Cambridge MML thread - 2018

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Yeah the good thing about Cambridge for me is that it's less literature focused, at other unis like Durham there are no linguistics modules at all. I quite like St Andrews, and it's good cause I'm Scottish so can go to uni in Scotland for free
If I did 3 I would probably do French, German and Russian

And that's cool, I've stayed with a host family before as part of my schools German exchange programme, was definitely a worthwhile and very immersive experience and really cool to see the cultural differences between the family I stayed with and my own

Tbh I just really like the country and the history, and I would hope to live there at some point :smile:

what about you?

I adore literature, but linguistics is actually what I want to go into as a career so I need it! The diversity of the course is perfect; it captures every aspect of the societies in which the target languages are spoken ❤ yeah, I looked at Durham and didn't really like their course. That's handy! It might be nicer to be close to home. My friend just finished her first year of medicine at St Andrews' and loves it there.

I stayed with a host family in year 9 on a French exchange, but I wasn't proficient enough in French to benefit fully at that point :/ so did you stay in a hotel on the Halsbury trip?

I'm not ab initio but Russian is one of my favourite languages I've learnt. It has the perfect mix of grammatical rigidity (declension, an intricate verb system with aspects) and looseness (no articles, loose syntax) and I love the phonology too, even if the stress rules are a bit hard to master. The literature is amazing too, especially Russian existentialism (❤❤).

Russia seems to me like a very conflicted country; I wrote an essay about the Decembrist Revolt (I'm probably going to tweak it a bit and submit it as my written work) which just turned into an essay about Russia having an identity crisis.

Reply 41

___Sophie___

Original post by Sonechka

Yeah a hotel, the area was slightly dodgy with quite a few strip clubs and sex shops around hahaha and the guys outside the hotel would always catcall when we walked past!
I saw the languages you speak on your page, that's super impressive btw!!
& same I do really like the fact that there are no articles in Russian haha
Can you recommend me any Russian authors that have books that have been translated into English? I already know Tolstoy

Reply 42

alyanj

Original post by Paralove

About-to-be finalist (French and ab initio Spanish) - ditto. :tongue:

Hi, I'm considering Cambridge but worried about the workload. I've heard horror stories about the stress levels. I am happy to work hard and am very organised but I do want time to be involved with music activities and maybe some drama. Are you able to give a realistic sense of the workload? I read 40-45 hours on top of lectures and supervisions. I'd be applying for German and ab initio Russian.

Reply 43

Euphemia.at

anyone have decided the college? i saw the deadline for it is Sep.13

Reply 44

Paralove

Original post by Euphemia.at

anyone have decided the college? i saw the deadline for it is Sep.13

The only deadline for deciding on a college is the same as for submitting your UCAS application.

Reply 45

Paralove

Original post by alyanj

You should be doing 40-45 hours of work *including* your contact hours (so supervisions, classes and lectures - they average about 9/10 hours per week). I spent the majority if not all of the rest of the hours just doing the work needed for my classes, though that may be just me as I procrastinate a lot aha. You still have lots of time to be involved in other things or go out or hang out with friends, so don't worry. Apart from lectures and classes, the rest of the time is organised by you - you decide with your supervisor and partners as to when you have your supervisions, and then when you study. You might decide you do better doing a 9-5 day of work, or you may work better at night and get up later in the morning (which is what worked well for me). You shouldn't really be doing any more than the 45 hours as that suggests you aren't working well/efficiently.

If you want to be involved in drama, you would have to be pretty organised as it can be quite a commitment, depending on what you're doing exactly. Equally, a lot of how much time you can commit to things will depend on how you work/the type of person you are. It would be a case of not taking on tons of things from day one, but being sensible and deciding what to quit/continue with and when.

I personally got quite stressed in first year. I would go as far to say the first year is the worst because of the adjustment to workload, and doing a language can be intense (worthwhile though!). Others, especially those who did two languages post A-Level found second year harder, whereas I found it easier as I was essentially doing first year Spanish and second year French at that point. I'm quite looking forward to just getting back and getting into things for final year though, especially now I'm specialising much more in what interests me.

