Latin/Russian/German???

[pickledsiblings]

DD is in Y8 and has to choose between the following for next year:

1 Latin only
2 Classical Civilisation only
3 German only
4 Russian only
5 Latin and German
6 Latin and Russian

She is currently doing French and Latin and is enjoying them - she'll continue with French regardless. She has some aptitude for languages it is fair to say.

She has no idea of a future career so doesn't know what A levels she'll take. She already has 9/10 subjects (including French) firmed up in her mind for GCSE.

Can anyone offer some wisdom on which choice might be the most sensible in the current academic climate? Thank you.

[pickledsiblings]

No native Russian speakers that DD is aware of ladymuck.

I don't suppose the results influence your opinion in any way Bonsoir? Could you elaborate on why Russian wouldn't be your language of choice? Is it because it is against German? Or would you have other reasons for not choosing it?

[Marmitelover55]

I'm not sure how common it is generally, but there are a number of state schools with language specialisms who are more likely to offer a bigger selection. When we did the school tours last year, I noticed that most of them offered Latin (although some twilight), so my feeling is that it is increasingly popular in state schools. I did Latin 'O' level and loved it, and am hoping that DD will choose it next year

[SecretSquirrel13]

Of Russian and German I would go with German. But still do the Latin too. Russian can always be picked up at a later point (at uni in my first year I did a Russian module, most of the other students in it were fellow linguists).

[SecretSquirrel13]

I may be biased I loved Latin too. I would recommend it to anyone. So much of it is in English, French etc and so much pops up in everyday life.

[pickledsiblings]

Thanks SecretSquirrel.

So that would be 10 GCSEs if no Latin and 11 if she keeps it on. I have read on MN many times that any more than 10 GCSEs is a waste of time/effort for DC.

DD has just said that she would rather do PRE than Latin for GCSE along with:

English (x2)
Maths (possibly x2)
3 sciences
History
French
German(?)
Music

Would you still do Latin SS?

[SecretSquirrel13]

Yes if she finds it easy. But you may have gathered I'm too biased
Otherwise if she does end up doing language a levels she may pick up Latin gcse at the same time.

[loopsngeorge]

I did Latin, French and German GCSEs, then went on to do Russian and German at A level and university. I would therefore recommend Latin and German. I don't think there's any need to do Russian before A-level unless she is madly keen on it. If she does go on to do languages it's very common to pick up a new one at A-level or even first year degree level. GCSE German should result in a much higher level of proficiency than GCSE Russian does, although that's just from my observations.

Latin is such a good grounding for languages but also for general depth of education and cultural knowledge, so if it's being offered I would definitely encourage her to go for that.

[AtAmber]

Ds is in y10. He really likes Russian. He's also doing Spanish at gcse. He had to chose 2 languages in y7 from French, Spanish, German, Latin, mandarin and Russian. They could drop one at the end of y9 if they wanted to.

[LIZS]

How long has she done latin for ? ds has done it for 5/6 years and the last part for GCSE - set texts and sheer volume of vocab - has proved challenging, certainly more so than when dh and I did O level with the good old Cambridge course which had more historical elements. dd would love to have continued it but as a linguist decided to pursue MFL instead, so in your shoes she would ideally do option 5. If your school takes o/s boarders, are any Year 9 joiners likely to be Russian?

[pickledsiblings]

Amber, DD's friends that do Russian seem to really enjoy it too. I've had a look at the alphabet and it certainly looks interesting.

LIZS, DD will ask about overseas boarders on Monday . She has only been doing Latin for a year and a bit, 2 lessons per week compared with 6 French lessons.

Does no one feel strongly about keeping the number of GCSEs down to 10?

[SecretSquirrel13]

Sorry no idea as my dc not at secondary yet I picked this thread up in active threads.

[mrsannekins]

I studied Russian to GCSE as well as French and loved it.

Sodding hard though as you have to get to grips with the alphabet and new letter sounds, but very enjoyable once you get the hang of it.

