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At what level do you need to be in a language in order to take it as language B?


dora95

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Language B is meant as language acquisition course. You need to have some level of previous knowledge, around A2, and the course aims to take you to B2, maybe even approaching C1. You will work on grammar, use of language and also some literature, 2 books if you take HL, one if you take SL. Hope this helps. :)

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Thank you! The reason I asked this question is that I'd love to take Italian, but my prospective school doesn't offer Italian ab initio, only Italian B, so I'm thinking of learning some of the language in advance with the help of native speakers online, after all I'll be free all year. I have a passion for languages so it shouldn't be too hard to pick up a 4th language. No time like the present!

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my school has 4 different language B classes and we all take SL. In this, we have 2 background speakers predicted 7's, a person who took their language for GCSEs who are predicted 5/6s and everyone else took their language for 3 years as an elective and those people are predicted 3's to 7's. what I'm trying to say is unless you're incredibly talented, learning italian to the level required to be able to do well in a language B will be really hard in just one year and if you have other options you should take them.

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my school has 4 different language B classes and we all take SL. In this, we have 2 background speakers predicted 7's, a person who took their language for GCSEs who are predicted 5/6s and everyone else took their language for 3 years as an elective and those people are predicted 3's to 7's. what I'm trying to say is unless you're incredibly talented, learning italian to the level required to be able to do well in a language B will be really hard in just one year and if you have other options you should take them.

I do have a good ear for languages, so it shouldn't be that hard, but thank you for your comment anyway. I'm still undecided.

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I think the number is that you're supposed to have studied it for around 1-2 years before taking it at B. So you should ideally have some level of background before doing language B. If you know some other romance languages in advance e.g. Spanish then you should actually not find it too bad, but obviously going from nothing to something is a lot harder than improving on something!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am currently taking German B HL, and I have studied German for about 4 years.

It is definitely not easy. I have studied German for 4 years and I still cannot speak it fluently. I have to go through the grammar in my head all the time when I speak, which is why i often make mistakes and struggle with finding the right words.
But then again, the Norwegian education system has always focused more on learning how to write German.

Anyway, I think you should do it!
You said you had a good ear for languages, so what's stopping you? If you are interested in learning Italian, then go for it! I wanted to learn German better through the IB so that all the years I previously spent studying it would not go to waste. And it is very fun! I definitely do not regret choosing German. We learn a lot about German culture and receive a lot of challenging texts and grammar that we otherwise never would have gone through, and we even get to travel to Germany in the second year and stay there for a week -> (this might depend on the school you are attending).

 

Italian is one of the most beautiful languages and even though my Italian friend says that the grammar can be a bit tricky, it does not matter as long as you are willing to study hard!

I wish you the best of luck no matter what you decide!

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