Which elective subject would be of most use for DD?

[MotherMountainGoat]

DD is currently in year 7 of a grammar school in Germany. For next year they have to choose one of four elective subjects, and she has no idea which to take. The choice is ultimately hers, of course; I'm only interfering offering my advice because she's unsure.

Background info: she's bilingual English/German and all her subjects are taught in one of the two languages (maths in German, history in English etc). Her first foreign language was French in year 5, which will remain compulsory until year 10.

The options:

1. Latin

1. Italian

1. Extra science (they already have physics/chemistry and biology)

1. Extra music and art

She has excluded music and art because all the dosser boys she hates are going to take that (and muck around). She likes music and is good but not gifted at it, and she can always have extra music lessons at home if she wants.

She's an all-rounder for other subjects - she'll do well in most things without one spectacularly good result.

She'd take extra science if she were guaranteed her current teacher (ie decision based more on teacher than subject)

DH and I would really like her to take Latin, because we think it's something you will only ever learn at school and is good background for a range of subjects.

She likes the idea that Italian is a living language, but as much as it's a beautiful one, Spanish would be a lot more useful (not offered).

Finally: we don't yet know if she will be going to university in Germany, Ireland, or the UK (although given the UK fees, unlikely), and each country might have different requirements.

So from a British perspective, which of the subjects would you recommend for your own DC?

I would say Latin or Italian if she already has a couple of languages under her belt - Latin particularly is seen as a very strong academic subject by UK universities and is a good option for anyone planning a career in law/medicine etc due to the mental agility it requires and Latin influence on terminology/concepts. Italian would obviously be useful as an extra and also if she may want to study languages later.

I imagine though that the extra science would be better if she is inclined towards a scientific career but I guess it's too early to tell? It may keep her options broader in the long run, but only if she's likely to get a decent grade in it!

I did Latin, Italian, French and German at GCSE and there were some people in my class who did Spanish as well - from my experience and what they said, once you have Latin and French, Spanish and Italian are very easy to pick up.

I also found that the German approach to grammar is much closer to Latin than Italian/English. I learned more about English grammar through those two subjects than I did in English classes.

If she is considering medicine, the extra science might be a good idea, otherwise I would go for Latin. Italian is fabulous but she could easily spend a summer picking it up (either living there or just doing a course from home) since it sounds like she has a good head for languages. She could do the same for Spanish, come to that...

I can't think of any university that would have Latin as a required subject, or Italian (very possibly, but I doubt it as I think it's quite unusual at GCSE in England) whilst science might be. If she won't enjoy it without a certain teacher (I wrote off biology and chemistry A level on that basis and never looked back) then it probably isn't a gamble worth taking, unless it would be possible to switch once she'd seen which teacher she had?

Thanks for sensible advice, both of you. I'll show her your answers and see if it makes it easier for her to decide.

"I also found that the German approach to grammar is much closer to Latin than Italian/English" DDS Absolutely, German is such a structured language with its cases. I remember starting Latin and our teacher first had to explain the difference between Nominative and Accusative.

"once you have Latin and French, Spanish and Italian are very easy to pick up. " That would be an important factor.

Another factor to build on Doubledegree - I did Italian as a degree and was one of the only students who had done an A or O' level in it (self-taught as very few UK schools offer it). Most had picked it up from scratch after A levels, but the entry requirement was to have a good level in French, Spanish or Latin.

So I guess Latin or science would ultimately keep her options open the most out of her choices!