Cambridge Modern and Medieval Languages (MML) Students and Applicants
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Original post by Saracen's Fez
For languages post-A-level it is one of the three papers you do in first year, so for example for French I am doing:
FrB1: Use of French (which is one class a week on the sort of thing you do for English Language GCSE)
FrB2: Translation into English (of literary texts – one class per fortnight) and Oral (one supervision per week)
Fr1: French literature and culture – for which we have to study 5 books (dating from the 13th to the 19th Century), one 1960s film and optionally linguistics. This is taught with lectures (1 per week in Michaelmas and 2 per week in Lent) and supervisions (once per week).
Other post-A-level languages will work similarly.
For ab initio languages there tends to be more variation. I am doing ab initio German and we are just starting the literature now
, which consists of three short stories and a novella. The Italian ab initios however seemed to start their literature a lot earlier so they might well be doing more. However, next year we take on the literature that post-A-level Germanists are doing this year, so there isn't an awful lot of ability to avoid this first lot.
FrB1: Use of French (which is one class a week on the sort of thing you do for English Language GCSE)
FrB2: Translation into English (of literary texts – one class per fortnight) and Oral (one supervision per week)
Fr1: French literature and culture – for which we have to study 5 books (dating from the 13th to the 19th Century), one 1960s film and optionally linguistics. This is taught with lectures (1 per week in Michaelmas and 2 per week in Lent) and supervisions (once per week).
Other post-A-level languages will work similarly.
For ab initio languages there tends to be more variation. I am doing ab initio German and we are just starting the literature now
, which consists of three short stories and a novella. The Italian ab initios however seemed to start their literature a lot earlier so they might well be doing more. However, next year we take on the literature that post-A-level Germanists are doing this year, so there isn't an awful lot of ability to avoid this first lot.Oh right, I was just wondering because I'm not overly keen on studying literature, however it's only GCSE English Literature and we've been studying one book for over a year
It's getting very boring now. However, I probably will prefer studying literature in other languages, as I'm sure it's more interesting than in your native language. How come you started German ab-initio? Is it going well? A lot of people tell me it's much more difficult than Spanish or French, but more similar to English.
(Sorry about all the questions, it's just that it's not often that I get to talk to someone who is doing a course I would love to do in the future
)
Original post by george_c00per
Oh right, I was just wondering because I'm not overly keen on studying literature, however it's only GCSE English Literature and we've been studying one book for over a year It's getting very boring now. However, I probably will prefer studying literature in other languages, as I'm sure it's more interesting than in your native language.
How come you started German ab-initio? Is it going well? A lot of people tell me it's much more difficult than Spanish or French, but more similar to English.
(Sorry about all the questions, it's just that it's not often that I get to talk to someone who is doing a course I would love to do in the future)
It's getting very boring now. However, I probably will prefer studying literature in other languages, as I'm sure it's more interesting than in your native language. How come you started German ab-initio? Is it going well? A lot of people tell me it's much more difficult than Spanish or French, but more similar to English.
(Sorry about all the questions, it's just that it's not often that I get to talk to someone who is doing a course I would love to do in the future
)I was no literature fan myself when I applied – but doing books from across such a long time period means that you are likely to find some that you like and some that you dislike. The foreign language aspect probably does make it more enjoyable as well.
I started German because it was a language I wanted to speak and a part of the world that I love, but was never offered at my school. I could have stuck with French and Spanish from A-level but I decided to take the plunge. It is certainly not something I regret. We only have a group size of 12 from across the whole university doing ab initio German so we are all really close as well. The grammar is more difficult, and you do have to like grammar and be prepared to work hard on it for a language like German especially.
Original post by Saracen's Fez
I was no literature fan myself when I applied – but doing books from across such a long time period means that you are likely to find some that you like and some that you dislike. The foreign language aspect probably does make it more enjoyable as well.
