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The Languages Faculty encompasses four languages: German, French, Chinese (Mandarin) and Japanese. We teach how to speak the chosen language in a useful and appropriate way, and students also learn about the culture and people of the country where their chosen language is spoken.
The majority of our students who learn a language or languages are complete beginners when they start in Year 9. All languages can be studied through all Levels of NCEA, and taken for Scholarship.
Being bilingual or even multilingual in a country which has traditionally been considered monolingual bestows a distinct advantage upon our students for future studies and career opportunities. Many university faculties welcome a high level of competence in a second language as an indication of academic ability, and are recommending a second language as a means of “having a difference, to stand out” from the majority of graduates who remain mostly monolingual.
Students who choose to learn and speak another language open doors to careers of wide diversity. Opportunities through business and commerce, law, medicine, the arts, teaching, engineering and architecture expand exponentially when another language is spoken.
In New Zealand’s increasingly multicultural society, it makes sense for those working in all professions and trades to be able to understand cultural differences and to appreciate them. Learning another language promotes awareness of the differences, and similarities, of those from other cultures that students will eventually work beside.