Japanese or French for leaving cert?

Bumblegoose

So I'm in TY at the moment and doing japanese havn't really learned anything tho but anyway done French up to 3rd year and got a D in the JC and I never really learned anything in french either..

So what I'm wondering is which language is easier for the leaving cert to do?

Togepi

Japanese is at a far easier level than French, so you'd probably find it easier seeing as you got a D in Junior Cert French.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

japanese chicks are hotter too

Bumblegoose

Togepi wrote: »

Japanese is at a far easier level than French, so you'd probably find it easier seeing as you got a D in Junior Cert French.

Haha I thought I'd fail it i left the exam after like half an hour but anyway... Isnt there like 4 languages to learn in japanese tho I mean how long would it take to learn them and french is kinda like english so i thought itd be easier

Togepi

Bumblegoose wrote: »

Haha I thought I'd fail it i left the exam after like half an hour but anyway... Isnt there like 4 languages to learn in japanese tho I mean how long would it take to learn them and french is kinda like english so i thought itd be easier

I really have no idea about Japanese other than that it's examined at a far easier level that French and German. Personally I find French very easy, but I'm far better at languages than other subjects,and I got an A in Junior Cert French, plus it's my favourite subject!

Just Like Heaven

Do you do actually do Japanese though Togepi?

Yeah, Japanese is easier than French. But it's 2 years, not 5.

@OP Are you taking Japanese outside of school or do you have a teacher? If you have a teacher, go for it.

But if you don't, just do French. I'm doing Japanese outside of school, and it's fine. It isn't that difficult and it is totally possible to do it outside of school. But I wish I hadn't, it's a massive pain in the ass and has sorta ruined wanting to learn it for me.

Togepi

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

Do you do actually do Japanese though Togepi?

Yeah, Japanese is easier than French. But it's 2 years, not 5.

No that's why I said I don't really have any idea about it. And I second the teacher thing, I wouldn't advise doing Japanese if you have to do it outside school.

Bumblegoose

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

Do you do actually do Japanese though Togepi?

Yeah, Japanese is easier than French. But it's 2 years, not 5.

@OP Are you taking Japanese outside of school or do you have a teacher? If you have a teacher, go for it.

But if you don't, just do French. I'm doing Japanese outside of school, and it's fine. It isn't that difficult and it is totally possible to do it outside of school. But I wish I hadn't, it's a massive pain in the ass and has sorta ruined wanting to learn it for me.

Japanese is a subject in my school. So i just have to pick between japanese and french for the LC..

moonbino

Bumblegoose wrote: »

Togepi wrote: »

Japanese is at a far easier level than French, so you'd probably find it easier seeing as you got a D in Junior Cert French.

Haha I thought I'd fail it i left the exam after like half an hour but anyway... Isnt there like 4 languages to learn in japanese tho I mean how long would it take to learn them and french is kinda like english so i thought itd be easier

3 Alphabets not 4 languages. If you like a challenge do it. I did it years ago and loved it. Really does depend also on what plans you have for your future in terms of making a choice between the two. Even though for me my life took a different path and I haven't used my Japanese in ages and forget a good bit of my vocabulary sometimes. The sentence structure and formations are still in the old head though. I haven't studied french so can only tell you about Japanese. It really is fun. Good luck.

spurious

If you left the French exam after 30 minutes and still got a D, you are probably a lot better at it than you think.

French for Leaving is expecting at least 5 or 6 years of study behind you, Japanese expects at most 3, so choice-wise it's a no-brainer really.

However, if you've been doing Japanese at TY and 'haven't really learned anything' maybe the choice of language is fairly moot - will you make any more of an effort at Japanese than you did with French?

devilxangel

Im doing Japanese as a subject in LC (HL) and I find it easier than the european language , in my case , Spanish. I did HL spanish for JC and scraped a C, but now im doing OL, I found it way too hard for me.

I do Japanese and I manage few B3~B1 with few days of cramming, the difficulty really is just the learning off the 3 alphabets , hiragana , katakana and Kanji. There is a section where we must learn about their culture (e.g new years traditions , the "flower-viewing" etc) but if you like watching japanese animes and reading manga, you wouldn't have much problems with that section, but you do need to put in effort learning off the grammar and different vocabs.

Many of my friends do japanese and they find it ALOT more interesting than their european language, even those who did not have any interest in japanese culture before.

In my view, I find it easier and alot more interesting, and I know many others who also share the same opinion as me, but it can be hard when the resources available to help (such as grinds and notes) are very limited.