I started German because it was a language I wanted to speak and a part of the world that I love, but was never offered at my school. I could have stuck with French and Spanish from A-level but I decided to take the plunge. It is certainly not something I regret. We only have a group size of 12 from across the whole university doing ab initio German so we are all really close as well. The grammar is more difficult, and you do have to like grammar and be prepared to work hard on it for a language like German especially.
I started German because it was a language I wanted to speak and a part of the world that I love, but was never offered at my school. I could have stuck with French and Spanish from A-level but I decided to take the plunge. It is certainly not something I regret. We only have a group size of 12 from across the whole university doing ab initio German so we are all really close as well. The grammar is more difficult, and you do have to like grammar and be prepared to work hard on it for a language like German especially.
Interesting, I've never heard of a school that does French and Spanish but not German. Many schools around my area are like that but don't offer Spanish instead.
I think it's very brave of you to start a new language completely from scratch at uni. I would only ever do it with Portuguese maybe, but only as it shares grammar/spelling/vocab with Spanish.
Do you regularly mix with MML students from other colleges, or does it depend on which language you are learning? (Does a more chosen language mean they confine your group to your college, for example ab initio German being quite rare mean that you are with everyone from Cambridge doing that, etc.)
Original post by george_c00per
Interesting, I've never heard of a school that does French and Spanish but not German. Many schools around my area are like that but don't offer Spanish instead.
That's the case for a lot of the schools in my area – all do French, some do Spanish, none do German.
I think it's very brave of you to start a new language completely from scratch at uni. I would only ever do it with Portuguese maybe, but only as it shares grammar/spelling/vocab with Spanish.
I would certainly recommend ab initio to anybody though, it's not as daunting as it sounds. If you're good enough to get in, you're perfectly good enough to manage it. You'd be amazed how quickly you can pick a new language up.
Do you regularly mix with MML students from other colleges, or does it depend on which language you are learning? (Does a more chosen language mean they confine your group to your college, for example ab initio German being quite rare mean that you are with everyone from Cambridge doing that, etc.)
So for oral and literature supervisions I am within college, so I only have them with Catz students, but other language classes (Use of and translation) you are at a faculty in a cross-university group and unlikely to be with any students from your college. I presume if you don't have a supervisor in your language at your college and have to go elsewhere, you might have supervisions with students from that college, or have supervisions with students from other colleges that your own college is supervising.
For ab initio German though there are only 12 of us from across the university so we are all together, and see each other for 4 hours of classes per week, so we are very close by this point, and have a crazy number of in-jokes.
Original post by Saracen's Fez
So for oral and literature supervisions I am within college, so I only have them with Catz students, but other language classes (Use of and translation) you are at a faculty in a cross-university group and unlikely to be with any students from your college. I presume if you don't have a supervisor in your language at your college and have to go elsewhere, you might have supervisions with students from that college, or have supervisions with students from other colleges that your own college is supervising.
For ab initio German though there are only 12 of us from across the university so we are all together, and see each other for 4 hours of classes per week, so we are very close by this point, and have a crazy number of in-jokes.
So for oral and literature supervisions I am within college, so I only have them with Catz students, but other language classes (Use of and translation) you are at a faculty in a cross-university group and unlikely to be with any students from your college. I presume if you don't have a supervisor in your language at your college and have to go elsewhere, you might have supervisions with students from that college, or have supervisions with students from other colleges that your own college is supervising.
For ab initio German though there are only 12 of us from across the university so we are all together, and see each other for 4 hours of classes per week, so we are very close by this point, and have a crazy number of in-jokes.
Interesting, I would have thought there would be more German ab initio students than just 12 throughout the whole of Cambridge.
Thank you for replying to all of my questions! I've definitely learned a few things I never knew about, I'll stop asking now!
Original post by george_c00per
Interesting, I would have thought there would be more German ab initio students than just 12 throughout the whole of Cambridge.
Thank you for replying to all of my questions! I've definitely learned a few things I never knew about, I'll stop asking now!
Thank you for replying to all of my questions! I've definitely learned a few things I never knew about, I'll stop asking now!
