L.C GERMAN HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leaving Cert 2013

I am thinking about doing L.C german but I didn't do it for J.C, would it be too hard or would I be able to catch up,

Any advise would really help,


Thanks:):):):)

jc_eire

If you get private (one on one) grinds for at least one of the years (5th year more than likely) you should be ok! Also helps if you are good with languages to start of with!

Viel Glück!

repeatLC

hallo!
u should be fine if u are good with languages and have an interest in learning german.
But be warned- its hard!!! Did it for 7 years and i do not miss learning all those irregular verbs and adjective endings!!

Viel gluck mit ihrer wahl!:)

keeirs

f**king hate german, wish i kept on french instead but im pretty sure you'll have a better teacher than me so go for it when i was getting grinds i actually liked it & by the sounds of it, its easier than french! (even though french is a nicer language all in all..)

angela1711

nooo way
higher level german is soo hard... I got a B at my higher level in JC and is really hard for me know... the grammar at LC level is very hard and the marking scheme is strict
maybe if you want to do an OL that u may be okey coz OL is much easier than HL but even than you have to be generally good at languages... I will advice you to do something else instead of german... but if you really want it you should speak with the german teacher in your school. Once i asked my german teacher is it possible to never do german and than do it HL for LC and she said that it would be extremly hard and she even don't know if it would be possible to pass it... but is hard to judge cause nobody here knows your ability to learn languages and how hard can you work. Anyway I will advice you once again to think about this and if you really want to do it than do a bit of work on vocabulary etc. over the summer

If you want to know more like what is done in german between 1st-5th year write to me

IloveConverse

First of all, what is the reason/logic behing you doing this? Are you planning on living in a German speaking country in later life? If so and you're willing to put in very hard and diligent work, then by all means, go ahead. German is a beautiful language and is well worth the time you are willing to invest into it. Many students say that German is a "hard" subject, this is because they do not take the extra time to "love" the wonderful language that is present here. You can "love" German by ordering editions of your favourite books in German, watching German television, requesting a pen-pal etc through school if applyable and by listening to German music.
Ease yourself slowly into the language ie. Grinds/Starting yourself on the 1st Year course with constant revision of all you meet as you go along the way.
Remember übung macht den Meisten... Practice makes perfect.

angela1711

ye that's a good idea to watch german movies, read some articles etc.

jumpguy

It'd be very hard tbh, at JC you get all the base stuff which is assumed you know in LC. Unless you've a really good reason to learn LC German, I wouldn't bother. If you're only doing it because you hate French or whatever, that's not a good enough reason - German is not easier.

angela1711

better do something else there are a lot of easier subjects to choose from...
it is hard to get a B or A for someone who done german at JC level and even got an A on HL paper

angela1711

anyway do you have any tips how to get an A1 in german ?
i'm pretty good at it but i think aiming for an A1 might by too high for me... maybe A2
but a B1 is at least as i want to get
any people who got an A1 in german ?

jumpguy

angela1711 wrote: »

anyway do you have any tips how to get an A1 in german ?
i'm pretty good at it but i think aiming for an A1 might by too high for me... maybe A2
but a B1 is at least as i want to get
any people who got an A1 in german ?

I hope I got an A2 this year, I'd say you'd nearly need to be able to speak and write very good German for an A1, which sounds a bit obvious. But "very good German" requires a lot of work, and you need to feel comfortable speaking, writing and reading the language, like you would in English. A summer exchange to Germany for the summer is a good idea. I couldn't afford that, but I have a friend who lives near me whose family spoke fluent German, including himself, and I found myself becoming very comfortable with the language coming up to the oral exams through constant conversation and practice with him.

When learning it I found that a language is not really only a subject, but a communication method people use every day, and you can only get so far sitting down at a desk learning reams of vocab and grammar rules (although that's necessary too :P). For the oral in particular, you have to get good at not only German/whatever language, but at listening carefully and replying meaningfully.

Really, unless you're a native speaker, getting an A1 in the European language LC subjects is a lot of hard work, between the oral, aural, comprehensions and composing, but it's very rewarding learning how to speak a foreign language!

angela1711

Thanks !
I think i will be okey with my oral. We nearly did all the oral work this year (i'm just finished 5th year by the way ) and we have many oral tests in the last one I got 95/100 and my teacher said that this is about 22,5/25 % LC oral standard. She also said that I shouldn't be worried about my speaking german because i sound very fluent. My writing german is okey but I need practice it. My biggest worry is the listening part of the LC. I'm really bad at it... i think i should watch some movies in german to get use to german accent etc.
I hope you will get your A2 or even A1 my teacher also said that to get A1 you have to be nearly fluent in it... i have an advantage as I took german classes in primary school so 5th year was my 6th year of learning german
I think the student exchange would be a good idea but even though i'm pretty confident person i don't have that much confidence to go to germany by myself and spend there some time with only a german people that i don't know

jumpguy

angela1711 wrote: »