Bumblegoose

spurious wrote: »

If you left the French exam after 30 minutes and still got a D, you are probably a lot better at it than you think.

French for Leaving is expecting at least 5 or 6 years of study behind you, Japanese expects at most 3, so choice-wise it's a no-brainer really.

However, if you've been doing Japanese at TY and 'haven't really learned anything' maybe the choice of language is fairly moot - will you make any more of an effort at Japanese than you did with French?

I think the listening got me the marks and the easy parts i can't remember. The only verb i knew was aller so i was kinda fooked for the writing but anyway haha..

And yeah Im gonna make more of a effort and I'm thinking of doing something when im finished school like computer science where I think I'd have to learn languages unlike english so i thought maybe japanese would prepare me a bit for that, or maybe it woouldnt help at all.

devilxangel wrote: »

Im doing Japanese as a subject in LC (HL) and I find it easier than the european language , in my case , Spanish. I did HL spanish for JC and scraped a C, but now im doing OL, I found it way too hard for me.

I do Japanese and I manage few B3~B1 with few days of cramming, the difficulty really is just the learning off the 3 alphabets , hiragana , katakana and Kanji. There is a section where we must learn about their culture (e.g new years traditions , the "flower-viewing" etc) but if you like watching japanese animes and reading manga, you wouldn't have much problems with that section, but you do need to put in effort learning off the grammar and different vocabs.

Many of my friends do japanese and they find it ALOT more interesting than their european language, even those who did not have any interest in japanese culture before.

In my view, I find it easier and alot more interesting, and I know many others who also share the same opinion as me, but it can be hard when the resources available to help (such as grinds and notes) are very limited.

So if I learn the 3 alphabets this year will the 2 years after this be fairly handy?

devilxangel

Bumblegoose wrote: »

I think the listening got me the marks and the easy parts i can't remember. The only verb i knew was aller so i was kinda fooked for the writing but anyway haha..

And yeah Im gonna make more of a effort and I'm thinking of doing something when im finished school like computer science where I think I'd have to learn languages unlike english so i thought maybe japanese would prepare me a bit for that, or maybe it woouldnt help at all.



So if I learn the 3 alphabets this year will the 2 years after this be fairly handy?

If you're going to do japanese, you should just focus on the katakana and hiragana. Knowing them would give you a huge advantage. The third alphabet is Kanji, which is chinese symbols. I think theres more than 100,000 symbols for Kanji, but LC students are only obliged to learn a little less than 100 of them. They're pretty easy to pick up during the course.

Just Like Heaven

Bumblegoose wrote: »

So if I learn the 3 alphabets this year will the 2 years after this be fairly handy?

I'v known people to learn them in a couple of days. Took me a couple of weeks. If you use Heisig's book you can apparently learn it in two and a half hours or something.

It's like 112 Kanji or something for the lc. They're all relevant to the course so that's not really an issue anyway, you're using them all the time.

Bumblegoose

devilxangel wrote: »

If you're going to do japanese, you should just focus on the katakana and hiragana. Knowing them would give you a huge advantage. The third alphabet is Kanji, which is chinese symbols. I think theres more than 100,000 symbols for Kanji, but LC students are only obliged to learn a little less than 100 of them. They're pretty easy to pick up during the course.

Thanks I'm really considering japanese but then I'd be kinda pissed if i needed french sometime in the future since I'm never likely to go to Japan.. But anyway its all about the best mark i can get in whichever one i suppose i have a week or so to think.

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

I'v known people to learn them in a couple of days. Took me a couple of weeks. If you use Heisig's book you can apparently learn it in two and a half hours or something.

It's like 112 Kanji or something for the lc. They're all relevant to the course so that's not really an issue anyway, you're using them all the time.

Im pretty handy at learning stuff quick. So if I put my mind to it illl try learn both hiragana and katakana in the next 7 days and see how i get on and post back here haha. Cheers for all the info everyone

ro95

french is far easier

ro95

than japanese, no new alphabet!

Lawliet

I did French at school and I'm learning Japanese at the moment, I find Japanese easier to be honest, three years of French and I couldn't string together more than two words, after three Japanese lessons I could have a short conversation. It's a lot more direct and logical, you don't have to worry about conjugating verbs or learning ten different words to start a question. Katakana and hiragana also aren't as bad as they seem at first glance, there's pictures you can learn to jog your memory.

Of course if you've no interest in Japanese culture or anime or anything like that, you might struggle to stay interested. But since you don't seem to like French very much it might be worth taking a chance and trying something new.