German is really struggling with decreasing numbers and so there is a bit of a push going on for more ab initio students, with Durham having started a course just a couple of years ago and the German department in Cambridge being very eager to get ab initio students involved with things like coffee and cake evenings and travel funding.
Original post by Saracen's Fez
German is really struggling with decreasing numbers and so there is a bit of a push going on for more ab initio students, with Durham having started a course just a couple of years ago and the German department in Cambridge being very eager to get ab initio students involved with things like coffee and cake evenings and travel funding.
So would you possibly get grants when you do your year abroad? Will the money go towards the money you pay to Cambridge that year or more towards actual travelling costs like flights?
Original post by george_c00per
So would you possibly get grants when you do your year abroad? Will the money go towards the money you pay to Cambridge that year or more towards actual travelling costs like flights?
Not for your year abroad, where you are likely to be doing one of three things:
1) Studying in a foreign university – if this is in the EU (and we avoid Brexit in the meantime) then you can get Erasmus funding from the EU and continue I believe to get money from Student Finance.
2) Working abroad – in which case you are best advised to look for a paid placement unless you happen to be in a position for your parents to finance it.
3) Teaching English abroad with the British Council – who give you a fairly generous allowance.
However, there are travel grants available from your college (how much and how often depends upon whether you pick a rich or a less rich college – Corpus Christi for example seem to provide enormous amounts of money and are my favourite college outside my own). These can be applied for before each holiday to help fund travel to practise your languages – MML and in particular ab initio students are given high priority for travel grant money.
There is not normally money available from the faculty though – this was a special case that the German department made for ab initios.
Original post by Saracen's Fez
Not for your year abroad, where you are likely to be doing one of three things:
1) Studying in a foreign university – if this is in the EU (and we avoid Brexit in the meantime) then you can get Erasmus funding from the EU and continue I believe to get money from Student Finance.
2) Working abroad – in which case you are best advised to look for a paid placement unless you happen to be in a position for your parents to finance it.
3) Teaching English abroad with the British Council – who give you a fairly generous allowance.
However, there are travel grants available from your college (how much and how often depends upon whether you pick a rich or a less rich college – Corpus Christi for example seem to provide enormous amounts of money and are my favourite college outside my own). These can be applied for before each holiday to help fund travel to practise your languages – MML and in particular ab initio students are given high priority for travel grant money.
There is not normally money available from the faculty though – this was a special case that the German department made for ab initios.
1) Studying in a foreign university – if this is in the EU (and we avoid Brexit in the meantime) then you can get Erasmus funding from the EU and continue I believe to get money from Student Finance.
2) Working abroad – in which case you are best advised to look for a paid placement unless you happen to be in a position for your parents to finance it.
3) Teaching English abroad with the British Council – who give you a fairly generous allowance.
However, there are travel grants available from your college (how much and how often depends upon whether you pick a rich or a less rich college – Corpus Christi for example seem to provide enormous amounts of money and are my favourite college outside my own). These can be applied for before each holiday to help fund travel to practise your languages – MML and in particular ab initio students are given high priority for travel grant money.
There is not normally money available from the faculty though – this was a special case that the German department made for ab initios.
I see, it's weird how some colleges with large endowments give generous grants whereas others don't, you'd be pretty annoyed if you didn't get into your first choice college whereas your friend did as they would end up getting money off trips than you did. Is there a first come first served basis for choosing a college, is it more luck based, or does it depend on how well your interview goes? I don't really understand the college choosing bit that well.
Original post by george_c00per
I see, it's weird how some colleges with large endowments give generous grants whereas others don't, you'd be pretty annoyed if you didn't get into your first choice college whereas your friend did as they would end up getting money off trips than you did. Is there a first come first served basis for choosing a college, is it more luck based, or does it depend on how well your interview goes? I don't really understand the college choosing bit that well.
No, you pick your college to apply to on UCAS before interview, they feed your data into a spreadsheet, and then college admissions tutors choose who they want to take and interview themselves, and who they think is still up to it but not at that college. Those people get put into a "pool", and other college admissions tutors fish out the students that they would like to take a punt on.
