Which language to choose

[happygardening]

Which would you choose my DS (year 9 now) starts his senior school in September and has to choose now between Ancient Greek, Spanish, Mandarin or German. He will be doing French and Latin and is exceptionally good at Latin, has a little experience of the Greek and no expeience of the others. I favour the Spanish my hubsband the Ancient Greek.

I would say either German or Spanish. I did German at GCSE and A Level and it's been really useful.

If he gains a qualification in ancient Greek it will mark him out as having been to a posh public school- so it depends on how you feel about this.

Apparently it is easier to get into Oxbridge to study Classics than any other subject so if you're looking to that then Greek would be the best option.

Greek is not easy! At least it's not universally easy- of course some might naturally incline towards it. I'm supposed to have an "aptitude" for languages (I think that's rubbish- it has to do with memory/sponge brain more than anything), but I went on a Greek G&T thing and I can't remember a word now (apart from etsy-ketsy :o) and I found it much harder to pick things up. Anyway, how easy something is isn't always the most commendable consideration to rely on when picking school subjects.

please don't choose Greek under the assumption that it is an easy subject.

Spanish and German are both comparatively easy languages for an English speaker to pick up if the need for them arises. I would have a go at either ancient Greek or Mandarin in this school situation, unless ds has a particular leaning towards either the German speaking or the Spanish speaking world. Both Spanish and German are also easier to learn to speak than French IMO.

Good points about the teachers/quality of teaching. Anyone you can ask?

As a languages teacher I'd caution hugely against choosing based on who is teaching the course, as you never know what will happen in the future. Every year our pupils ask who will be teaching the different language courses as they know who they want and don't want. But, people leave, people retire and people go on maternity leave. Also most teachers teach more than one language and if you have a situation like this with free choice, then the numbers of teachers needed for each language each year can vary drastically. Unless there is only one teacher of a particular language then you shouldn't make your decision this way.

Also, I really don't understand why people say that Spanish is the language of the future. They are not a large economy and don't look like this is going to change any time soon. Spain is not a major player in European politics and although there is a large number of Spanish speakers in the world most of them are in South America - will this feature heavily in his life? Spanish is also getting more nad more popular in the UK so your DS won't have anything different to anyone else. I'd go for German or Mandarin.

deffo not ancient Greek.

(And I speak as a linguist who did Ancient Greek for A-level. Boy was it tough. ROFL @ mummytime, no not fairly easy, not unless it has got easier in last 20 years! which seems unlikely on the whole... new alphabet the least of yr worries. I didn't go to a posh or even crummy public school btw.)

Spanish is useful - holidays etc, German good for business/engineering etc. Mandarin said to be the one we all should learn but personally have no knowledge of it.

I would say German but then I would, that's what I did my degree in!

Sorry I posted that before I saw yr DS favours the Greek.

I would still say German is better; I was lucky enough to be able to get O-levels in Latin, French, German, Spanish and Ancient Greek, but the latter two I did as "extras" ; German is much more mainstream IMO.

Many thanks again my DS has read all your postings and has chosen German something we never considered when we first had to choose. Interestingly yesterday we went for lunch at the school and he spoke to an older boy who also choose German and loves it!
Thanks again for all your intersting postings.

Good choice!

I love German :o want to study it at uni!

it's not your choice, it's DS's

oops, hadn't seen the choice had been made...good for him. I'd have chosen the greek, but i'm a geek...