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March 29, 2024, 08:52:16 am

Poll

What did you study?

Arabic
0 (0%)
Auslan
0 (0%)
Chinese
16 (21.9%)
French
17 (23.3%)
German
3 (4.1%)
Greek
0 (0%)
Hebrew
0 (0%)
Hindi
0 (0%)
Indonesian
4 (5.5%)
Italian
8 (11%)
Japanese
16 (21.9%)
Korean
0 (0%)
Latin
7 (9.6%)
Spanish
0 (0%)
Vietnamese
1 (1.4%)
Other (please specify below)
1 (1.4%)

Total Members Voted: 51

Author Topic: What LOTE(s) did/do you study at high school?  (Read 5350 times)  Share 

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appleandbee

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Re: What LOTE(s) did/do you study at high school?
« Reply #30 on: February 10, 2019, 04:13:21 pm »
0
Top five so far:

1. French
2. Japanese
3. Chinese
4. Italian
4. Latin

Any surprises there?

I think that the majority of people that voted Chinese meant that they went to Chinese school on the weekends rather than it being offered as part of the school curriculum. Quite a few private schools offer Chinese but only a handful of public schools do so. Collingwood College (coincidentally near the first high school I went to) though only offers Chinese.


As someone who studied French from years 7-12 and also observed the massive popularity of French over Chinese at their high school, part of the reason I chose to study French over Chinese (and also Italian) is that the class environment seemed a little less intimidating for me since I knew there were usually pretty few experienced French speakers. On the other hand, there were quite a few students who spoke Chinese and Italian at home or had close links to the languages which had allowed them to learn them all their lives and I was kinda scared of being out of my depth :P Chinese characters also freaked me out a bit!! I wonder if other people had similar experiences? I will add, though, that I did genuinely enjoy French as a subject, love the language, and would definitely like to travel there in the future, so that also contributed a lot to my choice. (:

Understand where you are coming from and the factors that vary from school to school that may contribute. My school was about 2/3 Anglo/European and 1/3 Asian (Vietnamese and East-timorese for the most part, spoke little if any Chinese) and no difference in the quality of teachers between languages (actually heard that the French teachers were mediocre). Unfortunately it seemed that class mixed with ethnicity were telling in language choice. The Asians, almost all of them lived the the local area (public housing and some parts were fairly poor) except for the Indians (as far as I know, the few in my school were middle-class and did not live locally) chose Chinese along with some Anglo/European students. The Indians and all the other Anglo-Europeans chose French (who did not live in tbe area, were middle to upper class for the most part and needed to go through a selection process to get in the school). Agree that an unfamilar writing system can throw people off especially if not exposed from young. Wasn't in that position so never factored it into my language choice. Also agree that interest in the culture and language is important- probably why I'm studying Hindi and Persian and hopefully French and Japanese in the future over Chinese and Arabic (uni teacher was good, but didn't find the teaching style enjoyable-given the few teachers in the department it was an important factor in whether to continue. Also prefer Persian because it's so beautiful, easier grammar and it's spomen in Central Asia). Can also say that Russian and Spanish are amazing. Would study Chinese if I need it for a job/career though. Mongolian would be good for me personally but the pronounciation is one of the toughest out there so we will see 15 years from now lol.

Still think that the perception of Asian languages and culture (apreciation is exoticised in a shallow manner in many cases) is problematic in Australia. Not just because we need more people that speak critical Asian language for economic/political reasons, but to break down the manner in which humanities and culture are studied in Australia. Many Asians I met (mostly middle-class) seem to hold sentiments of Eurocentric superiority in language, humanities and culture (legacy of colonialism) and would learn a European language ahead of their own culture.

 

VCE Class of 2015

Studying Anthropology, Philosophy and Biology at Unimelb

Joseph41

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Re: What LOTE(s) did/do you study at high school?
« Reply #31 on: February 10, 2019, 04:20:29 pm »
+1
^Interesting thoughts. When I was in Year 7, my (public) school offered Japanese and French, but now offers those two plus Chinese. I think it's a great subject to offer!

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brynstar

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Re: What LOTE(s) did/do you study at high school?
« Reply #32 on: February 10, 2019, 04:53:53 pm »
+2
I did three languages for VCE: Indonesian, French and Latin.

I took Indo early in year 10 for reasons which are a bit too complicated to elaborate here but it was a very good experience for developing study skills etc. Plus I ended up with a 43 study score, despite having no in-country experience :) I really enjoyed the cultural studies side of things too.
In year 12, I did French at school and Latin via distance ed. French was probably my favourite language - it sounds so beautiful and I love the literature/art associated with it. I don't understand why all my friends dropped it. Latin was really painful at the start since I only picked it up in year 10 and never felt like I was on top of the grammar. It was very complicated and confusing but that made it more exciting when I did succeed in SACs etc. Also I loved the ancient history associated with it and studying The Aeneid.

Anyway, now I'm studying French and Spanish at uni. I did year 7-9 Spanish and have always wanted to get back to it and it seems to complement French well. Some may think I'm a bit crazy for doing two languages AND law but languages have always been my passion and I tend to pick up vocab/grammar pretty fast. I hope I'll be able to speak 7 or 8 one day.
2016 - Indonesian SL (43)
2017 - Psychology ( 47)
2018 - Literature (50 + Premier's Award), French (45), Latin (35), Deakin Accelerate Psychological Science (5.0) ATAR - 99.85

2019 - Bachelor of Laws (Honours)/Bachelor of Arts @ Monash University

Now selling essays on Twelfth Night, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Ariel and General Conversation Notes for French! PM for details!

Joseph41

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Re: What LOTE(s) did/do you study at high school?
« Reply #33 on: February 10, 2019, 04:56:47 pm »
0
I did three languages for VCE: Indonesian, French and Latin.

I took Indo early in year 10 for reasons which are a bit too complicated to elaborate here but it was a very good experience for developing study skills etc. Plus I ended up with a 43 study score, despite having no in-country experience :) I really enjoyed the cultural studies side of things too.
In year 12, I did French at school and Latin via distance ed. French was probably my favourite language - it sounds so beautiful and I love the literature/art associated with it. I don't understand why all my friends dropped it. Latin was really painful at the start since I only picked it up in year 10 and never felt like I was on top of the grammar. It was very complicated and confusing but that made it more exciting when I did succeed in SACs etc. Also I loved the ancient history associated with it and studying The Aeneid.

Anyway, now I'm studying French and Spanish at uni. I did year 7-9 Spanish and have always wanted to get back to it and it seems to complement French well. Some may think I'm a bit crazy for doing two languages AND law but languages have always been my passion and I tend to pick up vocab/grammar pretty fast. I hope I'll be able to speak 7 or 8 one day.

This is so good. So are pretty much all of your Arts units atm language-based?

Oxford comma, Garamond, Avett Brothers, Orla Gartland enthusiast.

brynstar

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Re: What LOTE(s) did/do you study at high school?
« Reply #34 on: February 10, 2019, 05:04:44 pm »
+1
This is so good. So are pretty much all of your Arts units atm language-based?
Yeah! I might get non-language based electives later on, it depends if I decide to do Spanish as a minor or a second major.
2016 - Indonesian SL (43)
2017 - Psychology ( 47)
2018 - Literature (50 + Premier's Award), French (45), Latin (35), Deakin Accelerate Psychological Science (5.0) ATAR - 99.85

2019 - Bachelor of Laws (Honours)/Bachelor of Arts @ Monash University

Now selling essays on Twelfth Night, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Ariel and General Conversation Notes for French! PM for details!