Listing Languages on CV (Thoughts? Experiences? Advice?)

[SemperDiscentes]

*Note: I am asking this question specifically for those interested in academia, whether current or future professionals in the field.

Question: how do you designate your language competence on your CV? Do you list your CEFR levels? Number of credit hours? Also, how do you highlight your competence in a certain language without devaluing your language work in other areas? For example, I know people who take one course in Syriac and list "Syriac (reading)" on their CV. But what if you have real professional working proficiency in another language (e.g., you can read professional articles or sight read period texts pretty well)? I know this question contains a mix of elements, but I'm interested in what the rest of you think. It's such a struggle for me to fight for transparency and authenticity while still wanting to market myself well (I'm sure some understand the feeling).

P.S. (I'm a graduate student [M.Div] interested in doing a PhD in Religion/Philosophy/Theology in early modern period (18th-19th century Europe). 

 

 

[sacklunch]

I assume you're worried about this for PhD applications? That is really the only reason I would worry. Once you're in a program and after there is no need to go into detail about coursework/proficiency. The commonly accepted method is to just list the languages, often with something like "reading" or "native" following: e.g. German (reading), French (native), Syriac (reading), Arabic (elementary reading), etc. Your transcripts/application should sort out the specifics, again if we are talking about doctoral apps. If you're applying to a language-heavy program I have seen folks list years/experience (I think I did this? It's been too long): e.g. Syriac (5 years), Greek (8 years), etc. Listing specific courses is generally a bad idea since your transcripts will do that work (and you don't want to discourage folks from reading your CV/application). 

[Pierre de Olivi]

Sacklunch's advice is right on the money. I'll also add that, depending on your field and actual competencies, it's sometimes helpful to separate languages you speak and languages you read, or modern and ancient languages. For instance, on my app I put "Languages spoken: English (native), German (B2 and strong academic reading skills), Modern Standard Arabic (elementary)." But under "languages read" I put "French, classical Arabic, Syriac," even though the first is a modern language and the second is theoretically the same language as MSA. I'm not sure if this helped but it let me maximize information and be transparent.

In your case, you may want to specify if you can read modern and medieval/early modern versions of the same language either using this technique or by specifiying the periods in parentheses. There are courses you can take to specialize in the early modern forms of a language (at least, I know of some for Latin, German, and Dutch), so if you take any of those or read books specifically about the EM versions you won't be being deceitful.

Finally, I know at least some programs are now asking for elaborations of language skills outside of the CV and boilerplate application now. NYU, for instance, asked me to submit a list of all languages spoken or read with details on how I learned them and sample texts I read in each. If any school you apply to does something similar, that is a very good time to shine.

[SemperDiscentes]

Thank you both!

I think Pierre de Olivi's answer was exactly what I was looking for (i.e., the permission to give myself more a nuanced description of my language levels without merely listing courses taken, etc.). And, of course, proving your language competency really doesn't matter once you are in a program.