Modern Greek Section
Modern Greek in the Year Abroad
The Faculty Board normally requires students to live abroad for a period of at least eight months, and to undertake during that time either teaching as a lector or language assistant in a school or university, or a course of study at a university, or some form of employment approved by the Board. (If appropriate arrangements can be made, the year abroad may be divided between two countries.)
In practice, only the second option, i.e. study at a university, is possible for Greece, unless students are themselves able to secure approved employment. Most of our students spend their year studying at the University of Thessaloniki, with which we have well-established links. It may also be possible to arrange for students to spend their year at a different Greek university, e.g. Athens or Crete, if there are particular reasons for their preference.
The year in Greece provides students with the opportunity to develop their fluency in the language, to follow courses in subjects relevant to the Part II papers, and to engage in preparatory reading for a Part II dissertation (see below). Students should maintain regular contact with their Greek supervisor in Cambridge (an e-mail account is strongly recommended), and should report on their progress, and any difficulties they encounter. They are advised to send some written work (e.g. essays written in Greek) at least once a term; they will be given comments and further guidance. They must also maintain regular contact with their dissertation supervisor.
Students who decide to spend their year in Greece will be given detailed practical and academic advice in the Easter Term of their second year. We regard the year abroad as an important and integral part of the course and will do everything in our power to enable students to derive the maximum benefit from it.
Part II Dissertations
N.B. For full details of the regulations please consult the Faculty web page or the Dissertations booklet, obtainable from the Year Abroad office.
The year abroad is an integral part of the Modern Languages course at Cambridge, and one compulsory component of the Part II course is a piece of assessed work to be completed during that year and submitted at the beginning of the Michaelmas Term of your final year. This work may take the form either of a dissertation or a translation project. It will normally relate to the culture of the country in which you have chosen to spend your year abroad.
In the case of Modern Greek, the dissertation is a study of a particular aspect of the literature, history, language, or culture of Greece or Cyprus. It should be an original piece of work (i.e., based on your own research and thinking), presented to a finished standard, and between 7000 and 8000 words long. To give you an idea of what is required, examples of dissertations presented in previous years are available for consulation in the MML library.
The translation project consists of a translation into English of a passage or a series of passages from a Greek text or texts, along with a short introduction, giving details of the text chosen and discussing the principles and strategies adopted in the translation. The text/s chosen for translation may be literary or non-literary and may date from any period of medieval or modern Greek culture. They may be works with a rich existing translation history or recently-published texts which have never been translated. The normal word-length for the extracts chosen will be c. 2000-3000 words, although in the case of particularly difficult texts, shorter extracts will be acceptable. The whole project should be between 6000 and 7000 words long.
Deciding on your year abroad work.
You should begin thinking about your year abroad work during the Lent Term of your second year. If you are intending to offer a dissertation or translation project in Modern Greek you should begin discussing your plans with your supervisor by the end of the Lent term. Your College Director of Studies will also be able to offer guidance, and Faculty and Departmental meetings relating to your year abroad work will be held in the Lent Term.
If you are planning to offer a dissertation as your year abroad work, you will be expected to submit a form to the Faculty by the second Monday of the Easter Term, indicating the topic you have chosen. This must be signed by your Director of Studies and your dissertation supervisor, with whom you will already have discussed your plans. If you are planning to submit a translation project, all that is required at this point is an indication of your decision and the name of the supervisor for the project. Details of the text/s chosen for translation are not required until the first day of full Lent Term during your year abroad.
Supervision arrangements
As you will note from the above, it is envisaged that you will establish contact with your dissertation/translation project supervisor in the Lent Term of your second year. This is vitally important, in fact, especially if you are intending to offer a dissertation. While it will be possible to have contact with your supervisor during your year abroad - the equivalent of four hours' supervision is permitted, whether conducted in person or "virtually" by post or e-mail - it obviously makes sense to take advantage of the final term of your second year in Cambridge to ask your supervisor for bibliographical guidance and to run your initial ideas for your argument past him or her, so that you have a fairly clear idea of the direction you want to pursue by the time you leave for your year abroad.
In general, when planning your work for your dissertation, you should bear in mind that the deadline for submission for year abroad work is the beginning of the Michaelmas Term of your final year, and that you cannot expect supervisors to be available to read your work over the long vacation, as this is a period they will be devoting to their own research. You should aim ideally, therefore, to have a first draft of your dissertation ready to send to your supervisor for comment by around Christmas of your year abroad, and a more finished draft by around Easter, or May/June at the latest. Supervisors are not permitted to read or comment on the final version of your dissertation.
The Part II Oral
All candidates for Part II of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos are required to take an oral examination in one language (unless granted exemption by the Faculty Board). The Oral must be taken in the same language as one of the two language papers (C1 and C2). The oral examination will consist of a twenty-minute conversation with the Examiners on a topic chosen by the candidate from a list of four topics specified by the Faculty Board. Candidates may also speak on a topic of their own choosing. The examination is held in late September or early October. The topics for Modern Greek for the oral examinations to be held in Michaelmas Term 2007 (forming part of the examination for Part II in 2008) are as follows:
- Η ελληνική γλώσσα σήμερα.
- Η ιδιαιτερότητα του ελληνικού κινηματογράφου.
- Μυθιστόρημα και κοινωνία.
- Η Ελλάδα ως ευρωπαϊκό κράτος.
Advice on how to prepare for the oral can be found in the Dissertation booklet.
