Graduate Program

Contacts:

Admissions:
Department of History
Graduate Admission
3229 Dwinelle Hall, MC#2550
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-2550

Tel: (510) 642-2378 | Fax: (510) 643-5323

Email: histadm@berkeley.edu

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Graduate Program Guide

Options for Fulfilling Foreign Language Requirements in Most Fields

These options apply only to languages that are listed in Appendix II with the designation: "Fulfilled by Options outlined under Appendix III"

1. Passage of the Department's Foreign Language Examination. This examination will be administered by a faculty committee, coordinated by the Graduate Advisers Committee, and is offered towards the end of each semester. In general, candidates will be required to translate two two-hundred word passages into English, the time allowed will be two hours, and use of a dictionary will be permitted, unless otherwise noted in Appendix II - Language Requirements by Field. Variations of this format will be accepted if the Committee of Language Examiners approves them. Students wishing to be tested must sign-up by the announced deadline date.

2. Completion of a graduate course (History 280, 285 or 299) with an instructor who is actively engaged in research requiring knowledge of the pertinent language(s). Students wishing to use this option must complete the Language Certification Form (available from the Graduate Assistant), obtain the signatures of the Adviser and instructor of the course (to ensure that the student makes substantial use of the language(s) in the course), and file the form with the Graduate Assistant. At the end of the course, the Graduate Assistant will ask the instructor to certify the student's competence to conduct research in the language(s). This certification is wholly independent of the grade in the course. If necessary, the instructor may administer a language examination to the student.

3. Completion with a grade of at least B of the intermediate level (4th semester) of college level language work or its equivalent at any college campus. Students must have completed any foreign language sequence within 4 years of admission to Berkeley. Students choosing this option should confer with their Adviser and the relevant language department.

4. Completion with a grade of at least B of an upper division course in a language department at Berkeley on the culture and literature associated with that language. The work in the course must be primarily in the foreign language, not in English. Students choosing this option should confer with their Adviser and the relevant language department.

5. Completion at Berkeley of an advanced course in historical literature in the foreign language. The department teaching the course will establish the preliminary requirements and determine whether one or two semesters are needed. The course must include a graded final examination in translation. Students choosing this option should confer with their Adviser and the relevant language department.

6. Providing evidence of a native speaker's command of the language, which is defined by the Graduate Council as "students whose secondary or undergraduate education was completed in a foreign language."