1) Given that you're going to be working in Africa, you'll actually need to know several languages to work effectively. You'll need French not only for communicating in the field, but because a lot of African anthropological work is written in French. At the same time you're going to need a field language, too (maybe several). Does it limit you to a single language? If not, I'd state you're going to gain a working knowledge of French and Swahili (which could be useful as a field language due to its wide-spreadedness) and will learn local languages as needed as you focus further. Also, remember you're not stuck with what you say in your SoP or on your application
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Hey, thanks for your response. The application says "indicate how the study of your proposed language and world area is relevant to your chosen future career." It's not clear if this question is specific to the anthropology application or for the social sciences in general. Stating that I'll learn local languages as needed is a really good way to put it, because then I don't have to make my research topic too narrow.
I'm wrestling with the same question right now, trying to decide how far I need to go in actually learning other languages - I did decide to pick up French, but in terms of field languages I'm a bit stuck since I don't know exactly where I'll be working!
Don't worry about it, a lot of universities have summer language workshops for grad students who need to learn a language. Not sure if Berkeley does, but I don't think the fact that you don't know the language ALREADY is a problem, just try to come up with some plausible plan for learning it. And maybe start trying to learn it as soon as you're done with applications.
Oh, and I would go with french over a local language, based on my impression that most people in west africa speak either french or english. But that impression is based on like the 7 people I know from west africa, so you would probably know better than me. :)
As for your thesis, I would edit it down so that the important parts are summarized (and not necessarily the first 20 pages, unless those are the most important.) Places like Berkeley get something like 300 applications a year, and the admissions committee doesn't want to read a ton of really long writing samples.
A surprising number of cultural anthropologists employ translators while doing field research. If there are documents that need to be translated, they pay for these services as well. It's usually written up in the research methodology submitted to any committee that will approve for someone to do field research. Specifying how you will acquire a translator (AND determine their functionality), how you will pay them, and how you will even speak to local people MUST be explained. It's possible, though it makes it more difficult, and it happens all the time.
One of the great things about anthropology, especially with field research, is that you required to ALWAYS specify your approach to research. Fortunately, English is a very common language in W. Africa, and even better, majority of research is printed in English too. French is also a really common language, so yes, please highlight that you are going to learn French
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I wrote a 45 page paper in undergrad that was by far my best paper; I spent an entire calendar year working on it!
I am planning on revising it heavily, cutting a lot out. That being said, I still might end up having to submit my paper as an excerpt in order to meet page requirements. If that is the case, I'm going to excerpt the best part of my paper (the middle), and summarize whatever I need to cut out.
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Oh, and I would go with french over a local language, based on my impression that most people in west africa speak either french or english. But that impression is based on like the 7 people I know from west africa, so you would probably know better than me. :)
As for your thesis, I would edit it down so that the important parts are summarized (and not necessarily the first 20 pages, unless those are the most important.) Places like Berkeley get something like 300 applications a year, and the admissions committee doesn't want to read a ton of really long writing samples.
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I am planning on revising it heavily, cutting a lot out. That being said, I still might end up having to submit my paper as an excerpt in order to meet page requirements. If that is the case, I'm going to excerpt the best part of my paper (the middle), and summarize whatever I need to cut out.
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