How do you decide on a language?

[TXMomof4]

My kids are doing K12 this year and as an elective have the option for a language. We can choose Spanish, German, Latin, or French. I'm thinking I'll choose Latin for one and German for the other and let them work together. I'd like German because that's where we're aiming for for our next duty station. Latin for obvious reasons. However, it does make more sense to choose Spanish simply because it has become so widely used here. On the other hand, I've had quite a bit of French and would be able to help them more with that. Plus, French would be very useful in Europe and Africa if we ever get to go there (our church does a lot of mission work in Africa). Of course, then I'm looking at trying to teach two languages and maybe I should just choose one and work on that with both dds.

 

I just can't make a decision! How do you choose?

[musicmommy]

We chose Latin for the background it gives in learning the other languages and German because I speak it. I can give them loads of help with German and include it in our daily life as they get stronger in it. I'd be lost except for a few words in French and Spanish. I'm sure they'll be adding in Spanish when they get to high school age.

[Unicorn.]

I really wanted them to do German, because of our heritage. We ended up choosing spanish though, because this is Texas, and well...... German is next though!

[mommaduck]

We chose Latin, because of it's common use in our language and the maths & sciences. I was able to acquire a DVD program for that. We chose Cherokee because of our heritage, I am able to take free online classes so we could learn correct pronunciation and have correct understanding of it. We also do not want our native languages to die. We chose Greek for some of the children as we are in a predominately Greek Church, half the Liturgy is in Greek, Greek is a "biblical language" (Hebrew and Aramaic also), and I was able to get scholarships for two children to the Greek School.

Edited September 8, 2010 by mommaduck

[Whereneverever]

I initially thought I'd do Latin. Instead I ended up with French. With a modern language you can work more on accent and natural language acquisition with little children- and there is only so far you can go with Latin.

[patchfire]

We initially chose Latin because it's what I took in high school, in addition to the other standard reasons for teaching Latin. :) However, we may well have the younger two take ancient Greek instead of Latin, because of the possible literature it could open to them.

 

As far as a modern foreign language, I ruled out Spanish precisely because it's, well, everywhere. If I want the kids to have a second language as a marketable skill... it's unlikely they'll be the most skilled Spanish speaker around, kwim? I also wanted to choose a language that had both an AP exam and an SAT II exam available. I ruled out French because, uh... I just don't like it much. :blush: So that narrowed it to German & Chinese, for us.

 

I've (tentatively) settled on German. Dd has strong interests and gifts in math and music, and some interest in philosophy as well. Every time I turn around, we hear about the "German mathematician" or "German musician" or "German philosophers" or... you get the idea. Then I found out there's a Saturday school for German literally down the road. So that pretty well settled it for us.

 

HTH

[FaithManor]

Since 50% of the English language is Latin based and studying Latin improves verbal scores on the ACT, I guess I always knew that we would study Latin. As far as the other languages, dd chose Spanish because she felt this was very practical for someone going into a medical field. DS is absolutely enamored with the German language because his great-grandpa (whom he never met because he died before ds was born) was a para-trooper in WWII and learned both German and French but is especially partial to the family stories of his time in Germany. So, due to the family heritage, he'll study German.

 

Second ds really wants to learn Danish as dh's relatives are from Denmark and dh is almost 1/4th Danish heritage (slightly over because his mother has a bit of Danish in her background as well.) The whole family may get on this as well because Dh hopes to take me to Denmark in three years for our 25th wedding anniversary.

 

Third ds, my little buddy, knows I studied French in high school and college and wants to please me. He also knows that the above mentioned great-grandpa had some funny little escapades while on leave in the south of France and so he's French oriented.

 

Latin and French are the only languages I that I can bring experience to the table with...but that said, there are so many good language programs out there that I don't worry about it. We'll begin with Rosetta stone, do two levels of that, and then move into a more grammar based curriculum.

 

Faith

[Dawn in OH]

We have selected languages based on their usefulness. We are not yet learning all of these, as the kids are young, but they are on the schedule for later.

 

Right now they are learning Spanish, because a large portion of the U.S. population speaks Spanish.

 

Later we will add Latin, for the obvious reasons.

 

We would also like to eventually add Mandarin Chinese, as we think it will be a very useful language to know in the future.

[TXMomof4]

We initially chose Latin because it's what I took in high school, in addition to the other standard reasons for teaching Latin. :) However, we may well have the younger two take ancient Greek instead of Latin, because of the possible literature it could open to them.