That means that whether you apply to a popular or less popular college shouldn't affect your chances of getting into the university, just you might not end up at your college of choice.
What I would recommend doing if you are at all able to is making a trip to Cambridge for the day and visiting some of the colleges. Try to create somewhat of a shortlist based on the info here on TSR and the Alternative Prospectus (which is about to be redone, complete with some stuff I've written for Catz). If you email the admissions offices then they might give you a tour (that's the reason I ended up applying to Catz, they were the only ones to give me a guided tour when I went down to visit – it's likely to be a reason like that that you end up picking your college), otherwise most are happy for you to have a walk around and take in the atmosphere as long as you explain to the porters that you are a prospective student.
If not, then use the internet as much as you can to find out about different colleges (though avoid The Tab who tend to reuse the same hackneyed stereotypes – it's amusing but not informative or accurate) but don't fret too much about your college choice, it's surprisingly unimportant.
But don't worry about that, Catz is the only college worth applying to anyway!
Original post by Saracen's Fez
Not for your year abroad, where you are likely to be doing one of three things:
1) Studying in a foreign university – if this is in the EU (and we avoid Brexit in the meantime) then you can get Erasmus funding from the EU and continue I believe to get money from Student Finance.
2) Working abroad – in which case you are best advised to look for a paid placement unless you happen to be in a position for your parents to finance it.
3) Teaching English abroad with the British Council – who give you a fairly generous allowance.
However, there are travel grants available from your college (how much and how often depends upon whether you pick a rich or a less rich college – Corpus Christi for example seem to provide enormous amounts of money and are my favourite college outside my own). These can be applied for before each holiday to help fund travel to practise your languages – MML and in particular ab initio students are given high priority for travel grant money.
There is not normally money available from the faculty though – this was a special case that the German department made for ab initios.
1) Studying in a foreign university – if this is in the EU (and we avoid Brexit in the meantime) then you can get Erasmus funding from the EU and continue I believe to get money from Student Finance.
2) Working abroad – in which case you are best advised to look for a paid placement unless you happen to be in a position for your parents to finance it.
3) Teaching English abroad with the British Council – who give you a fairly generous allowance.
However, there are travel grants available from your college (how much and how often depends upon whether you pick a rich or a less rich college – Corpus Christi for example seem to provide enormous amounts of money and are my favourite college outside my own). These can be applied for before each holiday to help fund travel to practise your languages – MML and in particular ab initio students are given high priority for travel grant money.
There is not normally money available from the faculty though – this was a special case that the German department made for ab initios.
You get Erasmus funding for all of those things
So even if your internship is poorly paid, the Erasmus grant will help!Original post by Saracen's Fez
No, you pick your college to apply to on UCAS before interview, they feed your data into a spreadsheet, and then college admissions tutors choose who they want to take and interview themselves, and who they think is still up to it but not at that college. Those people get put into a "pool", and other college admissions tutors fish out the students that they would like to take a punt on.
That means that whether you apply to a popular or less popular college shouldn't affect your chances of getting into the university, just you might not end up at your college of choice.
What I would recommend doing if you are at all able to is making a trip to Cambridge for the day and visiting some of the colleges. Try to create somewhat of a shortlist based on the info here on TSR and the Alternative Prospectus (which is about to be redone, complete with some stuff I've written for Catz). If you email the admissions offices then they might give you a tour (that's the reason I ended up applying to Catz, they were the only ones to give me a guided tour when I went down to visit – it's likely to be a reason like that that you end up picking your college), otherwise most are happy for you to have a walk around and take in the atmosphere as long as you explain to the porters that you are a prospective student.
If not, then use the internet as much as you can to find out about different colleges (though avoid The Tab who tend to reuse the same hackneyed stereotypes – it's amusing but not informative or accurate) but don't fret too much about your college choice, it's surprisingly unimportant.
But don't worry about that, Catz is the only college worth applying to anyway!
