Cambridge Demystified - French and German/ Modern and Medieval Languages

Thank you @redmeercat for a lovely, informative chapter! Being a French graduate myself and having a son who graduated from Oxford with a German degree, I am particularly interested.

So, a few questions here.

MML Cambridge web page:

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/modern-and-medieval-languages

I would be interested to know how the MML languages course at Cambridge differs from that at Oxford. At Oxford you can take a degree in just one language. I gather this is not the case at Cambridge?

The Oxford languages degree is over 80% literature, but I note you study history. Do you know which period of history? Do you also get the chance to study art or culture? At Oxford, you have to study film for German sole. You can also take this option later on if wish.

What are the different topics from the tripos?

And the year abroad project? What does it consist of? I don't think my son had to do that. Some people probably worked on their thesis.

Glad you had some time abroad to perfect your French. I would always support doing that where you can. Any student who wishes to go abroad could look at Erasmus

https://www.iso.admin.cam.ac.uk/erasmus-plus

Brexit

https://www.eu.admin.cam.ac.uk/

I also am very interested in translation, and I consider a great translation to be like a beautiful work of art. A bad translation can be pretty cringeworthy and can get in the way of our reading enjoyment!

I have heard that the entrance exam for Cambridge MML is different from the Oxford one. For the Oxford MLAT you have to look at word order, translate questions from English to the target language and vice versa and look at certain grammar points. It is, to be exact, a grammar test. The last time I looked at a Cambridge MML test, it was a passage in English and you had to answer questions about it in the target language. Is this still the case?

I am very interested to hear about the assistance you get for dyslexia. How do they help? (this might encourage people to apply, if they know Cambridge are empathetic to your circumstances)

When you were looking for a Cambridge college, do you mean this TSR thread (Cambridge college pros and cons)

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Cambridge_College_Pros_and_Cons

You could, alternatively, spend lockdown looking at a few Cambridge college youtubes, narrow it down to three, then try to visit them. Please phone the porters in advance to make sure you can gain access to the college.

Yes, at Cambridge everyone takes 2 main languages, one of which may be ab-initio (meaning that you start from the beginning and improve from there) or you could do 2 A levels post A Level or from a high level of fluency, although i believe that you have to have some proof of your level, rather than just telling them that you spoke x language when you were younger and consequently have a high level. (Although this may not be correct). In second and fourth years there may also be the opportunity to study modules in other languages, which may include languages such as Dutch and Polish (but again, this changes from year to year, so anyone interested should remember that a language available one year may not be the next). Having struggled with essay-based subjects previously, this was perfect for me as it let me pick up another language where I wasn't able to at GCSE or A level. Prospective students should know that French and Latin aren't available ab initio, but that other languages available in the course may be studied from beginner level.

As part of the MML degree at Cambridge, we study language, linguistics, art/ literature/ film, philosophy and history, which is reflected in the reading list which currently includes works from Rousseau as well as the film Cleo 5 a 7 and the tragic play Horace (my favourite I've read so far!). In first year, language papers are sat with a paper on introductory literature, film, thought and linguistics. As you move into the higher years and particularly in higher years, students are free to choose from a massively wide variety of topics, as well as the potential to study both languages all the way through or to specialise in just one later on. The flexibility of the degree makes it brilliant for people who love the language and culture in general, and want to explore a variety of aspects before specialising on their specific interests! In regards to the breadth of the degree, the 'Modern and Medieval' element does not only relate to the languages on offer such as Latin and Greek - we study culture from the medieval period up to modern day!

Examples of current reading lists for French and German:
https://www.mmll.cam.ac.uk/fr1 - French
https://www.mmll.cam.ac.uk/ge1 - German
https://www.mmll.cam.ac.uk/ge2 - German

List of part II (fourth year) papers:
https://www.mmll.cam.ac.uk/mml/ii

In terms of the year abroad project, it's very open and can be tailored to a student's interests. There are a variety of options available - a translation project with a 4000 word translator's note, a linguistics project with a 4000 word morpheme-by-morpheme explanation, or an 8000 word dissertation. 4 hours of supervision (teaching) time is given to the project currently.

