Best 2nd language for dyslexics - French or German?

[Copper]

Any language teachers out there with any opinion on this? My DS1 HAS to do either Fench or German GCSE and isn't feeling at all confident about either of them. He's inclining to German because he says reading the words is easier and they sound how they are written - but I can't help him at all with German.

Advice please! Can't find anything on internet about which would be easier - BDA gives some advice but not this bit. Many thanks

Not a language teacher, but I would've thought French would be a nightmare for someone with dyslexia as it has so many silent letters, whereas, as your DS says, German sounds how it's written. Maybe you could learn too and help him along? Don't the school give him any extra support?

Thanks Spacedonkey - its just that I don't know any German at all. No,no help offered. I could try to learn - maybe some tapes would help him too

I wonder if the Michel Thomas approach would be good?

german is much easier IMO!

My dyslexic son is doing French, essentially because DH is half French and a fluent speaker and my French is good enough to help him too. We are basically hoping to coach him enough to do really well in the oral part of exams, and we have been told that his rather creative approach to spelling written French (like his written English!) wouldn't be held against him. I couldn't help him with German.

German is more phonetic but the phonic sounds do differ to english ones. There is also the issue of gender and agreement of adjectives. Is it possible for him to do a taster session of each ? tbh I think he should go with whichever he is the more enthiusiastic about.

i have seen studies of which languages are easiest to learn. German is generally easier than French, with Spanish being the easiest (but you don't have that option). definitely German for a dyslexic child I'd think.

plus it's what he prefers which has to help.

IMO German is easier - it's easier for English people to pronounce, and you can learn vocab by breaking words down into constituent parts more than in French.

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I would agree that German would prob be easier.
Also, the case/agreement system is difficult at the beginning, but once you've got it, you're off.
I'm happy to help with German now and again via CAT!

I was going to mention the whole case thing. That is a disadvantage with German!

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That's really interesting fennell. DS1 started Spanish (as well as French) this year as his school specialises in languages and he can't get to grips with it at all. It may be that yet another language is just too much (which is what I'm currently trying to argue with the school).

Thanks everyone - looks like German is the one

that's a really interesting question pruni - i bet someone's answered it too. somewhere.

i think it's probably going to be hard for dyslexics learning any second language at school, where a lot of the focus is on the written language. you can try to build their confidence verbally i suppose.

all that case stuff in German is hard for some but not necessarily harder because of dyslexia, some people thrive on formal grammar stuff and dyslexic children are, i suppose, no more likely to struggle with cases and grammar than other children.

What age is ds1, sunnydelight? I struggled when I started German (age 13ish) as I could keep my French and Latin separate in my head, but my German and French kept mixing together iyswim. They said in the school open night recently that they (the children) stick to one foreign language for the first two years before they can choose to add another foreign (I think they called it 'modern') language.

I want to help ds by finding someone locally to speak to him in French and build on his spoken language skills which will hopefully help him with his reading and writing language skills.

I have some letters (y and j)and digits (7 and 4) that I struggle with, although my spelling is pretty good. I was hopeless with French and good at German. Time, manner, place; is that the order in German? I loved the rules being there, I felt secure in having a rule and following it, I think.

Apparently, Japanese is very good as a foreign langiage for children with dyslexia. There is a language college (specialist secondary school) in the West Country/Bristol that has done some work on this.

As an MFL teacher (lapsed ), the written part of the GCSE exam is worth 25% of the total. There are two tiers, so you can be entered for a lower tier if you wanted. If your ds is dyslexic, then he should get extra time in the exam to read the papers etc. TBH, your support and willingness to go over his vocab with him, nag him to learn the vocab/grammar are more important than whether you have a GCSE in German or French. A large part of learning a language is developing strategies to cope when you don't understand - intelligent guesswork if you like. My languages are both fairly phonetic (not French!) so I can't comment on your dilemma other than to say whatever he feels he can live with for the next two years!

That's it! That's what I do; intelligent guesswork. I shouldn't be too pleased with myself as my dog is bilingual so obviously she can do it, too!

DS is 12 Ivor - he's in year 8 (August birthday just to add to his problems!!) - so after just a year of formally doing French (he did bits and pieces in primary school, and a few years of after school clubs before that) he has added Spanish. TBH the fact that they call the (female) teacher "Hagrid", and apparantly she screams at the class in both Spanish and French probably has a lot more to do with his reluctance to learn Spanish than his dyslexia

No chance of doing Italian? Because its phonetic its quite easy once you know "the rules", just need to up the vocab.

Would second the Italian idea (though not an option if your school doesn't teach it... and most don't, sadly!). But I've taught it quite successfully to dyslexic students.

I have also seen research suggesting that languages like Japanese are easier for dyslexic students.

Otherwise, my initial reaction was that German would be harder (because of the grammar, case system and word order) but other people have made good points about pronunciation and adherence to 'the rules'.

Good luck, anyway.

Ivor...

Time ReAson Manner Place (TRAMP)... I remember that one.

Also remember:

aus bei mit seit nach von zu
mit dem Dativ screibest du

Shame I can't remember anything else... e.g. anything useful!!

I live in Italian, speak some French but no German. However my neighbours are German. I also have many relatives that are dyslexia and judging by them so am I. I find Italian easy than French because it is as it sounds, however there are loads and loads of grammatical rules which you have to learn and often change. Speaking to Italians who know Germann and Germand. German is a language which will be easier to pronounce than any of the latin languages but it has the problem of lots of rules and tenses and grammer. So a lot to remember. French also has this problem but I think less so than German. I personally would go with the French or possibly spanish if possible but for me thats because grammer is a real problem to remember.

Finally I can't learn leanguage without speaking it, written language is a mistery to me and I'm very slow with it. Spoken languague is far easier for me so perhaps if you are considering extra support to help use a material with is all about spoken rather than written materials to help things stay in the brain.