That means that whether you apply to a popular or less popular college shouldn't affect your chances of getting into the university, just you might not end up at your college of choice.
What I would recommend doing if you are at all able to is making a trip to Cambridge for the day and visiting some of the colleges. Try to create somewhat of a shortlist based on the info here on TSR and the Alternative Prospectus (which is about to be redone, complete with some stuff I've written for Catz). If you email the admissions offices then they might give you a tour (that's the reason I ended up applying to Catz, they were the only ones to give me a guided tour when I went down to visit – it's likely to be a reason like that that you end up picking your college), otherwise most are happy for you to have a walk around and take in the atmosphere as long as you explain to the porters that you are a prospective student.
If not, then use the internet as much as you can to find out about different colleges (though avoid The Tab who tend to reuse the same hackneyed stereotypes – it's amusing but not informative or accurate) but don't fret too much about your college choice, it's surprisingly unimportant.
But don't worry about that, Catz is the only college worth applying to anyway!
Wow, it's very interesting how they choose you for colleges. The ones I like the sound of so far are Emmanuel and Trinity, but the only info I've read is from TSR. Hopefully I can go to the open day next year, I missed it this year because of a school trip
Original post by george_c00per
Wow, it's very interesting how they choose you for colleges. The ones I like the sound of so far are Emmanuel and Trinity, but the only info I've read is from TSR. Hopefully I can go to the open day next year, I missed it this year because of a school trip
Any time you can go will be fine, it doesn't have to be the open day necessarily. Just call in to the porters' lodge at a college and say you are a prospective student. They will usually want to upsell their college so are usually more than happy to help.
Original post by Saracen's Fez
Any time you can go will be fine, it doesn't have to be the open day necessarily. Just call in to the porters' lodge at a college and say you are a prospective student. They will usually want to upsell their college so are usually more than happy to help.
Cool, thanks! I'll have to persuade someone to drive me down to Cambridge now
Hi all! Anyone going to the MML open day at Trinity Hall, Cambridge tomorrow?!
Thread dedicated to 2017 Cambridge MML applicants.
What languages are you applying to study?
What college are you applying for?
What are your AS grades (particularly in your language/s)?
What sort of stuff are you concentrating on in your personal statement?
What do you feel is the strongest point of your application (or will be, eg interview)?
What do you feel is the weakest part of your application?
What interests you about studying languages?
What languages are you applying to study?
What college are you applying for?
What are your AS grades (particularly in your language/s)?
What sort of stuff are you concentrating on in your personal statement?
What do you feel is the strongest point of your application (or will be, eg interview)?
What do you feel is the weakest part of your application?
What interests you about studying languages?
(edited 7 years ago)
Hi,
I want to do French and ab initio Portuguese at Trinity Hall. My personal statement is terrible xD my interview Im hoping will be my strong point but that assumes I'll get one. I love linguistics but I also love the cultures behind languages so the Cambridge course is the perfect mix for me
I want to do French and ab initio Portuguese at Trinity Hall. My personal statement is terrible xD my interview Im hoping will be my strong point but that assumes I'll get one. I love linguistics but I also love the cultures behind languages so the Cambridge course is the perfect mix for me
Original post by pamplemousse.
Thread dedicated to 2017 Cambridge MML applicants.
What languages are you applying to study?
French and ab initio Italian
What college are you applying for?
Newnham. (I love the architecture, being able to sit on the grass(!!), its proximity to Sidgwick site, lovely gardens, tennis, modern cooking facilities)
What are your AS grades (particularly in your language/s)?
French A (99% UMS
which as the badger indicates I was really happy with), English Literature A (97% raw marks, no UMS), History A (No UMS, 96% in Tudors paper but a lot lower in the other), Politics B (modular, luckily almost an A so I have those marks for next year 
)
What sort of stuff are you concentrating on in your personal statement?
Mine is very literature-based, as well as the technicalities of language and stuff about translation, but also linking to history and culture.
What do you feel is the strongest point of your application (or will be, eg interview)?
