Native language in LC? Even if you are a lot fluent in English?

Hezip

Hey guys, I'm in 5th year and thinking of picking up Polish ( my native language ) for my LC, I looked at a few past exam papers and marking schemes and they look like it would be possible for me to get a good grade.

My Polish is at a level where i can read and speak it fluently, my writing is decent, I do make mistakes with spellings every now and then, I think my biggest downside is my vocabulary, I understand a good chunk of the ''big and advanced'' words because a lot of them have familiar sounding/spelling to their version in English, however some of them i just have to make an educated guess on. I've always went to school in Ireland.

Reading through papers from 2015,2014 I can spot a few sentences/words that dont make much sense to me.

My sister who did Polish in her leaving c. too got an A1, but she only started secondary school in Ireland, asking her a year ago, she told me i probably should avoid the picking up the subject for my LC.

I'm just wondering, are there any other people who picked up their native language on the lc, without being too strong in it? if so what was your grade? especially intrested in those that did Polish.

If I get atleast a B in Polish that would be epic, seeing that my English teacher decided that I'll be that one student who gets given out to for no reason, which makes me begin to hate the subject.

spurious

Of course you should do Polish in your Leaving, but I suggest getting a few classes in the run up to the exam. No reason why in the mean time you could not commit yourself to reading some quality Polish literature and newspapers to increase your vocabulary and improve your writing.

The exam is aimed at native speakers and very unforgiving of simple errors, which would not be tolerated in a Polish exam at home, so give it your best shot. No reason why you couldn't get an A1 like your sister. Did you attend Polish school at the weekends for any of your time here?

From Polish/Romanian/Bulgarian/Latvian/Lithuanian students I taught who just walked into the exam on the day, they tended to get C3-C1, but anyone who attended classes and had some preparation, they got B1 and higher. Of the Eastern/Central Europeans, the only ones who could go in unprepared and do well were those who could speak Russian, because the exam does not expect native speaker standard and is therefore much easier for a native speaker.

Hezip

spurious wrote: »

Of course you should do Polish in your Leaving, but I suggest getting a few classes in the run up to the exam. No reason why in the mean time you could not commit yourself to reading some quality Polish literature and newspapers to increase your vocabulary and improve your writing.

The exam is aimed at native speakers and very unforgiving of simple errors, which would not be tolerated in a Polish exam at home, so give it your best shot. No reason why you couldn't get an A1 like your sister. Did you attend Polish school at the weekends for any of your time here?

From Polish/Romanian/Bulgarian/Latvian/Lithuanian students I taught who just walked into the exam on the day, they tended to get C3-C1, but anyone who attended classes and had some preparation, they got B1 and higher. Of the Eastern/Central Europeans, the only ones who could go in unprepared and do well were those who could speak Russian, because the exam does not expect native speaker standard and is therefore much easier for a native speaker.

I haven't done any Polish lessons or went to a Polish school for weekends, It's good to hear that those who prepared themselves got atleast a B1, with 2 years to prepare myself I should indeed go for atleast a H2! thank you a lot!

spurious

Keep an eye on Gazeta.ie - you will see people advertising classes for LC Polish, usually from February onwards. A class is better than individual grinds as competition with others will help you improve more.