Opinions on learning two languages or one?

At Dcs school, they do 3 in Yr7 - Latin, plus 2 of French, Spanish and German. In Yr8 they can choose to continue with all 3 or drop down to 2. They get 6 periods for languages, so if you do all 3, you get 2 periods per language but cover the same as those doing 2... You just have to work faster, so it tends to be the more able students/those interested in languages. Those doing 2 get 3 periods of each so cover the material a bit slower.

It seems to work well to start with more and then so,ex reduce, rather than the other way round, but it is a selective school. All have tried the 3 languages and had at least year of them. Most will just do 1 to GCSE but it is possible to do 2, 3 or even add Greek too.

I think it's good to take opportunities to try new languages, even if you only do them fora short time. Some schools also offer some kind of lessons you opt into on a rotation and it might include tasters of lessons not taught to exam level int he school, such as Hindi, or Welsh or Italian....usually will just be basic conversation and no writing.....its exposing kids to more possibilities and who knows whose imagination might be captured by one of these experiences.

I think it's probably a good idea to try two at an early stage. A pupil who has an aptitude for languages may want to continue them both, great; but a child who isn't so keen may find one clicks more easily than the other. More often than not French is the 'default' and German is the 'extra' - but the latter may work better for the logical-minded sciency types. That what my DD found (and I've heard others make a similar observation) - if she'd not been made to do two in years 7/8, she'd have been stuck with French which she really didn't like for gcse as a language was mandatory at her school.

So - I wouldn't necessarily push sticking with two beyond yrs 7/8 but I would encourage trying them.

I think two languages that have similarities are good when learnt together. Latin plus two Latin languages will always support each other. Luckily DD could do triple science and two languages. So many schools do not think children can manage two languages but are quite happy for them to do three sciences plus computer science, so 4 sciences. Children should be offered two languages if they are good at languages. In no other subject do we restrict learning options and refuse to promote talented chidren in their learning just because it is not science based.

That's my experience too. Each additional language gets easier to learn.

It depends on the child. DS has a real flair for languages, and he found that learning more than one language was no problem, and in some ways it helped him. At one point he was learning 4, two ancient and two modern!

I would say to do one, but that's what I feel about most things. Better to be a master at one thing than to do many things to just an acceptable level.

I would have loved to have done two but unfortunately picking a science was compulsory at my school and I had to drop one.

I am not scientifically inclined in the slightest. The other language would have been much more useful to me.

If she does a language, a year abroad is crucial for developing language acquisition. Otherwise it’s a bit peripheral.

Bubbles , unfortunately she's not keen on taking a current language further although happy to pick another. Most of the courses she is applying for offer it as an option within the course, potentially with a year abroad.

LIZS - I woud add a language with a linguistics course for joint honours. A Language is a valuable skill to have beyond linguistics which is, of course, academic.

DD did no languages at Primary school. Y7 at school it was French and then you could choose a second language if you were capable in Y8. She was and chose Italian. Others chose German, Japanese or Spanish. She did both for A level and then both for her degree. Of course it is hard work, but what worthwhile subect is not hard work?

The huge advantage of doing two languages at school is that you hit the ground running for a degree. Even if you do ab initio it is better to have studied two languages at school. Universities like students who have done more than one language. They like you to do joint honours (keeps language departments open) and employers seem to like this too. It shows you do not shy away from hard work!

The other big advantage regarding languages is that universities are struggling to recruit decent language undergrads. It is "easier" to get into Oxbridge if you are a language student - approx 33% success rate. It can help you get into an oversubscribed course at a top university if you add in a language, eg History and French etc. because language undergrads are getting to be an endangered species!

I don't think they will do the same lesson in each language. Never happened to me.

In my school the brighter ones did French and German and less bright did French and Needlework.

Do they really do exactly the same lesson in two languages. That sounds very boring and actually more likely to cause confusion. That said I think it sounds like a good chance to try two languages.

DD's is in year 7. She had to choose 2 of 3 language options to study. Apparently you only get to choose one or less if your sats results were lower and you needed to catch up on maths and english. DD did very well so there is no alternative, however she is loving both. She did french at primary school and thought it was boring but her teacher makes it interesting so is happily learning vocab.

All my 5 children (and I and my siblings) did 2. I kept both up to GCSE and one to A level and it was fine - not too much work at all. My chdlren jsut did one right to GCSE so dropped one of the 2 before the 2 years of GCSE (in fact they all also did a year or two of latin too so I suppose at one point were doing 3).

A reasonable group of GCSEs would be english lit, lang, maths, 2 or 3 sciences, 1 or 2 languages, geography, history. Then add one of the kind of art, drama, RE, music perhaps if you can manage that too.

They do French and Spanish in year 7 and year 8 at my DC’s school. Seems to work all right (DS in year 10 and just doing Spanish and DD in year 8)

DS started two languages in year 7 – French and Spanish. At the beginning he was occasionally getting the two mixed up, but now in year 8, he's fine in both. In fact, I think he enjoys seeing the similarities and differences between them.

Dd is taking both French and German A levels and has done years of Spanish, Italian and Latin along the way. It has really helped her understanding of grammar and roots of English, and she hopes to study Linguistics at uni.

I think a language is a useful skill and would chose two unless your DS is really struggling. At DS's school in yr7 everyone does 2 modern languages and Latin. They then go down to 2 out of the 3 in yr8. DS in yr10 is doing 2 languages for GCSE despite leaning more towards sciences. I think that is great balance.

At DD's school the YR7's have to do both French and German. She done a bit of French at Primary School and wasn't keen but I'm hoping that it will be different enough in YR7 that she will start to enjoy it. At the end of YR7, they choose which language they'd like to continue with. I think that there is also the option to carry on with both.

I loved languages and done French from the start of Secondary and then picked up Spanish in YR9. A number of previous posters have mentioned (and I agree) that learning French and Spanish at the same time can be tricky, as there are similarities - I'd say that at the beginning of learning a language these would be more pronounced.

Languages present a great opportunity and I'd encourage your child to give it a go.

Our school does 1 language from year1. Adds a second language in year 3.
My kids are learning a third language at home.
And English is the language at school and home.
If she is game for it, go for 2 languages.

But while we are talking languages, what level of second language is expected come year7?

At our school. Year 7s take 3 languages (German, French and Latin). This may seem a lot, but it gives pupils a chance to find out which languages they prefer and want to continue to GCSE. From Year 10 Spanish is offered.

I would start with two unless she is dyslexic and see how it goes. Progress will most of all depend how well the individual languages are taught including the grammar. Year 7 to 8 should be a chance to experiment with subjects including languages.

DD has always done two languages since Y3, French plus one other. Now in Y9 (state school) she is doing French, German and Mandarin, the latter off timetable. As they are all quite different languages she seems to cope quite well. Some who are studying Spanish and French have said the similarities cause more confusion and so rather than being easier they’ve found it harder. So my point is that sometimes the combinations of languages can affect how easy or difficult taking on multiple languages might be.