<p>DD is an English major, being encouraged by the dept head & other faculty to pursue a PhD (she is also interested, but knows the #s!)</p>
<p>Some profs are suggesting she take more languages, and things like Latin & Greek, others are suggesting continuing on in her current language (she took one in HS, and a new one in university) and still others are suggesting to take the English courses not more language, that she can take more language later.</p>
<p>Any thoughts from the experts?</p>
<p>a phd in english is a little too vague to answer your question accurately…what is she interested in exactly? theory? criticism? creative writing? literature?</p>
<p>To (very generically) answer your question, 2 languages is de rigeur. Which languages those are depends very much on the answers to Aubstopper’s questions.</p>
<p>Those 2 are modern languages, generally – the kinds she’ll need to read the relevant scholarship about the material in her field. If she’s more into something requiring deep knowledge of classics or medieval (or earlier) literature, it’s going to require the addition of Latin and maybe Greek and perhaps an Old version of a modern language.</p>
<p>Very few actually require you to have these languages down before entering graduate school, but they do expect you to complete them very quickly once you’re there. It is probably in her best interests to be working on them concurrent with her English courses. The extra time spent absorbing the languages and being able to slowly connect them to English scholarship before starting graduate school is time well spent.</p>
<p>And then, of course, there are those schools that do nearly require you to have those languages down before you can enter their programs. </p>
<p>Check relevant schools’ websites. Their program pages for prospective students are usually pretty explicit about this. If they’re not, you can track down the departmental requirements for PhD students and extrapolate.</p>
<p>one of the biggest reasons people get rejected for humanities degrees is because they don’t have the necessary language preparation, which i think surprises most people. it certainly surprised me, but there it is.</p>
<p>she should have near fluency in one language when she applies. fluency in reading is important. speech and writing aren’t as necessary right off the bat, but the ability to hold a conversation or to write complex arguments that are intelligible will become important later.</p>
<p>most schools, as undecided said, want two languages. learning the first of these should be nearly complete when your daughter applies for her degree. the second language may be in progress, such as one year of study by the time she graduates, with the intention to enroll in further language training once she’s in grad school.</p>
<p>while many programs will tell you upfront that you don’t need to have your languages perfected before you apply, adcoms definitely favour students who already have strong language prep.</p>
<p>i’d suggest she take at least one university-level course in her high school language, if only to ensure that it shows up on her transcript. PhD programs don’t get your high school grades and so anything you studied in high school and dropped in university will probably be dismissed, even if she has AP or IB credit in the language.</p>
<p>I believe the recommended ones for English are German, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, and Greek.</p>
<p>my friend who is a potential english phd (for criticism) is fluent in japanese and has taken classes in Greek and German…for most of her programs she was required to master latin and greek. </p>
<p>If you’re in Comparative literature, i know that you’ll need many languages all dependent really on where your interests lie. </p>
<p>i myself am a humanities major, but not in english…i know that the requirements for me include German and French (for research) on top of the normal language load (fluency in one area language and through the intermediate level in another). Regardless, any advanced degree in humanities will require at least 2 or 3 languages.</p>
<p>What are the general language requirements for sociology majors? German? French?</p>