HELP! French B Standard or Japanese Ab Initio?

[bingbangsurvivor]

I really have to make a choice between French B Standard or Japanese Ab Initio. The most important thing for me is to get a very high grade and with as little work as possible, because I'm taking either French or Japanese at Standard level and I don't want to worry so much about these subjects as about Higher Level ones.

The problem is that French B seems quite hard for me because everybody in my class has a much higher French knowledge than me. And even though I got an A* in IGCSE, I know that with my 2 years of French experience, I am simply hopeless at the language! And so I was looking for an alternative, but I can't take German Ab Initio (I have other lessons then) and a friend of mine offered to take Japanese Ab Initio with her. For me taking Japanese sounds really weird. I know absolutely nothing about that language. Nothing. So i want to hear opinions. Is it easy to get a 7 in Ab Initio languages, even if for me that would mean a VERY weird language. If you have done Japanese Ab initio that would help me a lot. Or even french B Standard, how hard is it?

Please, help!!

[Abu]

It's not easy to get a 7 in ab initio. because there are always a few native speakers that get through the IB system and s o grade boundaries are high. You'll need to study very hard to get a 7, and with Japanese it's harder since there's kanji and romaji and whatnot.

There's more support for French ass well so you might find it slightly easier.

You're crazy if you think that you can get a 7 in a language without doing much work, unless you're doing a native language at group 2 level.

[Shorty]

The most important thing for me is to get a very high grade and with as little work as possible

That is probably never going to happen.

You get the mark you work for.

[humingyay]

Language always demands a lot of time. I have French B and it takes basically more half of my time regarding school work and I still only have a 5. So, you should consider taking language only if you really are interesed in learning it. Otherwise I say chose something else.

[rdc17]

I think going with French might be the better idea because even though it is hard for you, it will look better if you continue with it instead of switching. And it will be extremely hard to get a good grade without doing work, so you might as well resign yourself to doing the work

[Solaris]

I really found Japanese easy compared to French. Japanese is not that hard, the only thing you have to worry is memorizing the characters. And also pronunciation is not that hard in Japanese compared to french. Also Japanese is very interesting language to learn, as it is one of the most polite languages in the world, they really avoid using negative words. My advise for you is to go for Japanese ab initio.

[sraja90]

it depends on what you are better at. Ab initio is supposed to be a bit easier if you are prepared, but SL French isnt supposed to be too bad according to people i know who took it last year. Im testing French SL, so i'd have to go with that. =P

[Aquarius]

After having a look at Japanese Ab Initio syllabus, I would say it is not that hard to study in 2 years. Considering you are in the EU and many people doing French, Spanish, Italian apart from English, doing Japanese Ab Initio could help you stand out. Possibly in the long run you will like it, who knows?

[Ginevra]

Ok i had this same problem choosing between french B and Spanish ab.

Seriously if you are not very good at french do ab! because i am doing french now and am struggling a lot! i wish i had done ab now! so look at what you are best at. and rememeber ab starts from the beginning which means most people are at the same place and you learn all you need to know for exams. Wereas french is more full on.

Cool:)

[eskimotaro]

I think you should take into consideration your background when deciding on the language you want to learn. For me, I did French in school post-IB and out of interest I studied Japanese outside of school. I think know enough in both to continue them in Language B without too much difficulties. But when it came to choosing between French or Japanese, I decided to go with Japanese simply because my mother tongue is Vietnamese. Because both have influences from Chinese I thought my mother tongue would give me an easier time with Japanese. Thus far I admit it has definitely helped me remember the Kanji and vocabulary and whatnot.

But me aside, because you are choosing between French SL and Jap Ab and I don't know enough about the Ab course to say anything. But to give you an estimate, at the moment, 3/4 way through IB1, my Japanese teacher is already giving me year 12 Ab paper to practice on.

I personally think Japanese is easier, not just because of my background, but also because the verb conjugation isn't overly complex (Japanese have like, what? 5 different ways to conjugate your verbs and only 3 tenses to worry about) and the grammar though problematic , comes very naturally one you are used to it. It does mean you have to learn 2 very different sets of alphabets in a short time and a host of kanji, (Another thing just came to my mind, Japanese doesn't separate objects into genders and there is absolutely no difference between plural and singular. So plural kanji is kanji) and for some people they are very difficult. Regardless it is still very easy to make silly mistakes with grammar and writing the characters in Japanese.

At the end, it's a no-brainer thing to say but whatever language you choose, you need a certain amount of discipline and delication to succeed. So it's better to chose what you can see yourself delicating time to study over what people say is better.

I've got to say, people generally think folks who speak Japanese are smarter, it's something that you can probably benefit from. (The sexy factor in speaking French can't be ignored, of course)

Edited October 1, 2008 by eskimotaro

[frankesbadscore]

I did Japanese Ab Initio, and had my exam last week on Tuesday -- it was very difficult, especially considering I go to a school where the Japanese teacher doesn't really care and I had to learn close to everything by myself with the aid of a tutor.

If I were you I'd choose French B Standard. This is because French is more similar to English, and the words and sentence structure are easy to recognise and understand. For Japanese you not only have to learn a new language, you have to learn completely different alphabets as well as a signigicant number of kanji, the Chinese characters.

I found it very interesting, don't get me wrong, but unless you're an absolute nut for languages and/or Asia [i know some kids who are just so obsessed with Japanese - that's how they get good marks, by spending a lot of their time on it] I think that you're better off to choose French if you want a really good mark.

Anyway I hope this helps... Good luck with your choice! Remember, to get a 7 requires a lot of work no matter what subject it is! IB isn't easy, but you've been told that.

[jennyrust]

My friend has learnt Japanese in the past and she loved it and seems to be really good at it! I did French for IGCSE as well, but I hated it so I took Spanish Ab Inito - I love it! I find that I learn it so much faster and a girl in my class is getting a 7 at the moment and that's with 6 months left of the course that's pretty good!!

Mainly, I'd say you got to choose what you want to do - if you didn't like French for IGCSE then don't take it - thats what has happened to a friend of mine and she hates it now - the main thing about IB is more about the subjects you love as it's two years you gotta do it for rather than the possibility to drop it after one year like with A Levels.

And yes French does get harder, alot harder by the sounds of it from my friends!

[mizyou]

Hey!!~

I take both French B HL and Japanese Ab Initio!

I think i can help you a lot.

First of all, let me tell u French B HL is hell hard.

Even though I have about 3 years experience with it, its like im suppose to be a native speaker.

The grammar gets harder, and so does the verb conjugations.

I find Japanese Ab easier, even though there's hiragana, katakana, and kanji to remember.

Hiragana and Katakana are just like two alphabets to remember, so its not that hard.

But it takes more work with Kanji. These are hard, but Ab only requires u to remember certain kanjis.

If I were you, i would go with Japanese, but since I'm half asian...I find it easier with Japanese.

Why don't you try a class for a day?? And then change if you don't like it.

We do that here, but you can only change during the first few days so it doesnt waste time.

Well, there are some things for you to think about now.

And im so sorry for such a late reply.