Determining my language proficiency

[Church Mouse]

Hello! This is my first post. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through other forum threads. I am learning a great deal from all of you. Thank you!

My question here has to do with how to report my language level on my CV or admissions application. I have seen various terms thrown around like beginner, intermediate, proficient, advanced, etc. Is there a scale of proficiency with these terms as indicators or are they used ad hoc? What amount of training corresponds to these descriptors? For example, I have four semesters of graduate level Greek. I did well in those classes. Would that put me at an intermediate level? Am I proficient? Or, is the determination made based on what level of difficulty of the texts I can translate? If that is the case, how is the difficulty level determined? Or, could it be how well I can translate without the use of aids? There are so many ways of measuring language level, but what is the one that matters to admissions counselors and deans?

I find myself awash in terminology as I try to navigate the swelling seas of academia. Any help with getting me untangled from my rigging here would be most appreciated. ;-)

~ Church Mouse ~

[LateAntique]

There is some subjectivity to this. Was your Greek Classical or Koine? If Koine, can you read through 1 John comfortably with few aids? How about something more difficult like Hebrews? If Classical, what authors can you read comfortably? If you read Aeschylus with no help, you're a genius and should be teaching Greek at Harvard. If you cannot get through 10 lines of the Odyssey without looking up every word, you should probably put beginner to intermediate.

One way to gauge this is to talk to graduate students in the programs to which you're applying and ask them about the language exams. Are they allowed to use a Lexicon? What texts did they have to translate? How many years of Greek did they have before passing the exam?

I hope this helps.

[Sparky]

This is what I used; your mileage may vary:

Beginning = I know the grammar but have to look up every other word

Intermediate = I need a dictionary more often than I would like but am in general good to go

Fluent/advanced = Rahner makes more sense in German than in translation

It is a good idea to ask one of your LOR writers to attest to your language skill in more detail than you can go into on your CV. In fact, the LOR forms for some programs actually ask this specifically (I know a couple of mine did--that's medieval for ya). They can say stuff like "can sight-read German, French, Dutch, Italian, Swahili, and Arabic, but resorts to a dictionary frequently with Czech and Georgian. Speaks Coptic like a native." Although the last bit might be viewed somewhat skeptically.

Welcome!

[Church Mouse]

Late Antique: It was Koine Greek. Johannine literature is a pleasure to translate. I can sight read John easily most of the time. Paul's grammar gave me more difficulty. My last final exam was to translate a chapter of Galatians with only the lexicon in the back of the UBS and answer comprehension questions about it. I got an A-, but I was the last one left in the room when I finished. I suppose, by Sparky's three cirteria, that would put me at the intermediate level.

Sparky: The three criteria really help. What is an LOR? I have seen that elsewhere, but with no explanation. Forgive me, I am a bit of a newbie. Good suggestion on how to describe lingual ability for the CV.

Another question for everyone on the topic of languages: What languages are good to study for systematic theology? I have Greek from my M.Div. program and a little Spanish from undergrad. I am working on an unaccredited Latin course right now. I still need Hebrew. I have Aramaic and German on my list of languages to start also. I was also thinking about Coptic. Which languages would you suggest? Where will my time be best spent?

[oudeis]

This is my experience with language expectations for Anc. Chris. and NT.

If you are applying to PhD programs you should know that various programs will define proficiency differently. Greek proficiency for a colleague of mine at Princeton was based off of a test which covered 3 documents (selected in consultation with the examiner) from the NT. Greek proficiency at other schools is determined by grades earned in coursework. Greek proficiency at Chicago means passing an exam which in the first section covers the whole NT by sight (no lexicon) and in the second covers 50 Oxford Classical pages of Classical (Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, etc.) or Hellenistic Greek (Philo, Josephus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Apostolic Fathers, etc.) (lexicon permitted). I know this last one intimately since I studied for and took it twice (a painful, searing experience, but worthwhile in hindsight).

Likewise, modern language exams vary by program. A friend at Rice in NT has to translate an article in his field to be deemed proficient in German/French. Another colleague has to pass a German/French research reading course. Another has to pass a university wide exam (administered to all students in Humanities programs) for German/French.