My 99% UMS in French and perhaps (though I can't be sure as I haven't done it yet) my interview as my tutor on Oxford UNIQ said I performed well and analysing texts in a tutorial is right up my street. Also, the admissions test (touch wood) seems to play to my strengths as it is based on analysis too.
What do you feel is the weakest part of your application?
My GCSEs- only 4 A*s. B in Politics AS. Working on my personal statement to include more Italian. Very literature PS which does mention English, not sure if this is a disadvantage or not.
What interests you about studying languages?
What languages are you applying to study?
French and ab initio Italian
What college are you applying for?
Newnham. (I love the architecture, being able to sit on the grass(!!), its proximity to Sidgwick site, lovely gardens, tennis, modern cooking facilities)
What are your AS grades (particularly in your language/s)?
French A (99% UMS
which as the badger indicates I was really happy with), English Literature A (97% raw marks, no UMS), History A (No UMS, 96% in Tudors paper but a lot lower in the other), Politics B (modular, luckily almost an A so I have those marks for next year )What sort of stuff are you concentrating on in your personal statement?
Mine is very literature-based, as well as the technicalities of language and stuff about translation, but also linking to history and culture.
What do you feel is the strongest point of your application (or will be, eg interview)?
My 99% UMS in French and perhaps (though I can't be sure as I haven't done it yet) my interview as my tutor on Oxford UNIQ said I performed well and analysing texts in a tutorial is right up my street. Also, the admissions test (touch wood) seems to play to my strengths as it is based on analysis too.
What do you feel is the weakest part of your application?
My GCSEs- only 4 A*s. B in Politics AS. Working on my personal statement to include more Italian. Very literature PS which does mention English, not sure if this is a disadvantage or not.
What interests you about studying languages?
I will answer the last part when less snazzled (snoozy and frazzled).
Original post by pamplemousse.
Thread dedicated to 2017 Cambridge MML applicants.
What languages are you applying to study?
I'm applying for Spanish and Ab Initio Italian ✨
What college are you applying for?
I'm applying for Gonville and Caius, because it's quite central yet not overrun by tourists.
What are your AS grades (particularly in your language/s)?
Spanish- A (Didn't check any of my UMS which I should've done 😬)
Japanese- A
What sort of stuff are you concentrating on in your personal statement?
Idek to be honest, I'm a mess 😭😭
What do you feel is the strongest point of your application (or will be, eg interview)?
Definitely not the interview. Probably my PS, because I have people to help me a bit with that and I know what I want to say.
What do you feel is the weakest part of your application?
The interview for sure 😂
What interests you about studying languages?
What languages are you applying to study?
I'm applying for Spanish and Ab Initio Italian ✨
What college are you applying for?
I'm applying for Gonville and Caius, because it's quite central yet not overrun by tourists.
What are your AS grades (particularly in your language/s)?
Spanish- A (Didn't check any of my UMS which I should've done 😬)
Japanese- A
What sort of stuff are you concentrating on in your personal statement?
Idek to be honest, I'm a mess 😭😭
What do you feel is the strongest point of your application (or will be, eg interview)?
Definitely not the interview. Probably my PS, because I have people to help me a bit with that and I know what I want to say.
What do you feel is the weakest part of your application?
The interview for sure 😂
What interests you about studying languages?
I find I it hard to explain, but I just love the way I can communicate with people in their own languages.
Original post by FrenchNerd2
Hi,
I want to do French and ab initio Portuguese at Trinity Hall. My personal statement is terrible xD my interview Im hoping will be my strong point but that assumes I'll get one. I love linguistics but I also love the cultures behind languages so the Cambridge course is the perfect mix for me
I want to do French and ab initio Portuguese at Trinity Hall. My personal statement is terrible xD my interview Im hoping will be my strong point but that assumes I'll get one. I love linguistics but I also love the cultures behind languages so the Cambridge course is the perfect mix for me
Hi there! I did my MML undergrad at Trinity Hall, and absolutely loved it. Let me know if you have any questions
*Quick Reply
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