2 Languages in same lesson

[food4thought]

Hello,

My daughter is learning both French and German. She is studying with a group of friends. I noticed that they are studying both languages at the same time. I'm concerned she might get confused if they study both at the same time. Does anyone know if it best to learn them during the same revision session or should she do them separately ? I have no idea about languages.

[mad?]

Is this for revision sessions or teaching? I am aware of DC being taught the 2 languages side by side in a reduced timetable but it mi get be helpful if you provided more detail about what the school are doing and the stage DC is at?

[PettswoodFiona]

DD had a quirk of timetabling that she had German, followed by French then a lunchtime session of Latin and a Twighlight class of Mandarin. Not at ‘the same time’ but in quick succession and all on the same day. I think it helped hone her ear for languages. I think French and Spanish might be hard to follow one after another or have in the same lesson as they are so similar. Languages like German and French I would hope are different enough to be seen as different enough. Now at GCSE DD is only doing German I might add.

DD sat an external exam recently for German and the (very selective public sixth form) school were very impressed with her focus and expression. I think some of this is due to her having to delineate between languages and therefore be assertive and assured.

DD has found it helpful to watch favourite films in the languages she is studying and buy favourite books like Harry Potter that may now be books of her ‘youth’ (yes three or four years earlier!) and for example has got a copy of the first Harry Potter book in German which she is doing at GCSE. When she was revising watching films with different groups of friends in that particular language was hugely helpful.

[food4thought]

It's not at school, she is learning new stuff with her friends during the holidays. They are trying to learn french and german by themselves. They are beginners. I'm just wondering if they should learn one language at a time during their session or if it is wise to mix both?

[ToadMum]

It's not at school, she is learning new stuff with her friends during the holidays. They are trying to learn french and german by themselves. They are beginners. I'm just wondering if they should learn one language at a time during their session or if it is wise to mix both?

The two languages are really quite different, e.g.
Horse - das Pferd (German), le cheval (French)
School - die Schule/ l'école
Town - die Stadt / la ville

Word order is also different to some extent and assuming that they are using some kind of app where they hear the languages spoken by native speakers, they sound quite different.

Possibly not the way I'd have chosen to learn them, but probably quite good fun.