should I choose Chinese or Japanese?

[vce_infires_me]

Hey , so I'm stuck between choosing Chinese or Japanese for VCE.

Heres some background info~

I'm currently a Year 10 student who did Chinese SL unit 1/2 this year, and to be honest I kind of dread it. The only thing I can really do with Chinese is memorise my orals for sacs, and read texts with not too much complicated vocab, as well as a bit of everything else. I'm no way near as good as some of the people in my class though (in fact I'm probably the somewhere in the bottom of my class). I can barely understand listening sacs, do reading comprehension or finish an essay in one lesson -.- and I wasn't on top of homework this year either because I had zero motivation. The only reason why I'm considering Chinese SL unit 3/4 for next year is because I had done Chinese school for SOO LONG (started when i was in grade one, so its been 10 years now ... and I'm still so bad at it lol) and if I quit now, with only one year left, all those years would have gone to waste (rip to all my Saturday afternoons). Also, I know that you shouldn't choose subjects based on their scaling, but Chinese does scale up quite a bit. This would be useless though if I get a really low score right? XD

On the other hand, I've done Japanese at school since year 7 (so that makes it 4 years, compared to Chinese which I've done for 10 years), and it has always been one of my favourite classes. I think i'm a pretty average student this year, but in previous years I have been pretty good at it I guess (Bs in my report etc...). I don't know as much vocab in Japanese compared with Chinese, but I understand it A LOT more (what we have covered in class anyway), I can finish an essay in less than a lesson, and understand listening etc. I feel like with Japanese I will have more opportunities too, like being able to live with a host family in the school Japan trip in year 11 (which I'll miss out on if I quit Japanese ). I think I will put more effort into Japanese as well, since its just like taking any other subject at my school, and not enrolling myself in Saturday afternoon classes (when I want to sleep) like Chinese. It's still a difficult subject in my opinion, but I was a weeb once ... so maybe I'll enjoy Japanese more?? lmao

Please give me your opinion and/or advice if you can, because I have less than two weeks left to tell my school's VCE office.

Thanks

[AngelWings]

Hey VCE-infires-me,

I can totally relate to your dilemma. In fact, it was the exact situation I found myself in at the end of Year 10 as well. (If you'd like to see my overall VCE subjects, feel free to check it out here.) Long story short, I chose to continue with Japanese and ended my Chinese journey, despite the fact that I'd been doing it for ages too. Please do not feel obligated to stay just because you have a longer history with it. (Plus, bonus is that your Chinese can often help with Japanese, so it's not really a waste at all, although there may be times where you may need to be careful.)

You should be basing your decision of subjects by three major points:
1. Whether you need that subject to either obtain your VCE certificate (e.g. English or an equivalent) or to get into your future planned courses (i.e. prerequisites for studies beyond VCE - if you don't know where to check that, click here).
2. Whether you are any good at that subject.
3. Whether you have any interest in that subject.

Out of these, both don't satisfy the first condition (it's not a pre-req for any courses AFAIK), but only Japanese satisfies the last two. As a result, I think the easiest thing for you to do is to go and study Japanese. You clearly have more interest (and probably skill) in it than Chinese, so it's the best way to go. 

Just remember that you are the last person to make this decision, so you don't necessarily have to follow through with my biased opinion.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

[vce_infires_me]

Hi AngelWings

Thanks for the reply, I'm glad that someone could relate to my problem and has had experience, you have definitely made my decision making a lot easier. I'll take your points into consideration as well. 

[plsbegentle]

is because I had done Chinese school for SOO LONG (started when i was in grade one, so its been 10 years now ... and I'm still so bad at it lol) and if I quit now.

holy fk...THIS IS LEGIT ME in like year 5 lol, i quit a year later but totally regret it. I hope u make the right decision!

[vce_infires_me]

holy fk...THIS IS LEGIT ME in like year 5 lol, i quit a year later but totally regret it. I hope u make the right decision!

HAHAHA tbh i wanted to quit ages ago (like year 3) but here I am somehow?? lol, and thanks