Hey, my name is Sharleen and I am studying Modern and Medieval Languages (German and Spanish) at St. John’s College, Cambridge.
I originally wanted to study History or another humanities subject but I felt that I wanted to study a language. I considered doing History and a language but, due to the nature of the MML course, I am able to study multiple subjects in one. The course encompasses both language and cultural studies; I am able to study language (grammar, speaking and writing) but also the literature, history, philosophy and cinema of the German and Hispanic-speaking worlds as well as linguistic modules.
Your timetable would depend on whether you are doing a language from scratch (ab initio) or two post A level languages. If you are studying an ab initio language you will have more language lessons in small groups and the workload is more intense. For a post A level language every week you would typically have a grammar class; two lectures on a book, film or historic period you are currently studying and an oral supervision.
In terms of Personal Statement tips I highly recommend reading short stories and poetry as these are so much easier to analyse and read in another language! I also watched and analysed a film for each language. In general, it would be a good idea to have a look at the website and see what you would be studying in first year. I realised for German I would be studying the Communist Manifesto, which I had already read, so I was able to talk about that in my PS. Try to create links between the different texts/films/historic periods you mention and think about the importance of their context culturally.
My interview was very anxiety inducing but really enjoyable. Think of it as a discussion of your passions and, because I loved all the texts and films I mentioned; I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to talk about them and discuss them critically. Make sure to pause and think before answering your questions and ask the interviewer to reword it if you would like more time or clarification. You will need to speak in one of your languages for approximately ten minutes, make sure to practice your grammar and vocab for this. I tried to learn the majority of A level grammar content before my interview, this is also extremely useful for the exam.
You will have an exam on the day of your interview and for this I recommend doing the practice papers and having your language teacher mark the first question. For the second question, the essay in English, I recommend asking an English teacher to check it for you. I did not do English A level but I just asked in the English department if anybody would be willing to help.
MML is definitely the best course to do if you love languages and humanities in general, the department is lovely and I really love it! If you think you would enjoy the course definitely apply, good luck!