I haven't really had much use out of it, and it wasn't offered at A-level. But I do think it has come in handy for deciphering what my 2yo DD is nattering on about (though I assume thoughts like this are a very long way away from your thinking OP!)

[FraterculaArctica]

I did Latin and Russian (and French, all to GCSE; Russian to AS level). Chose Russian over German, and 20 years later still think I made the right decision! She will probably find Russian v easy if she is on top of Latin (will already understand the concept of a case system, etc.) My view is this will set a student up better to tackle whatever languages they like in later life, as they will have a v good understanding of how different languages work, not being phased by non-Latin alphabets, etc. I have picked up/learnt quite a lot of German as an adult - think that tackling Russian as an adult would've been much more daunting.

I suspect the better Russian GCSE results may be because this subject attracts the most able students/linguists, unlike German - OP does this sound plausible for your DD's school?

[level3at6months]

I did French, Latin and Russian for o level. Russian was fairly easy after having done Latin for a couple of years - very similar grammatical structure as I recall.

[Suttonmum1]

Is there any chance your daughter might want to study abroad, or take holiday work as part of a gap year? I would think that would be more likely in a German speaking country than in Russia.

Looking at lists of good places to study pretty much anything, German universities come out well. Also Dutch, which is more similar to German.

[pickledsiblings]

So, we are still no closer to a decision, 40 posts in. Just German? Latin and Russian? Latin and German?

Fratercula, options 5 and 6 are for the more able linguists so in theory there shouldn't be much difference between the German and Russian results at GCSE as both are offered in combination with Latin and on their own.

Once again, thanks for all your help.

[pickledsiblings]

That's a good point to consider Suttonmum, thanks.

[Lyonesse]

The cyrillic alphabet is actually pretty simple - in Russian most things are pronounced exactly as they are written, so don't be put off by it seeming scary and different.

[StarsAbove]

I did French and German GCSE at school and Russian GCSE at an evening class as an adult - I got an A* for Russian after a year but obviously I didn't have 9 other subjects to deal with at the same time! My teacher was Russian and spoke little English which certainly helped, and the other people in the class had been learning for 3 years so personally I think it would be an advantage to be in a class with native speakers, immersion is valuable! I found my background basics of French and German helpful with Russian, and I had a couple of years of Latin but not GCSE level.

If I had my school time over again I would learn Spanish and Chinese as they are so widely spoken. Spanish is useful in USA for example, not just in countries with Spanish as a first language.

Good luck to your DD with her choice!

[LauraBridges]

I did French and German.
She has 9/10 already including French. So perhaps don't do any extras and just have more time to relax which I think is just as important.

[LauraBridges]

.although depends if her 9/10 are serious subjects...

[pickledsiblings]

Would any of you lot that have studied languages beyond school mind saying what jobs you do?

Laura bridges they are serious subjects. So would you chooses German over Russian or just stick with Latin?

[EBearhug]

I'd go for Latin and Russian. We had the choice of Latin or German at school, and I did Latin on the grounds it would be easier to pick up German outside of school. I took Latin to A-level, and it's been really useful background for other European languages. I have since taken German at evening classes.

I'd love to learn some Russian, but it's not been an option at evening classes round here, and I like to do classes rather than individual study, because I find it more fun that way.

[Everhopeful]

If she finds Latin easy, Russian has a lot in common with it (no articles, declensions, etc) so it would probably be easier on her at GCSE. It's a tricky decision and no mistake: German is very useful as it comes up more often, but I'd agree with the school that Russian speakers are less thick on the ground and that demand is likely to increase. To work with German, it seems you have to be word-perfect to satisfy the Germans. I have no idea if the same applies with Russian, though I suspect not: I think their reputation for learning languages is about as good as ours, whereas the Germans really do try to do everything perfectly!

[LadybirdsEverywhere]

Latin and German.

Latin is a brilliant grounding in languages and grammar. And it's interesting.

German is the most widely spoken language in the EU and the most wanted language by employers (French is second).

Best advice is for her to choose those she enjoys the most.