Language requirements. All students in History must demonstrate competence in one foreign language before or during the first year of study, and must fulfill additional requirements for particular fields before taking the oral examination. This is normally accomplished in one of three ways: </p>
<p>1.A passing grade on a reading comprehension test administered by a member of the faculty or the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS).
2.A written statement to the DGS from a member of the history faculty that a student has done sufficient work in a required foreign language in the context of a research seminar to justify the awarding of credit for that language.
3.A grade of B or better for a third-year course at the college level in French, Spanish, or German.
Requirements by field are specified below: </p>
<p>a.African. Students should meet one of three requirements: (1) French and German or Portuguese or Dutch-Afrikaans; (2) French or German or Portuguese and Arabic; (3) French or German or Portuguese or Dutch-Afrikaans and an African language approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and the faculty adviser.
b.American. Two languages relevant to the student’s interests or a high level of proficiency in one relevant language. In appropriate cases, competence in statistics or other mathematical skill will be accepted as a second “language.”
c.Ancient. French, German, Greek, and Latin.
d.Byzantine. Greek, Latin, French, German, and any additional language, e.g., Russian, required for dissertation research.
e.Chinese. Chinese and Japanese. Additional languages may be necessary; e.g., French, Russian, or German.
f.East European. The language of the country of the student’s concentration plus two of the following: French, German, Russian, and approved substitution.
g.West European (including Britain). French and German. The Director of Graduate Studies may approve the substitution of another European language for French or German.
h.Japanese. Japanese and French or German. Chinese may be needed for certain fields of Japanese history.
i.Jewish. Modern Hebrew and German, and additional languages such as Latin, Arabic, Yiddish, Russian, or Polish as required by the student’s areas of specialization.
j.Latin American. Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
k.Medieval. French, German, and Latin.
l.Middle East. Arabic, Persian, or Turkish (or modern Hebrew depending on one’s area of research); and a major European research language (French, German, Russian, or an approved substitution depending on one’s area of research).
m.Russian. Russian plus French or German with other languages added as required.
n.Southeast Asian. Dutch or French or Spanish or Portuguese or Chinese or Sanskrit or Arabic and one or more Southeast Asian languages (e.g., Bahasa Indonesian, Burmese, Khmer, Lao, Malay, Tagalog, Thai, Tetum, or Vietnamese). In certain cases, Ph.D. dissertation research on Southeast Asia may also require knowledge of a regional or local language, e.g., Balinese or Cham.
o.Special. If none of the above guidelines is applicable, language requirements will be set by the appropriate faculty in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies.