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Author Topic: Is it a good idea to do two languages for VCE?  (Read 10840 times)  Share 

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Kyuuri

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Is it a good idea to do two languages for VCE?
« on: May 15, 2015, 12:40:54 pm »
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I'm planning to take both Chinese SL and Japanese SL to VCE. However, I am not sure if I should take them both in because learning two languages is considered very hard.

Does it benefit me that they happen to have similar aspects?

I also need to mention that Cantonese is the language I speak at home and I have studied Mandarin for quite some time at Great Future Chinese Culture School Inc. I understand enough of the language to hold a conversation but my writing and reading is pretty average.

Japanese, on the other hand, I began from Year 7 and I haven't dropped it since.
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Leezy

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Re: Is it a good idea to do two languages for VCE?
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2015, 01:36:59 pm »
+1
Hmm, personally I would probably recommend doing 2 languages for VCE as I completed Chinese 3/4 last year and I am currently studying Japanese. However, I wouldn't do them both in year 12, I would do 1 in year 11 and leave one for year 12 as the workload is extremely high with oral preparation for both subjects. With that being said, Chinese does indeed help with Japanese as Kanji recognition and writing is particularly useful.

The only correlation between Chinese and Japanese is probably the Kanji and how some words sound similar.
Good Luck!

Deshouka

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Re: Is it a good idea to do two languages for VCE?
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2015, 04:23:00 pm »
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Hey, I also recommend doing two languages for VCE because I believe that languages (along with food tech), are the most useful subjects that VCE offers, due to its applicability in your daily life. While you learn the language, you also learn a lot about the culture of the country. It even changes your way of thinking (in a good way of course).
As Leezy has stated, Japanese and Chinese are similar when it comes to kanji and will help you immensely in your Japanese studies, if you are at an intermediate level. However, due to the restrictiveness of VCE, knowing lots of kanji won't help you that much for VCE Jap. So what I'm trying to say is that your level of Japanese will not be indicative of your ability in Chinese, because at the end of day, the pronunciation and grammar are extremely different.

Good luck!
Willing to help out with anything Japanese! :)

strawberries

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Re: Is it a good idea to do two languages for VCE?
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2015, 06:43:30 pm »
+1
Yes.

Last year I did 3/4 Chinese in Year 11 and this year I'm doing 3/4 German. I don't Japanese (so I can't comment on the similarities between the two languages), but like Leezy said I'd strongly recommend doing one in Year 11 so it does lighten the workload. Many Canto students at my school/friends did Chinese 3/4 in Year 10/11.

Having already done a language, I already kinda know what to expect this year because outcomes are pretty similar, and you also know what kinds of text types you need to know, what questions will be in the general conversation etc

But yeah, I would suggest doing two languages because:
- scaling (OK, I know they keep saying 'don't pick subjects because of scaling' but languages do scale quite a bit, even if you don't get a super high raw score you will still get a decent scaled score - and yes it does require effort but it all works out in the end :))
- benefits of learning languages (I think you'd know this already, but idk personally I find it interesting to learn about other languages and cultures)
especially cos you've been doing Jap for so long, I wouldn't recommend dropping it.

But if you're not confident with Chinese, then don't do it because Chinese is super competitive as most people (even SL kids) are all super fluent in Chinese whereas most Jap students aren't background speakers. Half the time I keep thinking 'why am I even doing Chinese?' I'm interested in learning Chinese but I didn't feel my abilities were suited to doing VCE, but I still did it anyway and got a scaled score in the 40s so yeah.

Good luck :)
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Kyuuri

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Re: Is it a good idea to do two languages for VCE?
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2015, 11:10:14 pm »
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Hmm, personally I would probably recommend doing 2 languages for VCE as I completed Chinese 3/4 last year and I am currently studying Japanese. However, I wouldn't do them both in year 12, I would do 1 in year 11 and leave one for year 12 as the workload is extremely high with oral preparation for both subjects. With that being said, Chinese does indeed help with Japanese as Kanji recognition and writing is particularly useful.

The only correlation between Chinese and Japanese is probably the Kanji and how some words sound similar.
Good Luck!

[/quote]
Yes.

Last year I did 3/4 Chinese in Year 11 and this year I'm doing 3/4 German. I don't Japanese (so I can't comment on the similarities between the two languages), but like Leezy said I'd strongly recommend doing one in Year 11 so it does lighten the workload. Many Canto students at my school/friends did Chinese 3/4 in Year 10/11.

Ah, damn. So would doing both 3/4 Chinese and Japanese in the same year be really stressful? I would love to finish Chinese a year early, but I'm not that confident with my skill level as of yet. I know I can improve though, with two years to go.

Not to mention I'll highly likely be bringing Methods into my subjects as well. Isn't Methods really stressful as well? Sjnfakfdsd.
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Mieow

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Re: Is it a good idea to do two languages for VCE?
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2015, 11:22:39 pm »
+2
I think it's a great idea to do two languages but you should try to accelerate in one of those languages. When you're in Year 12, on top of learning vocab, grammar and Kanji you'll also need to practice your writing, reading, speaking and listening. Japanese on its own felt like a lot of work, so having Chinese on top of that would be rather too much on my plate imo. I'm sure it would be possible for you to even out your time with Japanese and Chinese simultaneously, but you'd need to be really organized and focused with that.

Maybe people say Methods is stressful because they had really high expectations and wanted to do really well in it, but I personally found it really enjoyable.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2015, 11:39:27 pm by Mieow »
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2013-2014: English Language | Chemistry | Biology | Methods | Specialist | Japanese SL
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strawberries

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Re: Is it a good idea to do two languages for VCE?
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2015, 11:28:17 pm »
+1

Ah, damn. So would doing both 3/4 Chinese and Japanese in the same year be really stressful? I would love to finish Chinese a year early, but I'm not that confident with my skill level as of yet. I know I can improve though, with two years to go.

Not to mention I'll highly likely be bringing Methods into my subjects as well. Isn't Methods really stressful as well? Sjnfakfdsd.

What year level Chinese are you doing now?
Tbh, my Chinese level wasn't that great yet, I've missed and skipped so many year levels, but I would say ask your teacher and see what you can improve.
Do your parents know how to speak any Mandarin? Would they be able to help?

I also did Methods 3/4 last year too. I didn't do well in both Methods and Chinese (not even raw 40), but I did put a shit ton more effort into Methods compared to Chinese, and the end result was that my Methods study score was only 1 higher than my Chinese, but the Chinese scaled to way higher.
some of my friends find Methods stressful, others don't. I think you need to be sure you actually understand formulas and reduce mistakes.

But ultimately, it's your choice. If you don't feel confident/don't like one of those languages, don't do them. If you don't feel ready to do Chinese a year early, then don't do it. But yeah I'm just recommending :)

Good luck

PS. If you do do Chinese a year early, make sure you don't neglect your 1/2s especially Jap because from what I've heard my friends who did 1/2 Jap focused too much on their 3/4s in year 11 and now they're really behind so idk.
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Kyuuri

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Re: Is it a good idea to do two languages for VCE?
« Reply #7 on: May 15, 2015, 11:36:33 pm »
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What year level Chinese are you doing now?
Tbh, my Chinese level wasn't that great yet, I've missed and skipped so many year levels, but I would say ask your teacher and see what you can improve.
Do your parents know how to speak any Mandarin? Would they be able to help?

I also did Methods 3/4 last year too. I didn't do well in both Methods and Chinese (not even raw 40), but I did put a shit ton more effort into Methods compared to Chinese, and the end result was that my Methods study score was only 1 higher than my Chinese, but the Chinese scaled to way higher.
some of my friends find Methods stressful, others don't. I think you need to be sure you actually understand formulas and reduce mistakes.

But ultimately, it's your choice. If you don't feel confident/don't like one of those languages, don't do them. If you don't feel ready to do Chinese a year early, then don't do it. But yeah I'm just recommending :)

Good luck

PS. If you do do Chinese a year early, make sure you don't neglect your 1/2s especially Jap because from what I've heard my friends who did 1/2 Jap focused too much on their 3/4s in year 11 and now they're really behind so idk.

Right now? VCE Prep. And yes, my mother can speak mediocre Mandarin and my grandmother can help me out as well. I like both languages, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle all the stress. 
The only 3/4 I'll be doing in year 11 will be English.
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Ledda

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Re: Is it a good idea to do two languages for VCE?
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2015, 10:27:19 pm »
+2
I can only offer my experience, which has been to do Italian (the language my grandparents and father speak) in year 11 and then German in year 12. I really love languages and it hasn't really been too stressful for me at all, but then again you have to really want to. I absolutely loved it and spend a lot of spare time reading and listening in foreign languages.

If you're thinking about all of this in terms of "how can i reduce stress, omg my ATAR, omg omg" then I think it's useless to consider any of it. In my experience, if it's not out of love, or for fun (same diff really) then it's not at all.

Chinese and Japanese will be an added workload due to the fact they're rather differently composed linguistically compared to English and other European languages. Then, on top of that, there's the scripts for each one. Chinese has a logographic one which I'm sure you already (should definitely really) know and then the half syllabic/logographic one. It's pretty intense I'd say, and then with Methods as well in the mix it'd be a huge workload to manage all at the same time - especially if you're not a maths head (like me).

Best of luck and if you have any other specific questions feel free to ask!
2014: Maths Methods (40), Italian (45)
2015: Spesh (38), German (43), English (46), Physics (38)
ATAR: 99.6