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I'd let him do both. He clearly has an aptitude for it, it will help him in terms of his career path of interest, and it sounds like it wouldn't be too much of a load. I know here in the US it's common to just take a single "foreign" language, but all my European friends speak their home language, then took English (usually) in school starting in elementary years and then picked up a third language in the middle school years. It's quite possible to do.
Definitely. I took Spanish in middle school, switched to German freshman year, and added French my junior year. By my senior year I was taking language classes at the local college. I took all honors and AP courses for my other subjects as well (and I'm a terrible coaster as a general rule) and had an A average.
For a time I considered going into interpreting or translation but even though I didn't, learning that many languages has been incredibly useful. He'll be able to test out of language requirements in college, start out in advanced literature classes in those langauges, and any non-STEM graduate school program is going to require at least one foreign language if not two (sorry, I can't speak to requirements for STEM grad school). I got a PhD in musicology, specializing in early music, and I had to pass very difficult reading exams in German and French to get the degrees and needed enough knowledge of Latin to understand Biblical texts used in medieval and Renaissance music.
The poster who said your son would probably find Spanish easy in comparison to French is right. The languages are very similar for anyone with language aptitude (lots and lots of cognates, very similar grammar). I realize he wants to be with his friends, but German or Latin would both be good choices. German is good because it's basically the grammatical and vocabulary opposite of Spanish/French, and Latin because it will give a solid grounding for understanding the vocabulary of Spanish, French, and advanced English plus the grammatical challenges he'd get from German.
That is awesome! I would encourage him to the moon and back. You can never know too many languages, and the sooner you start, the better - especially if he has an aptitude for FL, as you say.
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It is definitely possible, but he's going to have the challenge of sorting them out. He will find himself reaching for the word in Spanish, and at first French is going to come out. But he'll get used to it. It's very good for the brain to force it to study two languages at once. Hope he likes it.
He might want to take an accelerated Spanish class. Spanish is very easy compared to French, maybe the easiest foreign language to learn, for English speakers. He's going to find the class slow-moving, even at the honors level. He might be able to jump into second year Spanish, if he takes an intro summer Spanish class between 8th and 9th grade, or started doing some Spanish now on his own.
Once you learn one foreign language well, the second one comes much easier. That kid's on the ball. Let him do it. Too bad Mandarin isn't an option. That'll be real important in his lifetime I bet.
My son will be a H.S. freshman next year and has stated that he wants to take 2 foreign languages throughout high school. He will have to give up his study hall to do this.
He has been taking French for several years, so he will be placed in Honors French 2 as a freshman (the AP track). He also wants to add Spanish 1, which he has little background in. All his friends are taking Spanish and he sees how useful it is.
He seems to have an aptitude for languages. He picked up French very easily (straight A's) and has nearly a perfect accent (according to his teacher). He has always been good at voices/impersonations/music so that doesn't surprise me - he has a very good ear. He is a quick study on learning vocab, sentence structure, etc. He is interested in foreign travel, intl. politics, etc.
I am wondering if taking a full H.S. load with 2 foreign language courses, plus all Honors courses, will be too much. Should I encourage him to look at taking Spanish classes outside the high school? I have heard that the H.S. language courses are relatively easy (e.g. have heard they are an easy "A") compared to the other coursework he'll be taking.
Will it be confusing / overwhelming for him to be studying 2 languages at once? Does taking 2 languages give him any advantage in the college admissions process?
Just curious if anyone has experience/advice in this area.
Any kid with the drive and interest to replace a study hall with an additional academic class should be encouraged and supported to the fullest extent. Spanish and French are related languages. One will expand and deepen the learning of the other. Tell him he has your full support. Lucky you!!
Tell him to go for it! An aptitude for languages is so useful. Spanish will probably come to him pretty easily after French, or at least that's how I felt though I started in Spanish and then moved to French. If he gets those two down, he can advance to more complicated, non-Romance languages in college (or before if he has the chance). I'd recommend one that isn't based on the Latin alphabet like Mandarin or Greek. I studied history and economics in college with a focus on Russia so I learned Russian. Not easy considering you study the alphabet half a semester alone (Cyrillic) but it's not a language you see everyday. Hope he has fun!
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Excellent point
