tarofang

I have a question for you historians of philosophy: How did you acquire reading knowledge of a foreign language? Did you take a class? If so, which one(s)? Did you study the language on your own? If so, which books did you buy and/or self-teaching services did you use?
I will begin pursuing a terminal MA this fall, and my main interests are in the history of philosophy. I like it all, but if I had to specify, I would choose early modern philosophy as an AOS. One conspicuous weak spot in my CV is a lack of reading knowledge of the four main languages historians of philosophy need to know. (Ancient) Greek and Latin will be easy--classes in the classics are almost always geared towards reading knowledge of the language. 
However, for those of you who have reading knowledge of French and/or German, did you take college classes or study the language on your own? Classes in German and French typically put a considerable emphasis on conversing in the language. All else being equal, I'd love to be able to converse in French and German, but what I'm really concerned about is reading knowledge.
I appreciate any help you have to offer!

I live in Amsterdam and I am thinking of applying to it next year (the philosophy track). Also, I have a friend who is currently doing the Logic Master.
You probably have already found this site, but just in case you have not, here is a recent list of all the courses taught and if you click on them you get (more or less) detailed descriptions: http://studiegids.uva.nl/xmlpages/page/2015-2016-en/search-programme/programme/1431/174186
It is true that, if you're non-EU, it's rather expensive. But if you are a EU student, it is relatively cheap--especially in comparison to UK/US programs.
I wouldn't know too much about the computational/mathematical side, but I do know the following things (I'll just sum them up, take from 'em what you want):
You're very free; meaning: you can basically follow any path you like. The master takes two years and only three courses are predetermined. You would basically have +/- 10 courses remaining, which can be mathematical/philosophical/linguistic regardless of your chosen track.  Amsterdam can be a rough place to find housing (that is, housing that isn't over the top expensive). I'm sure that international students can apply for housing via the university in some way or other, but Dutch students always complain that Amsterdam is the hardest place to find affordable housing. The Master of Logic (MoL) has no maximum of students that can be allowed. Thus, if they think you're qualified, you're in (basically). Of course they couldn't accept 100 students, but still. It's very hard work, don't be too keen on your free time (of course this is variable to personal background knowledge, intelligence, how many courses you take, etc.).  It's very interdisciplinary. Of course, 'soort zoekt soort' as the Dutch would say (I guess the English variant would be 'Birds of a feather flock together'); philosophers spend most time with philosophers and the same goes for mathematicians etc.. However, the professors are generally very approachable, regardless of your personal focus. You're forced to do so research projects, which means that you and maybe a couple other students approach a professor and decide on a topic and study it intensely for a couple of weeks. I have no direct or indirect experience with this, but I imagine it can be very enlightening. I must say, most of this information is not first hand, but still rather reliable I think. The Dutch regard the program equally to what others said: the place to study to study logic.

Ohmygosh. What happened here? Eep. I took a law and philosophy course last semester that talked about race discrimination in academia, and had to deal with a lot of people throwing around these types of arguments. If anecdotal evidence is fair game, as it appears that that is the trend, here's mine: 
I'm half mexican, and my dad is an immigrant. I grew up unable to communicate with about half of my family, and I lived in a trailer park for the first eight years of my life before moving to a small apartment in a town where I was the only Mexicanish Latinaish person--in sixth grade people asked if I brushed my hair because I was the only one who had curly hair. At fourteen I decided to get a job, and I coded websites for ten dollars an hour while eating only ramen so that I could attend private school. I financed this entirely myself. Parental supervision wasn't super big because my mom is a cosmetologist who owns a small business, so she wasn't really home when I was growing up. Then, in college, I have worked three jobs for the past several years while living in an apartment made for one person with my dad and uncle. Sophomore year the university screwed up my financial aid and froze my account, so I couldn't register for classes and I stopped eating in order to make payments. I dropped to 104 lbs (for reference, this was a decrease of about twenty pounds), and pulled several all nighters. Because I'm a first generation college student (my mom didn't complete high school) I dealt with all of this while hearing things from my mom like "If it *really* mattered to you, you would just have a 4.0." and "Please help your sister with scheduling, but make sure she takes useful classes, not the crap you're taking." (I'm paying for college, I take the classes I want.) Now, senior year, I'm probably going to be shut out of graduate school, I'm going to find a job and reapply. And I know that if I had the amount of time to focus on my studies that many of my peers get (and they seem to have a lot of time to go out and drink and party), I could actually have a 4.0 and a stellar writing sample and a perfect GRE score. (I actually did get a 4.0 last semester.) Instead, I balance three jobs, leadership positions in Women in Math, I volunteer with a group that helps get more students interested in mathematics, and I'm taking six classes. (So basically, I pull a couple all nighters per week and drink coffee two to four times a day.) 
And if I don't get into graduate school, my response isn't going to be to complain that the system seems to hate me. Instead, I'm going to work harder to be an applicant they want to accept.  

I'm from Toronto. From what I heard, it's not uncommon for them to request a second writing sample, especially if your area of interest is ancient philosophy. 

I just called Berkeley and was told that students are usually notified around the beginning of March. The few students who were offered admission a few days ago were the ones received campus-wide fellowships (usually based largely on GRE scores, I've heard). Based on past years' data, it seems that acceptances and wait lists will come out within the next week and rejections toward the end of Feb.