Some programs will expect NT students to be able to take Greek courses along with grad students in Classics while others will expect students to focus specifically on the NT and closely related texts. Some programs will demand German and French secondary sources be read for qualifying exams and others won't. Generally speaking, the more rigorous the program the more language skills are required of the student. That being said, very few people, the freak geniuses alone, enter into PhD programs requiring 4, 5, and 6 languages fully proficient in all of them.

[Leagus]

Another question for everyone on the topic of languages: What languages are good to study for systematic theology? I have Greek from my M.Div. program and a little Spanish from undergrad. I am working on an unaccredited Latin course right now. I still need Hebrew. I have Aramaic and German on my list of languages to start also. I was also thinking about Coptic. Which languages would you suggest? Where will my time be best spent?

What I have found in Systematic theology is that German and French are much more important than anything else. A number of programs don't even require Greek, Hebrew or Latin. So, I would suggest doing those two first, especially before Aramaic and Coptic, and even before Hebrew. Also, if you have any interest in Liberation theology, it would be worth your while to beef up your Spanish.

[Sparky]

LOR = Letter of recommendation

SOP = Statement of purpose

POI = professor of interest (potential advisor; prof you e-mail before you apply to a program)

Languages for systematics:

German and French for sure. Start with German. Most programs that I've taken note of also require either Latin or Greek. Leagus is right about Spanish & LT. A lot of the major stuff has been translated into English, but not all of it. If you want to do feminist theology, Spanish as well, and probably French next.

But as you know, all the cool kids do historical theo. HT typically requires German, French, Greek and Latin, with the option to substitute one language if it would be more appropriate for your area/region. For example, as a late continental medievalist, if I had stayed in my current HT department I would have been able to test in Middle German instead of Greek. However, with HT it is often the case that you just sort of "pick up" additional languages as you go along--I don't know any profs in my department who are limited to four plus English. The Eastern patristics people are the craziest, of course--you know, the ones who read fluent Greek and Coptic and Syriac and Aramaic and Demotic and that's just for starters.

[Church Mouse]

Thank you so much for the suggestions! This has been very helpful. So, what I am gathering is that, like most things in academia, it all depends upon the program. But, generally, if I can sight read without too much help from aids like a lexicon I am at an intermediate level. If can read as easily as I read English, I am fluent. Verifying this level varies from school to school. And, for systematics or historical theology (my second fav), Greek, Latin, and modern languages are more important than Hebrew unless I go in for the Eastern writers in which case I would need to pick up the more obscure languages along the way. Have I got the general idea?

Hey, Sparky, what languages would you suggest for Early Christianity in an Historical Theology program? Would your advice change any?

[dant.gwyrdd]

I don't know how much help this will be (especially for the classical languages), but this is from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages with descriptions of what they think one should be able to do in a language on the basic (A1, 2), intermediate (B1, 2) and proficient (C1, 2) level:

http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/Portfolio/?M=/main_pages/levels.html

Hope it helps.

[Sparky]

Thank you so much for the suggestions! This has been very helpful. So, what I am gathering is that, like most things in academia, it all depends upon the program. But, generally, if I can sight read without too much help from aids like a lexicon I am at an intermediate level. If can read as easily as I read English, I am fluent. Verifying this level varies from school to school. And, for systematics or historical theology (my second fav), Greek, Latin, and modern languages are more important than Hebrew unless I go in for the Eastern writers in which case I would need to pick up the more obscure languages along the way. Have I got the general idea?

Hey, Sparky, what languages would you suggest for Early Christianity in an Historical Theology program? Would your advice change any?

Nope! Patristics (especially patristics) needs those basic four: German, French, Latin, Greek.

Depending on what you decide to focus on, you might add other ancient languages later, but get a solid grounding in Greek and Latin first, as well as German and French for secondary scholarship. You don't have to be reading Heidegger or Rahner in the original, but you do want to be able to sight-read journal articles from fifty-odd years ago.

I guess the easiest way to look at it is, what language did the theologian(s) you want to study write in? If the people you study didn't write in Hebrew and didn't know how to read Hebrew/have access to Hebrew texts, there is no academically practical reason to learn ancient Hebrew. (However, the "because it is JUST THAT COOL" reason remains). If you study Augustine, Coptic and Ethiopic are probably not so much going to be of use. And so forth.