1) I think it's better to be honest and realistic in the statement of purpose. I think Berkeley may look more oddly at you if they think you don't realize that you need French, as opposed to knowing that you need it but just haven't learned it yet. Depending on what kind of anthropology you're doing Swahili might be more important than French, but I doubt it. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the majority of people who do speak a local language in West Africa also speak the language of their colonizers (English or French mostly) as that's what they're taught in school.
2) Any sample that you use, you should edit it. I think you should use whatever section shows the most substantive writing in your field - for my writing sample, I think I used the introduction and/or literature review, as it showed my skills as a writer and showed that I knew how to think in my field, synthesize theories, and come up with new ones based on what was already written. (Anyone could throw together a methods or results section.) Definitely edit it, and if possible have a professor in your field look over it. And definitely don't submit anything over the page limit. Pick the most substantive, and the most well-written, section, edit that until it's near-perfect and under the page limit, and submit that.
2) Any sample that you use, you should edit it. I think you should use whatever section shows the most substantive writing in your field - for my writing sample, I think I used the introduction and/or literature review, as it showed my skills as a writer and showed that I knew how to think in my field, synthesize theories, and come up with new ones based on what was already written. (Anyone could throw together a methods or results section.) Definitely edit it, and if possible have a professor in your field look over it. And definitely don't submit anything over the page limit. Pick the most substantive, and the most well-written, section, edit that until it's near-perfect and under the page limit, and submit that.
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