☆ Cambridge MML Applicants - 2019 ☆

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@val508 have you received an email from Trinity saying your French interviewer has been changed? Who's your new interviewer(s)?

I have! There are two of them now. The man specialises in classics.
Oh man, I know so little about classics...

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 81

Quirky Object

Original post by val508

I have! There are two of them now. The man specialises in classics.
Oh man, I know so little about classics...

Oh ok I think we have the same interviewers in that case! I do A-level Latin so he could well ask me some classics questions...

Reply 82

vessel

So stressed about interviews aaa

Reply 83

tallulahhhhh

Original post by vessel

So stressed about interviews aaa

Relatable haha

Reply 84

Accio_Cake

Original post by vessel

So stressed about interviews aaa

Same! I think it's just the unpredictability of what could be asked.

Reply 85

tallulahhhhh

Original post by Accio_Cake

Same! I think it's just the unpredictability of what could be asked.

Definitely, I’m terrified as my college has said we’ll be getting a translation which is pretty hit or miss

Reply 86

Accio_Cake

Original post by tallulahthe1975

Definitely, I’m terrified as my college has said we’ll be getting a translation which is pretty hit or miss

Ah that's interesting they've specified, my college has just said 'preliminary reading'. A translation task would probably stress me out a bit as well but I'm sure you'll do excellently. :smile:

As (at least for me) both interviews are based around a bit of pre-reading beforehand that gives us a hint that we probably won't be quizzed too deeply over the stuff in our personal statement. I'd be surprised if they make no reference to it at all, but it likely won't be the 25+ minute discussion I've heard others have!

Reply 87

tallulahhhhh

Original post by Accio_Cake

Ah that's interesting they've specified, my college has just said 'preliminary reading'. A translation task would probably stress me out a bit as well but I'm sure you'll do excellently. :smile:

I’m hoping mine will be similar - that the interview won’t be entirely based around the personal statement, but it’s always a little bit comforting to have something prepared I suppose 🤷*♀️ Which college have you applied to?

Reply 88

Accio_Cake

Original post by tallulahthe1975

Gonville & Caius for me, my interview's on the 6th but I'll be going up the day before. What about you?

Reply 89

tallulahhhhh

Original post by Accio_Cake

Gonville & Caius for me, my interview's on the 6th but I'll be going up the day before. What about you?

Ahhh I was torn between Caius and Jesus but ended up going for Jesus - mine’s on Tuesday so I’m heading up tomorrow :smile:

Reply 90

Accio_Cake

Original post by tallulahthe1975

Ahhh I was torn between Caius and Jesus but ended up going for Jesus - mine’s on Tuesday so I’m heading up tomorrow :smile:

Pretty coicindental, I was torn between Caius and Jesus as well! I've actually had the chance to visit Jesus unlike Caius and it's beautiful, I hope you enjoy the experience.

Remember to come back and tell us how you reckon it went!

Reply 91

Saracen's Fez

MML people!

#CambTweet is running a Twitter Q&A at 9pm tonight! Please drop in with your questions about MML, Cambridge, particular colleges, or interviews in particular.

Tweet your questions with the hashtag #CambTweet, or send your MML-specific ones to our subject accounts: @cambtweetmml and @cambtweetabroad.

Hope to hear from you later!
@cambtweetmml

Reply 92

tallulahhhhh

Original post by Accio_Cake

You too, the accommodation at Caius looks great :smile:

and so close to Sidgwick so easy for lectures haha, ditto to you - hope you enjoy it!

Will come back afterwards, probably with news of how terrible it was haha

Reply 93

qwertyuiop1993

Hi everyone, I suspect interviews are looming and I thought I'd offer my help and give some example questions to give you a flavour of what might come up, as I remember being pretty daunted when I went up for my interviews. I did my undergrad and postgrad in Modern Languages at The Other Place :tongue:

and actually worked as an interviewer while I was a graduate student. I also taught and did the Oxbridge prep at a school which regularly sends 30-40% of its students to Oxford and Cambridge.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!

Some general Modern Languages interview topics to think about:

•

What is the point of translation? (Think about what goal you want to achieve, what, linguistically speaking that might entail? To what extent must you take into account who you are translating for or what you are translating from?)

•

Are there any genres that are particularly hard to translate? What does that tell us about the nature of those types of work? Is every translation a 'betrayal' of the original?

•

What is the difference between poetry and prose?

•

What is the difference between literature and non-literature? (Does our attitude to language change when dealing with literature? Or when dealing with poetry in particular?)

•

What makes a work of art political?

•

To what extent does language shape or even dictate our world view? (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis)

•

When reading a literary work from the past, should one always try imagine what a reader of the time would have understood?

•

Is there objective meaning in literature?

•

How does one's response to a poem differ from one's response to a painting?

•

What is the difference between a novel and a short story?

•

Reading a play is always inferior to watching it on stage. Do you agree?

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 94

tallulahhhhh

Finally finished my interviews! So relieved :smile:

Reply 95

clem1

just finished my interviews- don’t know if it went well or not? there were some questions that i got the answers wrong to and they had to sort of gently push me in the right direction or correct me but generally i think it went ok. how do you know if it went well ?!

Reply 96

tallulahhhhh

Original post by clem1

Honestly I don’t think you can really tell, they don’t give much away lol, I had mine today and really have no idea whether or not I did well :,) as long as you showed why you thought what you did I imagine you did well!