These last 18 months have been brutal.\u00a0 Since April of 2009 I have prepped and sat for 4 language examinations and I am two to four weeks away from sitting for my last one.\u00a0 First French, then five months later Greek, then two months later Latin, then five months German, and now Hebrew.\u00a0 I have actually enjoyed studying for each of the exams and I have relished adding further linguistic\/academic implements to my tool-belt.\u00a0 But I am getting a bit weary.\u00a0 I stare at Hebrew words and my mind refuses to register the morphology or determine what word these three consonants are making\u2013they all look the same.\u00a0 But the end is in sight and just today I was looking at the reading lists of some of my senior classmates\u2019 comprehensive exams and I got a sick nervous feeling but also a thrill of excitement\u2013soon I will be forming and reading my own lists about stuff in which I am interested.\u00a0 Praise Yah!<\/p>\n
So, for all of you readers who are interested or curious about doing PhD work in NT and Ancient Christianity, I give you a breakdown of language exam requirements for my particular program (others\u2019 programs are sure to differ, however).<\/p>\n
French<\/p>\n
Three passages covering two pages to be done in two hours.\u00a0 This test was easier than the German exam but it had its own tricks.\u00a0 One passage was on modern methods of high-speed travel, including a paragraph on hovercrafts and hovercraftery (as all of us being examined hit the passage within a few minutes of each other, it was amusing and distressing to watch those around me freak out when the word didn\u2019t appear in their dictionaries\u2013luckily, my dictionary had it, hats off to the Robert Collins Unabridged!).\u00a0 This test is administered university wide so the topics are almost guaranteed to not be one\u2019s field.<\/p>\n
German<\/p>\n
Two passages, slightly shorter than the French exam.\u00a0 This was one was especially tricky since the first passage was an op\/ed piece about the Austr0-German conflict (or something like that) from a 19th century German newspaper that included a patchwork of half a dozen quotes from contemporary politicians and pundits.\u00a0 Painful.\u00a0 This was also a university wide exam, so again neither of the sections was in my field.\u00a0 Dictionaries allowed.<\/p>\n
Greek<\/p>\n
This is the grand-daddy of them all for my program and it is a beast.\u00a0 The exam contains two sections with two passages in each section.\u00a0 Each section is budgeted 2 hours for a 4 hour total.\u00a0 The first section is the harder of the two.\u00a0 It covers the entire NT\u2013no exceptions.\u00a0 And no lexica.\u00a0 All 650 odd pages of the Nestle-Aland Edition.\u00a0 The two passages that appeared on my exam (both of about average chapter length) came from the latter part of Acts (during one of Paul\u2019s trial scenes, I can\u2019t remember which now) and the other from Hebrews 5 and 6.\u00a0 If you are wondering how one studies for this, here was my method:\u00a0 I read the NT cover to cover 5 times and re-read a 6th or 7th time the hard passages like Hebrews, 2 Corin, Petrine epistles etc.\u00a0 The second section covers 50 Oxford Edition (or equivalent) pages of Greek ranging from Classical to Late Antique chosen by the student in consultation with the examiner.\u00a0 My selection included Plato (Statesman), Corpus Hermeticum (Poimander), Origen (Treatise on Prayer), and an epistle of Ignatius.\u00a0 For this section we are permitted the use of a lexicon.\u00a0 On both sections there are about 15-20 questions on parsing, syntax, style, and rhetorical devices.<\/p>\n
Latin<\/p>\n
This was the least awful of the five for me since it only covered 50 pages of Oxford Edition Latin agreed upon with the examiner.\u00a0 The exam is two hours long but with no lexica.\u00a0 30 of my pages were drawn from one of Cicero\u2019s defense speeches (pro sulla) and the other 20 were from Lucretius\u2019 de rerum natura.\u00a0 There were about 20 questions total on parsing, syntax, and grammar.\u00a0 The test was challenging but enjoyable since reading Lucretius is one of my joys in life and since I love\/hate Cicero.<\/p>\n
Hebrew<\/p>\n
This exam covers the least material but has been a hard one for me since I do not have any training in Semitics beyond basic Hebrew Bible grammar.\u00a0 The exam is two hours long with two passages culled from a pre-set list of 30 chapters from the HB.\u00a0 I have not yet taken this one but so far the preparation has been tough but somewhat enjoyable.\u00a0 I struggle with prophecy chapters (esp. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel) and with poetry (esp. Psalm 22, Song of Songs 1) but the narrative chapters are not so bad. \u00a0 I have gotten through all 30 chapters 3 times as of today, and I think that after one more time through, I will sit for the exam.\u00a0 The exam, from what I have heard, has several questions on morphology and a few on poetic structure.\u00a0 No lexicon.<\/p>\n
So there you have it.\u00a0 This is what my life has been dedicated to for the last year and half (aside from coursework) and this is what you have to look forward to if you are self-hating enough to sign up for a PhD program in this field.\u00a0 Perhaps the most depressing part about all of this is how fast one language fades as others are bolstered.\u00a0 At one point last year I could cruise through a French article in my field\u2013not so fast now.\u00a0 But luckily, all of these seem to come back just fine with a little polish.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These last 18 months have been brutal.\u00a0 Since April of 2009 I have prepped and sat for 4 language examinations and I am two to four weeks away from sitting for my last one.\u00a0 First French, then five months later Greek, then two months later Latin, then five months German, and now Hebrew.\u00a0 I have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":468,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,21,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-scripture","category-studying-religion","category-tips-on-applying-series"],"yoast_head":"\n