Language Examination in History PhD Program

[coursera]

Hi everyone!

Now I'm senior (but won't apply for any program for next fall), and fluent just in one foreign language (French).

I know that there are language examinations in the history program and almost all schools require at least two languages, except US history.

I want to know how hard this exam is. If I would learn German for a year, could I pass this language exam?

[TsarandProphet]

With enough preparation focused on reading, yes. You should work with textbooks that aim to build your reading knowledge, such as Hubert Jannach and Richard Alan Korb's German for Reading Knowledge. Having said that, I believe that one foreign language in the moment of your application is fine (only Harvard explicitly mention two as a characteristic of the typical admitted student), and reading proficiency in your desired field of study is most important.

Here is a recent example from Harvard: https://history.fas.harvard.edu/files/history/files/french_exam_aug_2014_final.pdf

[psstein]

5 hours ago, tellme said:

Hi everyone!

Now I'm senior (but won't apply for any program for next fall), and fluent just in one foreign language (French).

I know that there are language examinations in the history program and almost all schools require at least two languages, except US history.

I want to know how hard this exam is. If I would learn German for a year, could I pass this language exam?

Yes, easily. My department has more of an informal approach to languages- one of our now retired faculty examined my friend in his office. He had him read Foucault.

[AfricanusCrowther]

Make sure to ask graduate students at the programs you'll eventually visit about the lived reality of the language requirement. Sometimes language requirements are more fluid than what the graduate handbook suggests.

Edited September 30, 2018 by AfricanusCrowther

[dr. t]

10 hours ago, tellme said:

I want to know how hard this exam is. If I would learn German for a year, could I pass this language exam?

Wrong question. As others have already suggested, the difficulty of such exams is highly variable even within the same institution. But language requirements don't exist to check a box; unlike your undergraduate, nothing in a doctoral program exists just to check a box. The question you need to ask is: will a year of German be enough to allow you access to the secondary scholarship you need in order to write an excellent dissertation?

[Sigaba]

9 hours ago, telkanuru said:

But language requirements don't exist to check a box...nothing in a doctoral program exists just to check a box. 

They can ... if you're an Americanist.?

[dr. t]

11 hours ago, Sigaba said:

They can ... if you're an Americanist.?

I believe this is what children these days refer to as a "sick burn".

[TMP]

Unless you are an Americanist with interest in any sort of exchange with German-speaking countries, you need to be able to research in German (read the newspapers, secondary sources, etc.)