Swedish For Leaving Cert

Straignt

So im just after finishing the junior cert and going into transition year. Im doing French at the moment and it would be one of my weaker subjects. I was looking at the leaving cert timetable for one reason or another and noticed Swedish under the Non Curricular Leaving Certificate Examinations, this really appeals to me as I have absolutely no interest in French or France, and I have thought of moving to Sweden after school, I actually have a Swedish friend I talk to on Skype on a regular basis.
So my question is, am I eligible to take this subject? There are no Swedish teachers in my school.. Only French and German. Could I do this my self, I could put allot of work in for TY to catch up.

Peregrine

Afraid not

They are, like you said non curricular. It's not like French where they teach you the language from first year, it's an exam for Swedish language speakers who say might lose out marks on English and maybe don't do Irish at all. It's for native speakers and even if they let you sit the exam, it would be very hard for you to learn the language as well as a native for the LC.

Here are the criteria you have to meet:

Be from a member state of the European Union
Speak the language in which they opt to be examined in as a mother tongue,
Have followed a programme of study leading to the Leaving Certificate
Be taking Leaving Certificate English

http://www.examinations.ie/index.php?l=en&mc=ex&sc=eu



You can however try these languages: Ancient Greek, Arabic, German, Hebrew Studies, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Russian. You would still find it hard to learn from the beginning on your own though. Some more than others too.

Tommyrawr

Straignt wrote: »

So im just after finishing the junior cert and going into transition year. Im doing French at the moment and it would be one of my weaker subjects. I was looking at the leaving cert timetable for one reason or another and noticed Swedish under the Non Curricular Leaving Certificate Examinations, this really appeals to me as I have absolutely no interest in French or France, and I have thought of moving to Sweden after school, I actually have a Swedish friend I talk to on Skype on a regular basis.
So my question is, am I eligible to take this subject? There are no Swedish teachers in my school.. Only French and German. Could I do this my self, I could put allot of work in for TY to catch up.

Hej! jag var samma nar jag var i din alder. Jag hade inte en svensk larare men ocksa jag talar med mina vanner pa skype for vi spela minecraft och WoW ( I en svensk guild 24/7). Kanske aka pa utbyte till Sverige for 5-6 manader i Gymnasium, Jag tror att det ar ett latt sprak men examen ar inte latt! jag tror for dig ska fortsatta med franska, att jamfora dem franska ar lattare.

If you can understand any of that from just talking to your swedish friend you are doing well, Right the thing with swedish is that its an easy language to pick up, I started picking it up in 3rd year too, but the exam is complex. You really need to have a great fluency with swedish to even attempt it. The 30 markers can be impossible if you dont have the right vocabulary. In my opinion it is better to get structured from a teacher, although you have no interest in france, the french exam is way easier in comparison as your teacher will teach you the vocab you need so I would advise you to keep on french even at OL.

About moving to sweden when you are older, I have applied for Stockholm Uni, Goteborg and Jonkoping. For the English courses (there is a good variety) there are minimum requirements (fluency in english,pass in maths) its not like here at all. some may require you to do an entrence test though . As you probably seen to with your friend on skype, Swedes have great english, when you go there if they know you are not swedish they feel obliged to talk to you in english. So dont worry about language barriers!

Any other questions feel free to give me a PM

woopah92

Jag gillar Ikea.

randylonghorn

Tommyrawr wrote: »

Right the thing with swedish is that its an easy language to pick up, I started picking it up in 3rd year too, but the exam is complex. You really need to have a great fluency with swedish to even attempt it. The 30 markers can be impossible if you dont have the right vocabulary.

Did you actually sit the exam though Tommy? 0_o

I've never heard of anyone being allowed sit an extra-curricular unless they were from the country / had lived there for some time / could demonstrate that it was a normal spoken language at home for whatever reason.

moriz

I am from another European country and I just sat the non-curricular LC exam in that language this year and I'm telling you it was pretty hard. Like other people have said the exams are meant for people who are fluent in the language. I am fluent and I still found the exam hard. The language they use in the exam is very complex and to understand and answer the questions correctly you would definitely need to be fluent, or veeery close to it, to pass.
If I was you I would stick to French because it is much easier in terms of learning things and passing the exam.

Peregrine

It'd be a bit like dropping beginner's French for advanced Swedish



And you have to start from square one on Swedish

moriz

randylonghorn wrote: »

I've never heard of anyone being allowed sit an extra-curricular unless they were from the country / had lived there for some time / could demonstrate that it was a normal spoken language at home for whatever reason.

I don't think too many people go forward to attempt those languages anyway if they weren't sure they'd be able for it..

mixery

The exams are really difficult just because you are asked odd questions. I did the Polish exam and even though I'm obviously fluent, and regularly read books in polish, the things they throw at you are difficult to answer. There is no real way you can prepare. This year's theme was travelling, last year it was reading, previously eg. smoking. Even though I answered everything, I can't be sure of a high grade. They can't have everyone getting A's.