# Which Foreign Languages Did Your High School Offer?-Post Here **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2013, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158 "2013-03-28T05:40:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/1 "2013-03-28T05:40:39Z")
Which foreign languages did/does your high school (or any sort of secondary school you attended). Note that only foreign languages count, not the lingua franca of your area although I’m classifying languages that are spoken widely in another part of your country but not your area as a foreign language (ie French in English-speaking Canada or Flemish in a French speaking area of Belgium). ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/2 "2013-03-28T06:02:44Z")
Midwestern US in the 80s, we had our choice of French, German or Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/3 "2013-03-28T06:17:11Z")
Back 50 years ago in Australia we had French, German and Latin. Nowadays it’s more likely to be Chinese, Indonesian and Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Pumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Ms.Pumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Pumpkin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/4 "2013-03-28T06:28:03Z")
French, Spanish, and Latin, in high school(grades 9-12). French was also taught in grades 6-8. New England - 1990s ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/5 "2013-03-28T06:29:35Z")
Back in the late seventies, my high school had German as a foreign language. I believe ten years before, they still had Latin. I also checked “other” because they also taught French, but French is one of our national languages, and is by definition not ‘foreign’ for us. A couple of years ago, I checked the school website, and was interested to see that German had been replaced by Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/6 "2013-03-28T06:39:52Z")
We had French and Spanish and Latin. They had German before I got there but the teacher left. Also a couple semesters I was there they offered Ancient Greek but that didn’t last. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/7 "2013-03-28T07:53:22Z")
As the first person on the poll to add Greek, I feel compelled to explain that it was Classical Greek offered by the Classics Department not modern Greek, not from the Modern Languages Department. I wouldn’t have included it except for the fact that the poll includes Latin- so, the OP is clearly allowing for Classics as well as Modern Languages. Incidentally, I am quite surprised to see that Latin is ahead of German. My highschool offered Latin, Greek, German, French, and Spanish. Philadelphia, early 90s. The school is run by Jesuits. It’s not a _foreign_ language, but I thought it interesting to find upon moving to California that many highschools offer Sign Language as an option that qualifies for students’ language requirement. I don’t know if this is common in the rest of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/8 "2013-03-28T08:08:55Z")
Besides English - a mandatory requirement and the most important subject after math - my school also offered Literary Arabic. I took it for a few years, and was lousy at it. ---
**Author:** ![kneegrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@kneegrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kneegrow)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/9 "2013-03-28T08:11:15Z")
lumping in Hindi with Urdu and Dtuch with Afrikaans is kinda shallow ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/10 "2013-03-28T08:15:49Z")
Mine offered German, Spanish, and French, and my senior year started offering Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/11 "2013-03-28T09:27:57Z")
French was compulsory for all. After that, we also had to take one other language from a choice of German, Spanish, Latin. Greek, Russian and Mandarin were optional extras - they brought in special tutors if anyone showed an interest. English girls’ private school. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/12 "2013-03-28T10:18:34Z")
My bog standard 1980s Scottish comprehensive school offered French, German, Russian, Latin and Greek (and Gaelic). Up to O-grade level (Grade 11, age 15-ish) French was compulsory for all. O-grade Latin was also compulsory for everyone in the top two streams. In my class at school, only one person took Greek (Ancient), and she took it up to Sixth Year Studies level (a bit beyond A-level in the English system). I think they stopped offering it once Rhona was done. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/13 "2013-03-28T10:20:20Z")
The high school I attended offered no foreign language courses, but the public schools in my home district offered German, Spanish and French. This was in the Midwest in the '70s. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/14 "2013-03-28T10:28:16Z")
Suburban Baltimore, late 60s/early 70s - French, Spanish, Russian, Latin. I took French and Spanish, and I wanted to take Russian, but my schedule was too crowded. I’ve always loved languages, but I ended up studying engineering - go figure… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/15 "2013-03-28T10:29:02Z")
Public high school, suburban Chicagoland circa 1988-1992, in order of enrollment numbers: Spanish, French, German, Latin. Only the really geeky kids took Latin, generally because their parents pushed them into it with the expectation that they’d be going to medical school one day. Mom was right; I wish I’d taken Latin. Five years of French (four high school, one college) and I could maybe - maybe - order _un café et un croissant, s’il vous plaît_ without totally embarrassing myself today. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/16 "2013-03-28T10:30:55Z")
Mine offered French and German, but only German was compulsory. My daughter’s school offers French, Spanish, Italian, Bengali, Arabic, Mandarin and Japanese, though only Spanish is compulsory. They will also help students with other languages, especially if it’s their home language. Just some tutoring and GCSE entry. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/17 "2013-03-28T10:38:40Z")
The standard options were French, Spanish, German, Latin, and (Ancient) Greek. But if a teacher (of history or whatever) happened to speak some language fluently (usually, =natively), they would often offer to teach it, too. So, much of the tine, there were some students taking Italian, Russian, and Chinese, and maybe occasionally one or two others. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/18 "2013-03-28T10:43:02Z")
I grew up in Quebec, so French was a given, and not a “foreign language”. I’m pretty sure the only language option at the high school level was Spanish. I remember something about Russian and German, but I _think_ those were offered in CEGEP, the next level up of education. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/19 "2013-03-28T10:47:05Z")
Latin wasn’t offered as part of the “foreign languages pack”, it was a requirement. Ancient Greek was not part of the “foreign languages pack”, either, but of the “pure humanities” pack (for people planning on studying Law, Philosophy, History). We could choose between English and French. The legal requirement did not include any foreign languages until 9th grade, but my primary school had English as compulsory starting in fourth grade. My nephews started English in K1 and will be starting French in 6th grade; they’ll have German as a possible optional in 11th and 12th. By the time they get there there may be other languages being offered - currently there’s talks of offering Arabic. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158/20 "2013-03-28T10:59:04Z")
My high school was fairly deprived as to foreign language classes: French or Spanish, that was it. I wanted to take both, but they only let you take one. I signed up for Spanish, but they put me in French instead, because of my entrance linguistic-aptitude test scores. I also checked Latin, since it was supposedly offered as individual study, but I don’t know of anyone actually taking it. For most of my foreign language acquisition, I’ve been an autodidact, often through necessity. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-foreign-languages-did-your-high-school-offer-post-here/654158.md?page=2)