Rob - MML (Spanish and German)

Name: Robert Newman
Subject: Modern Languages - German and Spanish
Year: 4th (3rd year is a year abroad)

What does your working week entail?

It consists of a combination of lectures, classes and supervisions.
Normally there may be one or two lectures per week for the literature,
history or linguistic modules on offer. Aside from that, there are weekly
language, oral and translation classes and fortnightly supervisions on the
literature, history and linguistic topics.

How easy was the transition from A-level to the first year of your degree?

Challenging in the respect that A-Level consists predominantly of language
work whereas when you arrive at Cambridge, you find yourself having to
study literature or linguistics and these are things you may well not have
studied before. So it is worth bearing in mind that the kind of things you
study here can be completely different to what you did at A-Level. There is
much less emphasis on language work , unless you are doing one of the ab
initio courses.

How easily can you fit social activities into your working week?

It was much tougher at first because concern about the amount of work you
have can lead to not making the most of social opportunities, however once
you get into a pattern, despite the quantity of work, there is definitely
time for a busy social life! It is simply a question of being organised and
getting work done so that you make sure there is time for socialising/
taking part in sport etc. 

What sort of things did you talk about in your interview?

A wide range of topics were covered. For my German interview, I discussed
German politics, which there is quite a bit of here so it may be good to be
informed on that. There was also a short grammar test in the interview. For
Spanish I was asked on anything from Don Quijote to the Basque question -
but if you don't know about a topic, it's much better to say so and move
on. They are far more interested in you talking about what you know and
what you've studied so it's not worth pretending you've read all the works
of Unamuno!