Fairly soon after I got my Cambridge offer, the college contacted me directly to ask for a copy of my diagnostic report, as did the SEN department who also sent a survey where I could put any support that would be helpful such as doing exams on a word processor or using different-coloured paper. Even before the admissions assessment I was easily able to request the same support as I recieve for usual exams (word processor and 25% extra reading/writing time) which was added. Considering other needs, people who need ground-floor rooms, an en-suite, study skills support or wheelchair access can notify th euniversity and their college of this through the same means, as well the the accomodation forms (for my college at least) having space for any medical needs to be noted. Overall, I've felt that the dyslexia support has be vary efficient and not patronising in the slightest. It is also confidential and you're made aware of how your data will be treated, and to the permissions that are required in order to ensure that you get extra time and other help. I'd advise anyone with dyslexia, dyspraxia or etc who's considering applying to Cambridge for MML just to own your needs - it's very easy to think that you can get by very easily without xxx support, but when it's offered there's no shame in accepting, even at somewhere as academic at Cambridge! I brought up my dyslexia in relation to one of my interview questions and my interviews seemed genuinely interested in how it altered my perspective on the world and my perspective on language - if you're academically good enough for Cambridge, you're academically good enough for Cambridge, with or without additional challenges

Yes, translation is beautiful... I'm always disappointed when subtitles in particular just miss the point - the subtitles for Anne with an E on Netflix weren't my favourite particularly because of the mis-use of Tu and Vous - when has a 5 year old ever casually adressed another 5 year old as Vous? I was also surprised that they chose to translate prayers using 'vous' as usually God is addressed as Tu, although I can't say that this isn't a recent development, and so hesitate to criticise before I've done more research!

You're right about the admissions test - you're given a text in English which you must then discuss in 2 questions. The first question is written in your target language, and the second is written in English. You car answer these in whichever order you like, and should practice using exemplar and past papers: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/mml_admissions_assessment_2016.pdf. The first question should take 2/3 of your time, is written in a language that you intend to study, and focuses on your understanding and reaction to the given text. The second is written in English and should take the remainder of your time, and is very similar to an English Literature question, although you're not penalised for not knowing specific literary terminology, i.e if you didn't know that the following: 'The hunter was like a panther' was a similie, you would still get points for saying that the phrase makes the hunter sound like a predator, even if you didn't call it a similie. The mark scheme can be found and the bottom of the document of past papers.

That's the thread, thank you!

Are you interested in intralingual and intersemiotic translation as well as interlingual? I find intralingual translation specifically relevant to the study of interlingual translation, aprticularly considering the adaption of texts to suit different cultures which speak the same language, or else adapting a text to suit children!

Other helpful resources for improving French (suggestions given for sixthformers, younger students may want to check age ratings for some films etc):

Podcasts/ Audio resources
Native level
- Les Grosses Tetes podcast (comedy gameshow type thing, very fast but you can learn some cool new words!)
- Le Debrief de Mattieu Noel (news-based)
- Music on youtube and other music apps (artists to start with if you don't know any: Edith Piaf, Zaz, Joe Dassin, BB Brunes, Louane)
Learner level
- Coffee break French
- Journal en Francais Facile
- Audio Lingua podcasts - A1, A2, B1, B2 etc (A1 = beginner, C2 = Completely Fluent)
- LyricsTraining app beginner level (listen and fill in the blanks to French song lyrics)
Reading
- Le Monde (news app like the Times or the BBC, some longer articles are only available to subscribers)
- La Fille de Papier, Guillaume Musso (teen novel)
- No et Moi, Delphine de Vigan (teen novel)
- Un Sac de Billes, Joseph Joffo (novel)
- Bakhita, Veronique Olmi (novel - long)
- Classique et Patrimoine, Extrait choisis Magnard (a series of books that French pupils often use to study long classic novels such as Les Miserables) https://www.google.com/search?q=Classique+et+Patrimoine,+Extrait+choisis+Magnard&safe=strict&rlz=1C1SQJL_enGB866GB866&sxsrf=ALeKk01o9ZHdh0kh9jlz1s5tuIU0qAK7xQ:1588024179413&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiW-O6Iy4npAhUYilwKHQjvDnwQ_AUoAXoECAsQAw&biw=1536&bih=722
For those who want to compare translations with English versions
- Harry Potter et L'Ecole des Sorciers (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)
- Raison et Sentiment (Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen)
- La Bible
Audiovisual
- La Famille Belier (feel-good film about family, music and language)
- Seraphine (film about art, self-improvement and working hard)
- Amelie (Film about a young and slightly eccentric girl in Paris)
- Les Choristes (Story of a choir in a school for boys in France)
- La Haine (story of marginalised youth in Paris, the riots of the 1990s, racism, hopelessness and fighting for change)
- French/ Franglais youtube channels such as Paul Taylor, Montreaux comedy, La Fondation 30 Million d'Amis
- TV5Monde (TV channel with French learning resources)
Experiences
- Au Pairing - under 18s can only do this with personal contacts such as family friends, in which case it is more informal. Over 18s can use agencies or websites such as AuPairworld.com.
- School exchanges
- HelloTalk and Tandem apps (talk with native speakers in French and correct their English in return. As always, ensure that you remai safe online )
Grammar
- Lawless French (website, Spanish version available)
- Hemingway Complete French Grammar (book)
- other grammar books/ websites

I really enjoyed reading this chapter, and wow, all the resources listed look fantastic, I’m sure they’ll be incredibly helpful for prospective applicants considering the course! Your interview tips and great and your EPQ topic sounds fascinating! Best of luck with everything

TV5 (glad this is still going)
"Les grosses Tetes" - I can remember my French friends raving about this!