Reply 46

Barleykit

Hello!
German and ab initio Russian here. I wasn't sure about Russian at first, but I like how the 20th century history interlinks with Germany's, and I've liked all of the literature I've read.
I'm really confused about the written work. All of the Cambridge talks that I've been to have said to just submit school or school-style essays to show how we're being taught and marked, but other people I've met have said to do something completely different to schoolwork to try and impress them. I've started the essays but honestly have no idea what form they should take because I've had such mixed messages. Has anybody got any advice?
Thanks.

Reply 47

Doones

Original post by Euphemia.at

anyone have decided the college? i saw the deadline for it is Sep.13

No. October 15th.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 48

Quirky Object

Original post by ___Sophie___

Sorryy, totally forgot to reply :s

Haha, at least it wasn't sugarcoated :P thanks!

Ooh gosh, there are so many good ones...I kind of didn't know what I was doing and read a bunch of random stuff but I think approaching Russian literature chronologically would be useful. I'd say start with Pushkin and the romanticists; that's around the time when Russian literature (in conjunction with Russian political developments, might I add) became more 'European' and more influenced by continental trends, events and movements. Maybe once you've read a lot of Russian literature, it would be a good idea to delve into the period preceding Russian romanticism; there were 'European' Russian novelists before then, most notably Sumarokov, and some more indigenous literary traditions. The first great Russian novelists were Gogol and Turgenev, who were realists, although 'realism' in Russia is rather heterodox and some of Gogol's work (especially his short stories, which I prefer to his novels) has some more romantic themes. Then there are the quintessential Golden Age big names like Tolstoy and Chekhov; you might know the latter for his plays, but his short stories are also excellent. Dostoyevsky is probably my personal favourite - controversial - but I would recommend reading some of his lesser-known works, especially his novella Notes from Underground, which is an absolute gem of a novella. Bunin is another interesting writer. Though he was a 20th century writer, I'm grouping him with the 19th century lot since he was so 'classical' stylistically. A lot of translations really don't do him justice, however.

Then you've got the 20th century, which is interesting because like everything in Russia, literature changed a lot over this period. Soviet dissident writers are absolutely fascinating to read; of course there's Nabokov, who's a good one to read since he wrote mostly in English anyway, and Pasternak who again wrote in a more 'classical' style in the repressive era of socialist realism. If you like dystopian fiction, Zamyatin's We was a precursor to Brave New World and 1984 and contains many similar themes, made even more raw because Zamyatin was himself a disillusioned communist turned Soviet dissident. Gorky is pretty much obligatory 20th century Russian reading because he was a sensation in the Soviet Union and epitomised socialist realism. I actually haven't read enough socialist realist work and I'm probably forgetting some people, but those are my favourites/some of the most iconic.

Reply 49

Paralove

Original post by KatieBarleyc

What subjects are you doing at school? I did maths, French and geography and just sent some of my geography essays I did. They want to see you can write in English, it doesn't have to be in any particular subject. If you've done an extended essay as well, you can send that or an extract of it if it's long. You do not have to write an essay specifically for them, and your essay should be marked by a teacher.

Reply 50

Barleykit

Original post by Paralove

Thank you so much for your reply! I do English and I've got a couple of essays that I like so I'll probably send one of those in. German is more of a problem because we haven't actually done many essays there but I'll work something out. Thanks again!

Reply 51

Paralove

Original post by KatieBarleyc

That's fine then - in the literature study, all your essays are written in English, and at interview you also have a test where you have to write in one of your foreign languages. You don't need to send one in in German unless your college is specifically asking for you to send in an essay in the language.

Reply 52

TL272001

So in MML, would it be possible to take papers from the History department or the English department for example? Also would you write your literature essays in the language? I am really interested in MML and would love to hear how you are finding it.