s/o Multiple languages

[Dmmetler]

On the mixing ancient/modern languages thread, Ester mentioned that European classical schools would teach both Latin and Greek as well as a second modern language.

 

I'm considering, given how much my DD has taken to SSL, going ahead and getting SSG, while also continuing with Latin. She's a "Languagey" child, who loves languages and who loves learning them (she discovered that they have songs that teach basic vocabulary in a bunch of languages on United Streaming, and is in love with hearing the SAME song in Spanish, then in Italian, then in German....while mommy slowly goes insane). And she's enthralled with different alphabetic systems. She is the child who tries to read the Chinese side of the menu in restaurants, and who asks people who speak other languages to teach her words in them-and has since...well...since she realized there WERE other languages, at about age 2.

 

Would it be too crazy to continue with Spanish as a second language, Latin as a formal language, and add Greek as a second formal language for a child who LOVES languages and seems intent on absorbing as much as possible?

 

FWIW, I'm passably competent in Spanish and Latin, and can read Italian or German and sound good doing it, while catching the general gist but not the details (Singer's syndrome-you spend a lot more time working on vocal diction than on actually learning the language, but after your 80th opera, you discover you have at least some reading proficency). I have zero, zilch, NO background in Greek unless you count being a member of Sigma Alpha Iota!

[Joan in GE]

On the mixing ancient/modern languages thread, Ester mentioned that European classical schools would teach both Latin and Greek as well as a second modern language.

 

Here they will easily teach a third modern language...but the Latin starts in 7th grade and Greek probably in 10th...while the German starts in 3rd grade and English (as a second language) in 7th...(they speak French in this part of Switzerland).

 

Joan

[saw]

My dds' school (gymnasium, or highest academic level) started children on Latin, English, French, German and Dutch in the first year (seventh grade, most kids had had a bit of English) and added Greek and Spanish in the second. In the third they are supposed to drop one language. In the fourth they pick what type of course they're following (so either a language-y one or a non-language-y one, if that makes sense) and can either continue with or drop languages. DDs are now doing French, Dutch, English, Spanish, Japanese and will pick up on Greek/Latin once we find a tutor (we just moved countries). It doesn't seem to be a problem.

[Ester Maria]

@ Saw: Out of curiosity, what's the language of instruction and do you live in a country/area with multiple official languages?

[saw]

We were in the Netherlands, where the language of instruction is Dutch. The girls were already bilingual Dutch/English, so the English classes were not really relevant to them (they did work I sent to school with them). We're now in France and homeschooling, but also using the Netherlands' internet school for certain subjects. I will have to find a French tutor to help them learn French, and I'm enrolling them in various activities to help them learn French in social settings. If all goes well, they should end up being more or less trilingual and have a good command of a few other languages as well.

Given our situation, it should be fairly easy for the girls to do this. I'm not sure how it would work if you were in the US or somewhere similar.

 

Sophie

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

many schools around here will offer from 3 to 4 languages (including the main one) in kindergarden, and will slowly reduce the number of languages as the child ages.

One school nearby teaches the morning in French, the afternoon in English, and two foreign languages after class. Three, four and five languages are nothing surprising around here.

[cathmom]

How do schools fit in all these languages and still have room for the other subjects?

 

My high school had 8 periods, one was English and one was gym. You didn't have to take a lunch, but if you did, that only left 5 other spaces for classes. I know that in Germany they follow more of a college type schedule, with different classes on different days, and can have up to 10-11 classes at once.

 

My sophomore year in high school I took French 3 and Spanish 1. You should have seen my counselor's face when I told her that my junior year I wanted to take French, Spanish, and Italian (the only other language my school offered). She said, "What are colleges going to think when they see all these languages?!" I replied dryly, "That I like languages?" Anyway, they got to me, the next French teacher was going to be horrible, and so I only took Spanish. Sigh.

[Laura Corin]

There's nothing wrong with doing three languages, but I would suggest staggering them, so you don't introduce them all at the same time.

 

Laura

[Laura Corin]

How do schools fit in all these languages and still have room for the other subjects?

