Language choices in year 9.

[seeker]

My dd has to choose two subjects from of Spanish, Latin, German and Classical Civilization for year 9. She has to choose either Spanish or German, and one other. Any thoughts on which would be best? She wants to choose Spanish and Latin, and I am happy for her to do that, unless anyone knows a good reason for doing any of the other combinations!

I just don t get the point of Latin. Except to show poshness. Unless you love it so much you can forsee a classics degree. What we need now are languages to help you get a job.

Spanish much better, IMO. It is a widely spoken European language (the most widely spoken after English?) and used in large parts of the world, even in a lot of the US. German, on the other hand, is much more limited.

Don't know what Classical Civilisation involves, so can't advise on that!

Isn't Classical Civ. for those who aren't up to Latin?
Latin is useful for the sciences.

Sounds like good choices to me seeker. Latin is great as a tool for understanding structure of European languages and is an interesting study in its own right too. Spanish is widely spoken & useful. German used to be recommended for scientists, but not so much nowadays I don't think - it's much much less widely spoken than Spanish. Classical Civ. is really ancient history and is often offered as alternative to Latin for those without a linuistic aptitude.

DS says Classical Civilisation covers some Greek & Latin, but no translations required! His school do Latin from Yr 7 and they all do half a terms Greek & Classical Civilisation in Yr 9 before they take their options - so they get a taste.

Latin is highly regarded by a lot of Uni's, but depends what A levels she wants.

DS has chosen French (out of French or German) and Latin as 2 of his GCSE Options. He didn't get on with Greek and would rather do History GCSE to Classics.

Spanish & Latin sound great choices.

Spanish takes its roots form Latin as do the other romance languages of French and Italian, so it would help her with her Spanish and these others if she chose to study them at a later date. However, if she has an aptitude for languages, I do think she would be better sticking to the two modern languages i.e Spanish and German. If she has two, she will be more employable both within Europe and further afield (with the Spanish), and especially if she ever plans on teaching Modern Languages.

Spanish is an excellent choice as it is (a) easy to make headway with (b) opens up lots of possibilities for travel.

I would probably choose Latin over German for the second choice. But either would be OK - do you know the teachers? A fab teacher makes such a huge different to enjoyment and progress. I'd probably choose the teacher, not the language, in your position.

Latin and Spanish, as others have recommended. DS1 is doing Latin alongside Russian for A level - he took French a year early. If your dd has any kind of aptitude for languages, I think Latin is an excellent choice. CC is more fun and more intellectually rigorous in 6th form, where it goes well with History/English Lit/RS etc.

Latin is a very good choice. If your dd has linguistic abilty, she can easily pick up a second mfl at uni, should she choose to go down that route, but Latin is rigorous enough to be best studied from an early age. It will lay the foundation for some European languages in terms of vocabulary, and many interms of grammatical constructions,. It will also show she can think logically (unlike most foreign languages at GCSE level, it is not taught in blocks and phrases, but with precise attention to every inflexion).
Spanish vocab is closer to Latin, but German grammar is very close too (dunno any Spanish grammar).

in terms

I took Latin, French and German GCSEs about a million years ago.

Having a good knowledge of one 'living' language is very useful I find, but as the years pass I'm more and more thankful that I also did the Latin. It means that I can have a pretty good stab at deciphering Italian and Spanish, and it also taught me a lot about grammar and language structure. Also, if your dd has an interest in history, art, or medicine, Latin will come in handy.

I think Spanish and Latin sounds like a good choice.

I did Latin and French GCSEs and dropped German which I'd taken for 2 years. Never regretted it! I have enough German that picking it up again wasn't a problem and I can vaguely get around in Germany but the Latin has been much more useful (and my degree is in music....)

Latin for intellectual rigour & for all the reasons Aniyan & others give!

Personally, I think ALL bright children should do at least some Latin, but then I'm biased because I teach it

Otherwise, Spanish is the obvious option, although if she's really got an aptitude for languages, then German might stretch her more - with Latin, she'd easily pick up Spanish later.

Class civ. is great fun & culturally enriching - I teach it too - but not as demanding.

I'd say her plan's a good one - Latin & Spanish.

What can she actually do with Spanish, aside from travel?

What is her plans for further study? Geography? Combined with Latin America? Then Spanish will be useful. Modern European Literature? Then Spanish will be useful, there is something to be said for reading texts in original language.

I regret not learning German, as it would seem, to do my phd within Classics, in my chosen topic, I would need to know German, as a lot of scholars were german, and some obscure texts were not translated to English.

But, I suppose, that is not a valid reason for your dd to learn German, I suppose, Lol.

Spanish and Latin are excellent choices if your dd has no idea what to do further, as it doesnt close any doors, but opens more.

Spanish and Latin sounds a good combination. Although to me, Latin and Classics sounds more interesting but it seems they can't do both of those?

I'd go with her choices!

Well, it would be quite reasonable in year 8 not to have yet settled on a PhD discipline...

But agree, good choices because they keep doors open.

It depends on how intellectual she is and what she wants to do later in life. If it were my dd I'd say German, because she is bright (so should do the more difficult language now, can pick up Spanish later) and might well pursue a university career (lots of scientific and scholarly texts written in German).

But if you think she might end up more out in the practical/business/travelling world and won't want to work harder than she has to, then Spanish might be a better option.

I would not combine Latin and Spanish, because I find if you've done Latin and French you can easily pick up Spanish anyway; waste of time to do it at school. If she was going to do Latin, then I'd say German.

If she is not very academic and wants an easier option, the Spanish and Classical Civilization seem the obvious choice. But a university admissions officer would be likely to be more impressed by German and Latin/Spanish.

Cory has a point.

My sister picked up Spanish, and portugese, and Italian from knowing French, and speak all 4 languages fluently (in addition to English and German and her native norwegian - )

I think these days a uni admissions tutor is likely to be impressed by a GCSE pass at any language - ancient or modern.

At my school over the past 4 years we have had between 3 and 13% of students opting to do a single language
(Two is not even an option.)

If she prefers Spanish to German, I would go with that.

Classical civilisation often known as 'heroes for zeroes' iirc.

Expand Frogs, please.

I have an MA Classics. Am I a zero?

agree roisin, where i teach we have 18/290 students doing french this year, ab#nd a few doing german.
whereas where my kids are all have to study at least one mfl.
Latin v. useful for all sorts of subjects - lots allied to medicine eg pharmacology, Also biology/botany in partic.

DD is one of only 3 at her school doing A level French, and the only student taking 2 languages! It's such a shame that we are so bad at languages in this country.

Seeker, you are fortunate to have a school that offers these choices. DD gets cross that her school doesn't do Spanish, so she is hoping to pick it up at Uni.

Qs, iirc it was just a snotty thing that classics nerds used to say about non-classics nerds.