Language Requirements

The Department believes that it is important for all graduate students in history to attain minimal proficiency in at least one foreign language. Knowledge of foreign languages opens the way for new research possibilities; it allows wider access to historical literatures; and it permits communication with a more diverse scholarly community and public. Recent developments in both historiography and international intellectual interchange have increased the importance of foreign language knowledge for historians in all fields. The Department strongly urges students, in consultation with their advisors, to consider early in their careers how they will fulfill the language requirements in order to further their development as historians.

The Department requires a reading knowledge of one foreign language for the M.A. degree. In most circumstances the foreign language requirement is met by proficiency in a modern foreign language, but Greek and Latin may be substituted where relevant.

Language requirements for the Ph.D. can be met by

(1) minimal proficiency in two foreign languages

(2) advanced proficiency in one foreign language

(3) minimal proficiency in one foreign language and successful completion of a two‑course program designed to develop proficiency in a research skill or theoretical perspective. (The Department recognizes that the needs of individual fields and students differ. It has, therefore, established this options for meeting the language requirement for the doctorate where knowledge of only one foreign language is considered sufficient.)

Students who can present evidence of having satisfied a foreign language reading requirement in prior graduate study elsewhere normally may expect recognition of that to satisfy the requirement here.

The above statement represents a minimal requirement. Most fields and advisors expect at least minimal proficiency in two languages and a significantly higher level of proficiency in at least one of these. In some fields of study additional foreign language proficiency may be specified as essential to mastering the secondary scholarly literature and to undertaking research.

Proficiency in a foreign language may be demonstrated by

1. passing language course 602X (available in German, French, Spanish, and Italian).

2. Passing the equivalent to the 602X exam given twice a term by UNC‑CH language departments; or by individual testing in instances where no standardized test or course is available.

3. For advanced proficiency, a student must earn a "B" (or a graduate "P") or better in a language course at UNC-CH beyond the fourth semester level.

4. A student whose first language is not English may not count this first language as one of the foreign languages required for the M.A. or the Ph.D. English may be used to satisfy one of the two foreign language requirements. To judge sufficient proficiency in English, a student's advisor and the convenor of his/her field should review a 10‑page‑or‑longer paper written in English by the student. If these two members of the faculty agree that the paper demonstrates the student's ability to express him/herself clearly at the professional level, then the Department (and the Graduate School) will consider that the student has passed the English‑as‑a‑foreign‑language exam. The advisor and the field convenor should provide a note to this effect to the DGS. If a student whose first language is not English needs to improve written proficiency, he or she can take English 101X, passage of which also satisfies, in these instances, a foreign language requirement.

Courses taken to fulfill the language requirements do not count toward coursework requirements.

In all cases, should a student's advisor consider command of the language insufficient for research purposes or if the language skill has been acquired in atypical fashion, the professor may insist upon an additional test by the Department.