That seems to be the underlying (secondary) theme of this discussion :-). Welcome.
1 Like
I know:
German (native)
English (fluent)
French (also fluent)
I want to learn:
Korean
Japanese
1 Like
Itās seems pretty normal for Europeans to be three in at least 3 languages. Is that common?
In Germany it is quite common, if you chose the āhigher educationā (Abitur) in school. When I was still in school you had your native language (of course) and you usually learned English and French and could choose to do Latin too. Nowadays there are lots of different offers like Russian and Spanish as well. 
2 Likes
Wow, everyone is so good at languages!
I know:
English (native)
Mandarin Chinese (mother tongue)
Korean (advanced)
I want to learn:
Chinese (need to refresh on reading/writing since I use English on a daily basis)
Korean (till Iām native fluent! ^^; )
Japanese (I only know a few words by sound)
Itās also very common in Austria (pretty much the same as in Germany).
I donāt know any school where you wouldnāt learn English and if you go to a school that you finish with your A-Levels (in Germany āAbiturā and in Austria āMaturaā) you usually have one more foreign language which is obligatory (usually French, Spanish, Italian or Latin).
There are also schools with a special emphasise on languages which offer additional classes for Russian or other languages. In those schools you might have three or even four mandatory languages.(I went to such a school, we had to take English, French and either Spanish/Latin and could attend classes for Italian and Russian if we wanted)
So to summarize the languages you learn in schools in Austria:
- 1st foreign language -> English (obligatory in every school)
- 2nd foreign language -> French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Russian,ā¦ (obligatory in schools with A-levels, languages depending on the type of school)
- 3rd foreign language -> see above (usually only in schools with special emphasise on languages)
Thatās quite amazing. So is three average for Abitur or do people learn even more? I wasnāt sure if adding Russian and Spanish meant that people learn all five or just that there are variations on being trilingual.
They are variations in fact^^. English is obligatory, then you have to take a second language (like French) and you can pick a third one (if you donāt want a third language, you can pick from the field of science, like additional math classes). Which languages you can learn depends on the school and what they offer. In my school there was only English, French and Latin, but in other schools you can learn a combination like English, Russian and Spanish. You can learn even more, if your school offers clubs (those are afternoon activities which you can join, but you donāt have to). In my school there was a Russian club (taught by a teacher who was a native Russian), but it wasnāt offered as regular class.If you attended the club, you would get a little note on your school certificate, but clubs didnāt have grades.
So does a school that offers more language options have different entrance requirements? Or do they have higher tuition or something?
As far as I know public schools all offer at least 3 different languages. For example in my school we learned English from 5th grade on, then in 7th grade you were able to choose between French or Latin and in 9th grade you were able to choose French or Latin (whichever you didnāt pick before), Russian or other stuff like maths/science. (I choose French but I have to admit that I basically learned nothing in the 2 following years and then I stopped that classā¦). Just like Junique said. 
Some schools offer Spanish instead of Russian but since there were lots of Russian teachers in my school there is no option for Spanish. I think it might also differ based on which region of Germany you are in, in the east Russian is more common fore example.
The last 3 years are preparation years for the German A-level so they are like the most important. You can pick fields you want to specialize in like Sports, Languages, Science, Arts. (In reality you canāt really choose but have to do all the other subjects, too, but there it gets a little difficult and the German school ministry is at fault hereā¦). So if you pick languages you have to have German and 2 other languages as subjects. Some school also have you start a new language (for example Spanish) for the last 3 years. Depends on the school again.
Most schools in Germany are public school so you donāt have to pay tuition at all. You just have to pay for special work books (other books are given to you by school) and a low copy-fee for the sheets you get throughout the years. Only if you attend private schools you need to pay tuition but there is no general thing like āprivate schools are betterā here and (as far as I think/know) most people visit public schools. Could be that there are more language options at these private school, though, but I canāt tell you about that
So for my person:
I know:
German (native)
English (basically fluent)
I want to learn:
every language but since that is too much work
Korean (learning right now)
French (had 2 years in school but forgot most of it)
maybe Chinese, Japanese (if I donāt grow desperate with Korean first :D)
3 Likes
As for the requirements: I think there are none for German public schools. As far as I know you and your parents get a suggestion about what school would be best for in your last year of elementary school (in Germany there are only 2, something like a middleschool doesnāt exist) and then you apply to the schools of your choice and (at least) one of them will take you in.
There arenāt any special requirements for the general schools like āhas to have an A in mathā. I know of a few schools that hold auditions/have special requirements, but those are schools like the Gymnasium of the Berlin State Opera, where the students are trained to become balletdancers, while attending school (so itās very special).
But I have to admit, that I donāt know if anything has changed in that field, since it was quite a long time ago for me. Additionally I took part in an experimental school trial and changed schools after my 4th grade (usually you move on to āhighschoolā after sixth grade), so I kind of only heard about the process from my friends, who took the usual path.
So cool that thereās people that think like I do around here. I love it!!!
1 Like
I know:
English (native speaker)
Italian (native speaker)
I want to learn:
Mandarin
Thai
Japanese
Korean
1 Like
I know:
Indonesian (native, I need to practice my Indonesian and get updated with the recent slang words. Iāve been living abroad for awhile and I just donāt understand what indos are talking about when they use the slang words)
English (fluent)
I want to learn:
Arabic (Iām currently living in Qatar. Been here for 7 years, and my Arabic skill is limited to reading/writing, and some basic words eg, yalla)
Chinese (been learning Chinese at home alone for a few months, I need someone to practice with)
1 Like
how did you get to be a native speaker of two languages?
all the best. it seems to boil down to this for a lot of people.
I already answered on dudieās post but here I go againā¦
I know:
Arabic (native speaker)
French (studied it all my life in school and even passed the French baccalaureate)
English (studied it since grade 1 at school and then now Iām at an English university with a pretty difficult level of English)
Koreanā¦ I can read and write I know basic grammar and sentence structureā¦ but my vocabulary is quite lacking. So I would love to improve my knowledge in Korean.
I want to learn:
Chinese
Japanese
Italian
Portuguese
And probably Spanish
Yeahh Iām pretty ambitious! I hope I can learn all or them!
2 Likes
Fighting!!
I know:
French (native)
English (Learned at school)
Spanish (Basic because iām learning it at school)
And i want to learn:
Korean!!! (Itās my dream to speak it fluently^^
My supreme goal: to be able to watch a k-drama AND understand ALL without subtiles)
Chinese (I have to ask personally to Aaron Yan what he eats to be as handsomeā¦ )
Japanese (I want to watch my animes and read my mangas in VO)
Great dream!![quote=ādaanyla, post:42, topic:2470ā]
My supreme goal: to be able to watch a k-drama AND understand ALL without subtiles
[/quote]
Even better! Me too!![quote=ādaanyla, post:42, topic:2470ā]
I want to watch my animes and read my mangas in VO
[/quote]
Awesomeness! ^^
hi! Iām Indonesian. Need to know about Indonesian more? Maybe I can help. *I hope so
like you, Iām learning chinese too. have just basiclly, like how to pronounce it.