Thank you, glad you liked it!

I love LGT... so immersive and great fun to try to understand! 😂
Perhaps the Cambridge one is more difficult because they interview a much larger proportion of applicants and so have to narrow it down more? I might go an see what the Oxford past papers are like now!

I was having a look for them but couldn't find them...

The Oxford one is basically let's translate these sentences English to German, German to English, let's look at this grammar point...

It's basically like doing exercises from a grammar book.

Why is it so good to be an au pair before the tests?

Because the Oxford tests have some basic vocabulary you wouldn't come across at A Level. For example, my son had a German sentence "She put the saucepan in the cupboard". Now he, and many other people on TSR were stumped on "saucepan" (A level only uses certain vocab). But you, as an au pair, might even have asked "where does the saucepan go" and they could have replied "put the saucepan in the cupboard".

Ironically, this would be a breeze to students of my generation, who, even at O level, had to translate the French for candy floss and dodgems into English.

Ooh, I see, I wondered why German languages applicants focused so much more on drilling grammar before the entrance tests that I did. Personally, my preparation largely consisted of writing these types of short essays, within and outside of the time limit. The benefit of the Cambridge exam is that it focuses on your ability to understand subtleties in a written text, and to use grammar as you see fit. Having spent 5 weeks using French, I can form coherent thoughts in French far more easily than before, despite the many mistakes that I still make - rather than thinking in English and translating, I got used to having the ideas in French. For the French part of the exam it was therefore a lot easier as I didn't have to do an in-depth plan beforehand as a couple of bullet points were enough to remind me of the basic elements of my arguement, and I could focus on showcasing all the fancy grammar I know, such as the imperfect subjunctive (my favourite!) and various forms of object pronouns! Hearing the language daily, you also get to understand how vocab is used in real life and so it's harder to fall into the trap of using a word how we would use it's English counterpart. Of course, you cannot become completely fluent in a few weeks, but any experience using a language practically will help a lot with the parts of any test or interview questions you may get which need to be answered in the language you're studying.

Admissions test tips:
1. Focus on saying what you can, and ignore any ideas which you're unable to express.
2. It's not an excercise of trying to get as many different tenses into as few words as possible, but you do want to show off your grammar vocab. Try to add your fancy grammar around your arguement so that it sounds more natural.
3. Don't worry about what other people may write or what thay have written, as different answers can be compeltely different but equally good.
4. Although the exemplars aren't all necessarily difficult texts, it's possible that you could get a text that's complicated or difficult to understand in the exam. Rather than panicking, focus on what you think the author might be trying to say, and what you do know about a text rather than on what you don't know.
5. Have confidence in what you know, and remember that it's only one part of the admissions process and that people have got in with lower scores before. You've also probably done better than you think

Imperfect subjunctive, eh? I can remember a French member of staff at my uni who said "nobody uses the imperfect subjunctive outside the Manchester French department (lol)

Your time in France will come in very useful. I can remember landing up at Poitiers train station, talking to a strange middle aged fare dodger. He seemed to be speaking in a foreign language. Later I found out that he was talking in "argot" and that many, many people just use slang words, rather than the French I learnt. For example I never heard the word "voiture" but rather "bagnolle" for car. It's like learning French all over again.

Yes, I heard A LOT of Verlan (...) And the southern dialect was also strange to get used too! But it's so satisfying to get a few weeks in a realise that, whilst you're still making mistakes and whilst your accent still raises a few eyebrows on occasion, on the whole you're able to communicate and experience France rather than just being there... I'm really looking forward to the year abroad in a few years, and becoming more confident with the language!

Wait until you start dreaming in French - then you definitely know you've cracked it!

Imperfect subjunctive, eh? I can remember a French member of staff at my uni who said "nobody uses the imperfect subjunctive outside the Manchester French department (lol)

Your time in France will come in very useful. I can remember landing up at Poitiers train station, talking to a strange middle aged fare dodger. He seemed to be speaking in a foreign language. Later I found out that he was talking in "argot" and that many, many people just use slang words, rather than the French I learnt. For example I never heard the word "voiture" but rather "bagnolle" for car. It's like learning French all over again.

At Edinburgh in my first year of French, we had to rewrite a chapter of a novel into drama. I remember using quite a bit of imperfect subjunctive for this (which I, admittedly, didn't struggle with considering how prevalent the tense is in contemporary Spanish language), and relative pronouns... Good Lord; I think I still have some sort of PTSD from all of the relative pronouns that I had to use. Funnily enough, thinking of relative pronouns in French gives me the same (frightening) feeling that I get when thinking of maths...

Would a pen pal be a good idea to improve vocabulary for interviews?