Thanks !
I think i will be okey with my oral. We nearly did all the oral work this year (i'm just finished 5th year by the way ) and we have many oral tests in the last one I got 95/100 and my teacher said that this is about 22,5/25 % LC oral standard. She also said that I shouldn't be worried about my speaking german because i sound very fluent. My writing german is okey but I need practice it. My biggest worry is the listening part of the LC. I'm really bad at it... i think i should watch some movies in german to get use to german accent etc.
I hope you will get your A2 or even A1 my teacher also said that to get A1 you have to be nearly fluent in it... i have an advantage as I took german classes in primary school so 5th year was my 6th year of learning german
I think the student exchange would be a good idea but even though i'm pretty confident person i don't have that much confidence to go to germany by myself and spend there some time with only a german people that i don't know

Have all your stuff learned off for the oral, but be wary - they will try and get you outside your comfort zone at some point in the oral. My oral examiner went miiiiiles away from what I'd learned for the role play, it was pretty much nothing like I'd learned and it threw a lot of people! If I could do it again, I'd just have one golden rule - forget the examples given in oral books, make sure you know how to answer what's on the card no matter which way they phrase it!

The aural is very improvable, do as much past aural exams as you can. Everyone's kinda crap on it when they start but then you kinda work out your tactics for it after a while (also have a look at the marking schemes, because they're weird about some things. For example, "Gewitter", if you say that means "storms", they'll give you 0, you must say "thunderstorms"). Watching movies and stuff in German also help, as does almost all sorts of exposure to the language!

A student exchange is quite daunting to do alone, but many people do them alone every year. Think of it as a challenge, an adventure, I'd have loved to do one!

Thanks for the good wishes, best of luck with it!

angela1711

Ye my teacher said the biggest mistake is to learn the role play off from example.
How did u find your oral examiner ? Was she/he speaking slowly enough ? Did you understand her german ? I will start with the exam papers aural from september.
I can see a lot of people in my class (mostly this who do OL) that they just learn the oral stuff off and when the teacher phrases the question differently even when she change only one word they get lost and haven't a clue what she is asking them about.

jumpguy

angela1711 wrote: »

Ye my teacher said the biggest mistake is to learn the role play off from example.
How did u find your oral examiner ? Was she/he speaking slowly enough ? Did you understand her german ? I will start with the exam papers aural from september.
I can see a lot of people in my class (mostly this who do OL) that they just learn the oral stuff off and when the teacher phrases the question differently even when she change only one word they get lost and haven't a clue what she is asking them about.

They'll progressively push outside the comfort zone, so if you're struggling with a small bit of complication they're not gonna ask you what is the meaning of life or anything. :P (They wouldn't anyway!)

Mine was grand, she was nice. She asked nothing unexpected in either the general questions or picture questions really. I got the picture question about the one doing an exchange and she visits the town centre and at the end they have an Abschiedsfest for her (I remember I was asked "what is an Abschiedsfest?"). For the role play I got the one where you're a receptionist in your uncle's hotel talking to a guest. They talked no faster really than you'd hear in the aurals, and she was easy enough to understand. The questions were phrased fairly tbh. No complaints about her really! Except she kept jotting things down on her clipboard during the exam which was somewhat distracting. :P

angela1711

I hope that i wouldn't choose the picture or the role play that I hate
it seems that the examiner are okey I think i never heard anything really but about an oral
well there was one person in my school this year that went to the oral and said nothing...

lainey108

angela1711 wrote: »

nooo way
higher level german is soo hard... I got a B at my higher level in JC and is really hard for me know... the grammar at LC level is very hard and the marking scheme is strict
maybe if you want to do an OL that u may be okey coz OL is much easier than HL but even than you have to be generally good at languages... I will advice you to do something else instead of german... but if you really want it you should speak with the german teacher in your school. Once i asked my german teacher is it possible to never do german and than do it HL for LC and she said that it would be extremly hard and she even don't know if it would be possible to pass it... but is hard to judge cause nobody here knows your ability to learn languages and how hard can you work. Anyway I will advice you once again to think about this and if you really want to do it than do a bit of work on vocabulary etc. over the summer

If you want to know more like what is done in german between 1st-5th year write to me

yes i agree!
i got a B in higher level german for the junior cert, but i regretably done ty, and i found i couldnt really remember much of my vocabulary. the grammer section which is 6 and a half % in the leaving cert is difficult to get your head around, and you have to prepare alot of stuff for the oral german and i think it is alot of work just studying for the oral part aone. and also the listening exam is very difficult. having said this if you are prepared to but 110% effort into studying for it( and you might have to get grinds to catch up ) im sure you will be quite able to complete the course and at least get a C in hl in the leaving cert

angela1711

IMO every new language needs attention you wouldn't be able to learn german, french, spanish or whatever without putting impact... i will say that you supose to think about either taking german or not and if you decide to take it than work hard on it !

OldSchool94

Pass German is simple! You would do it no bother with a few one on one grinds!! It was like english to me!

angela1711

yes past german is much easier than HL it is like JC german