 

 

For the next two years, he'll be studying (as equal main subjects) English, maths, physics, chemistry, geography, history, Latin, French and Chinese. He will also have RE, PSE (personal and social development) and PE. I can't quite work out how they will fit it all into the week, although I did something similar at school. There'll be a lot of homework, for sure.

 

Laura

[Joan in GE]

How do schools fit in all these languages and still have room for the other subjects?

 

Here is the Jr. High schedule in Geneva I posted on the thread "if your child is fluent in a foreign language" on the high school board. You have to click on the link "cours obligatoires" on that page. For electives, you can click on "cours a option" for the last three classes.

 

As noted on that other thread, they are weak on math and sciences in Jr. Hi.

 

Joan

[Ester Maria]

[...] more of a college type schedule, with different classes on different days

That's how they do it, yes.

 

Italian and Latin were 5 hours a week each, Greek was 3-4, modern foreign languages 2-4 each, History and Philosophy 3 each, sciences 2 each, Art History 1-2... Something like that, with minor oscillations from school to school. Some schools (*cough*) tried to maximally manipulate the system by having "(obligatory) electives" or "(obligatory) free activities" and stuff of the kind that went on with the schoolwork :lol:, or assigning a lot of individual work to make up for the shortage of classes that "the system" posed (mainly for the classics).

 

The institution of the classical lycee is totally ruined in Italy nowadays; I'm afraid that even when I went to school, the institution of the post-1947 classical lycee that we "inherited" was quite poor. My great-grandparents had something like 7-8 hours of Latin a week and stuff like that.

 

I think that it's a lot better not to have all classes every day, I'm actually fond of the way European schools do it. That way, you have the diversity and you can joke in classes less, as time you have is a lot more limited, and kids often have to actually prepare at home, because of time limitations - not enough time to waste on revising, repetition of this or that. And they still found time to chat about politics at least once a week. :glare:

[Harriet Vane]

My dd is very "languagey" as well, as am I. She did Spanish for a year, then we added in Latin, and she has handled the two languages with ease. However, I will say that attaining real proficiency in any language takes time, no matter how intuitive you are with the language. Doing two languages meant that other subjects suffered--in dd's case, we are slower with English grammar because her Latin studies reinforced grammar so well, and there just wasn't time in the day to do everything.

 

We are done with Latin now--I just don't have the stamina for it anymore. Dd is going to take one year to focus more heavily on her Spanish and on English grammar, after which she will add in another language in addition to Spanish. At present she is saying that will be French.

 

If you choose to do three languages, please make sure you account for the time it takes to do them well. Also consider doing perhaps two languages, but going deeper with them.

[cathmom]

 

I think that it's a lot better not to have all classes every day, I'm actually fond of the way European schools do it. That way, you have the diversity and you can joke in classes less, as time you have is a lot more limited, and kids often have to actually prepare at home, because of time limitations - not enough time to waste on revising, repetition of this or that. And they still found time to chat about politics at least once a week. :glare:

 

I would prefer it as well. With my one who is in college, he did some subjects every day and then others once a week.

 

Thanks for the answers!

[Guest wouldrichest]

@ Saw: Out of curiosity, what's the language of instruction and do you live in a country/area with multiple official languages?

We were in the Netherlands, where the language of instruction is Dutch. The girls were already bilingual Dutch/English, so the English classes were not really relevant to them (they did work I sent to school with them). We're now in France and homeschooling, but also using the Netherlands' internet school for certain subjects. I will have to find a French tutor to help them learn French, and I'm enrolling them in various activities to help them learn French in social settings. If all goes well, they should end up being more or less trilingual and have a good command of a few other languages as well.

Given our situation, it should be fairly easy for the girls to do this. I'm not sure how it would work if you were in the US or somewhere similar.

[Hunter's Moon]

Wow, this makes me disappointed in U.S. schools.

 

At least in my area and the surrounding areas, Latin is not an option until high school. Only one language is taught and it usually bounces around.

 

1st-4th I did French.

5th-6th I did Spanish

7th I did French again

8th I did Taiwanese

9th and 10th I did Italian and will continue to do so.

 

Language isn't taken so seriously here which baffles me because our country is made up of minorities and different cultures and languages.

 

Growing up only learning one foreign language I could not imagine learning more than that but I suppose if I put my mind to it I could.