Oxbridge Modern Languages Interview Questions
The best way to prepare for your Oxbridge Modern Languages interview is through mock interviews. As well as giving you general interview experience, they focus your mind on the types of questions asked at an Oxford or Cambridge Modern Languages interview, teaching you to think in the manner required for the real thing.
Below, we have collected a series of questions of the type you will be asked in your Oxbridge Modern Languages interview. Use them to gain an awareness of what's expected of you, plan out answers on your own, or give them to a teacher, friend, or family member, and ask them to conduct a mock interview with you.
Note: If you are doing mock interviews with us, we recommend waiting until afterwards to look through these questions, so that you aren't asked questions you have already prepared for (as you won't have that opportunity for the real thing!). If you haven't booked any mock interviews yet, you can do so here.
Modern Languages Interview Questions
What gets lost in translation?
Think of a painting of a tree. Is the tree real?
How does the literature you have read affect your opinion of that society?
What is the point of poetry?
Should we learn the swear words of another language?
Could you say that an author is actually just another character in their novel or their play?
Why do you want to study a very literature-based degree?
What is the link between art and reality?
Do you think we ought to take literature as a sociological study of society, when you consider that most great authors are considered to have social difficulties?
Which of your other interests demonstrate a European outlook?
How does Le Monde differ from an English broadsheet?
What are the differences between Spain and Latin America?
What is the role of a translator?
If we take characters out of Madame Bovary, and look at them as individuals, are they still the same characters as when they were in the book? Why?
How does grammar govern tone and style in literature?
Can you only understand or analyse a text properly in its original language?
Is a sonnet necessarily always a love poem?
Do you think books transfer well to films? Give examples of this.
What is the purpose of comedy?
Was Romeo impulsive?
Why does French food interest you?
Is Wittgenstein always right?
Why do we psychoanalyse historians?
Think of a painting of a tree. Is the tree real?
What is language?
Why do you want to study a very literature-based degree?
What do you think Voltaire meant by ‘Il faut cultiver notre jardin’?
Britain declares war on Europe. What advice would you give to the ministry of defence if they asked you what level of French/German/Spanish each of their personnel should have?
Can a language ever truly die?
Compare and contrast Spanish and Portuguese.
Do you think the number of languages in the world will change in the next century?
Do you think we ought to take literature as a sociological study of society, when you consider that most great authors are considered to have social difficulties?
Does a language need to have letters? Can it be made just of numbers?Is grammar therefore necessary?
Does language define our identity?
How can you tell if a noun is masculine, feminine or neutral in German?
How could music be considered a language?
How do babies learn a language?What is the quickest way to learn a language?
How has travel influenced your relationship with language?
How is literature a different language to speech?
How is the German mindset different to the Russian mindset?
How malleable are our thoughts?
How many cultures are grouped together under the label ‘China’?
How many languages could someone learn?
How would you describe a cucumber to an alien?
How would you describe the relationship between speech and writing, in relation to language?
How would you improve Google translate?
How would you simplify English?
If you could make up a word, what would it be?
If you had £1,000,000 to find out more about the origins of language, how would you spend it?
If you were an anthropologist what aspects of British society would you study?
Is there any point studying languages with the advent of modern electronic translators?
Is poetry a different language to a novel or a short story?
Is there such a thing as an immoral book?
Should we study the swear words of any foreign language we study?
To what extent does a countries culture dictate a language’s vocabulary?
‘Translation is reproduction.’ How would you respond?
What was it about your favourite book that particularly caught your attention?
What are the difficulties in translating books like the Bible?
What attracts you to French/Spanish/Italian culture?
What can we learn from Pompeian excavations as to the quality of their life, especially their dietary habits?
What causes a language to evolve? Can this be stopped? How?
What determines how easy a language is to team?
What difficulties do Europeans have with English? What about speakers of Asian languages?
What does language mean to you?
What is an accent? How do they arise?
What is it that interests you about Latin American culture in particular?
What is the difference between Chinese whispers and translation?
What is the link between art and reality?
What is your favourite dictionary?
What is your favourite word?
What is your opinion on ambiguity?
What makes a language modern?
Which difficulties arise if you study two languages at the same time?
Why do we desire fluency so badly when we can communicate adequately even as a beginner?
Why can we infer from someone’s accent?
Why do some languages have so many tenses yet others manage with very little grammar?
Why do you want to study a very literature based degree?
Why learn a language in a globalising world?
And that's all of them! Hopefully, you now have a sense of the types of questions you may be asked. To be even better prepared, try answering these and other questions with our tutors - you can book your mock interviews here.
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