop German/Spanish, I am now in my fourth year of secondary school and I think I will continue German in my fifth and sixth year. Later I would like to tackle a "difficult" language at university. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| MrScruff Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5017 days ago 2 posts - 3 votes Speaks: Dutch, English* Studies: Esperanto, Sign Language, Spanish | Message 78 of 94 01 March 2011 at 9:41pm | IP Logged |
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I live in Canada so French was and still is the obligatory second language to learn. I don't know whether it was the area I grew up in or something bigger, but it wasn't "cool" to speak anything other than English. At the time, I hated that they were teaching me another language but now I regret not keeping it up.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6272 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 79 of 94 06 April 2012 at 2:13pm | IP Logged |
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This thread is rather old, but a more recent one elsewhere on the forum discussed whether people think they have a talent for languages, and from that the subject of school performance with languages came up.
Rather than start a new thread, I will use this one to ask whether people think they did well with languages at school, or did their school experience actually put them off languages? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dandt Senior Member Australia regarderetlire.wordp Joined 4624 days ago 134 posts - 174 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French | Message 80 of 94 06 April 2012 at 2:41pm | IP Logged |
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All the schools I went to offered Japanese. I took it from 10 to 16 and did well, particularly later on when I had
an amazing teacher and one on one instruction. I picked up languages quickly as a kid, especially with my grandparents but I saw them so rarely. I would have continued Japanese if I didn't have to choose it or music for senior, plus I never thought I was any good. In hindsight I was, all things considered. If I had a choice as to the language at school I would have enjoyed it more. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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