 

As far as a modern foreign language, I ruled out Spanish precisely because it's, well, everywhere. If I want the kids to have a second language as a marketable skill... it's unlikely they'll be the most skilled Spanish speaker around, kwim? I also wanted to choose a language that had both an AP exam and an SAT II exam available. I ruled out French because, uh... I just don't like it much. :blush: So that narrowed it to German & Chinese, for us.

 

I've (tentatively) settled on German. Dd has strong interests and gifts in math and music, and some interest in philosophy as well. Every time I turn around, we hear about the "German mathematician" or "German musician" or "German philosophers" or... you get the idea. Then I found out there's a Saturday school for German literally down the road. So that pretty well settled it for us.

 

HTH

 

I hadn't thought about your points about Spanish above. I lived in TX my whole life - the last 5 years in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood. I just thought about the usefulness of it in daily life, not as a job asset really.

 

The problem is I don't. like. Spanish. Which is ridiculous, I know. Maybe it's because I grew up with such a mishmash of Spanish, English, Tex-Mex, etc. It just isn't a joy to me to think of learning it.

 

Greek is not offered through K12. French is beautiful to me. German would be useful in the short-term. Latin is so useful in science - of course none of my kids just LOVES science so I don't see that being a career choice. Argh! I don't know why I can't make this decision!!! My brain is jumping from choice to choice and I just can't decide.

[stephanier.1765]

I chose to have him learn Spanish simply because I have seen numerous signs around our city looking for employees with Spanish as a second language. I'm hoping to expand his employment possibilities.

[Karen in CO]

We chose French. Our critera was based on the diplomatic use of the language and its historic diplomatic use. We also chose it because my kids are involved in fencing and ballet which both use it.

 

CHeck out this comparison of langauages.

http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm

 

 

The girls are also learning some basic Japanese from their brother, and we plan to do Latin because of its vocabular base.

[Mom in High Heels]

We chose German because that's where we live (this is our 3rd time stationed here, if you can move over here, it's WONDERFUL) and Indy was born here. He hears it every day and gets frustrated when he can't communicate. We also do Latin because, well, it's Latin, and English uses a lot of Latin. Indy gets excited when he finds out and English word is really Latin, because that means he knows more Latin than he thought. :)

[cathmom]

You didn't mention what your children would like to study. IMO that's the best one for them.

[myfunnybunch]

We chose languages the kids will use in the future. Japanese because my oldest dd is learning Japanese and because we host Asian students, most often from Japan, so my boys all want to visit Japan when they are teens. I'd love for them to learn Spanish as well, because it's commonly spoken in our community, so we'll likely add Spanish classes when they are older.

 

Cat

[Carrie12345]

Latin is a must in my house (at least, it is for now!)

 

Ds is still deciding on a modern language to start next year. While I've encouraged French b/c, well, I like it, and I took 2 years of it and would like to brush up with him, I think he's leaning toward Spanish.

 

For me, it's important for the kids to have stock in the decision. My hope is that it will make them more likely to work hard and succeed with it. Surely at least 1 of my 5 will want to study French one day!

[MorganClassicalPrep]

Well, my plan is to do French, German, Latin, Greek and another modern. In that order.

 

French first because I wanted to start with a modern language. It is easier to pick up the accent and such as a child, and accent doesn't matter in Latin or ancient Greek. French is also the one I know most and am able to help with. We started this at just turned 4.

 

German next, again with the modern before dead language. I am also studying German and will be able to help her by the time she starts. We will start this around, 6 or 7, depending on how strong her French is.

 

Latin next, to get a good foundation. We'll start around 8 or 9. I want DD to be solid in Latin, not just passable, so we are starting early enough to ensure that.

 

Greek next. Probably Koine, maybe Ancient, still undecided. We'll start this around 11 or 12. Hopefully by this point we will have been able to drop French as an official language study and just use it to keep up the skills, so it'll be 3 languages.

 

Then sometime in high school, hopefully by her soph. year, I'd like DD to pick another modern language for a couple years. Hopefully by then we will have enough German to drop it as a language study and just read/speak to keep it up.

 

I chose French and German because those are the two languages I will be able to help her with. I considered Spanish, because I do have some background in it, but I'm much more fluent in the other two, and I'm continuing my study of them.

 

Have you asked the children which language they'd like to study?