Classics and Philosophy
SO HERE'S THE PLAN, DAN
I'll keep my Japanese teacher on after graduating from the Diploma, and enter to take JLPT level 3, which is tested in December, applying to Oxford in the September with the Japanese essays I will have written for that purpose. I'll also learn Latin to around GCSE level and read, in translation, as much poetry, history and philosophy as I can cram into my waking hours, and as many volumes of Decline and Fall as can possibly hold my interest.
The course I'm applying to will almost certainly be Course II A (Latin), the outline of which is on the table here (you have to scroll down the page a bit). Even though the Iliad actually appeals to me more than the Aeneid, I want to learn Latin for the sake of my English (and possibly French and/or Italian). It might be quite cool to take Epistemology as a Philosophy special subject, and I'll almost certainly take Philology as my Classical special subject. For terms 6-12, I'm interested in Linguistics and Philology, Literature, and Philosophy; and I'm tempted by the optional second language for Ancient Greek, although perhaps when I get to it I'd rather just study the Greek philosophers in translation as it says I can, as the workload may already be too much to add another language.
I'll also have to at last keep my Japanese idling at JLPT 3, if not progressing slightly, if I can. This is all because I believe that I would like to be a translator, and partly because I want to do a degree at Oxford that I don't have to immerse myself in; that I can have some fun and some socializing around. I want Oxford's lifestyle as much as I want its tuition.
The switch from physics to linguistics/translation is because I think I've finally realized that it will simply take too long and be too frustrating to change my mindset to that of a pure scientist-and I already have the right mindset for linguistics. My two best subjects in my diploma are Japanese and English (discounting Music which I'd already been trained in way above the level of the diploma before I began the course). I like words and language and literature. I enjoy dealing with them.
I'm excited! Any suggestions as to why I shouldn't pick the options I'm thinking of picking are very welcome.
I'll keep my Japanese teacher on after graduating from the Diploma, and enter to take JLPT level 3, which is tested in December, applying to Oxford in the September with the Japanese essays I will have written for that purpose. I'll also learn Latin to around GCSE level and read, in translation, as much poetry, history and philosophy as I can cram into my waking hours, and as many volumes of Decline and Fall as can possibly hold my interest.
The course I'm applying to will almost certainly be Course II A (Latin), the outline of which is on the table here (you have to scroll down the page a bit). Even though the Iliad actually appeals to me more than the Aeneid, I want to learn Latin for the sake of my English (and possibly French and/or Italian). It might be quite cool to take Epistemology as a Philosophy special subject, and I'll almost certainly take Philology as my Classical special subject. For terms 6-12, I'm interested in Linguistics and Philology, Literature, and Philosophy; and I'm tempted by the optional second language for Ancient Greek, although perhaps when I get to it I'd rather just study the Greek philosophers in translation as it says I can, as the workload may already be too much to add another language.
I'll also have to at last keep my Japanese idling at JLPT 3, if not progressing slightly, if I can. This is all because I believe that I would like to be a translator, and partly because I want to do a degree at Oxford that I don't have to immerse myself in; that I can have some fun and some socializing around. I want Oxford's lifestyle as much as I want its tuition.
The switch from physics to linguistics/translation is because I think I've finally realized that it will simply take too long and be too frustrating to change my mindset to that of a pure scientist-and I already have the right mindset for linguistics. My two best subjects in my diploma are Japanese and English (discounting Music which I'd already been trained in way above the level of the diploma before I began the course). I like words and language and literature. I enjoy dealing with them.
I'm excited! Any suggestions as to why I shouldn't pick the options I'm thinking of picking are very welcome.