Oral examinations: Latin oral plus compulsory L1, L2 or a subject taught through L2
The oral examinations test spoken command of Latin and of the languages through which you study. Compulsory orals in L1 and L2 - or in a subject taught through L2 - require you to present, discuss and defend ideas; the Latin oral adds reading aloud, translation and literary discussion. The oral is not a recitation of memorised notes: examiners probe your ability to think from the text in real time.
Format and criteria
- Latin oral: typically 20 minutes, with preparation time. You read a passage aloud, translate it (prepared or sight), and answer questions on grammar, style and context.
- L1 oral: presentation on a prepared topic or text, followed by questions. L2 oral: interactive tasks, role-play or discussion. Subject through L2: discuss content in L2.
- Assessment: comprehension, accuracy, fluency, pronunciation for Latin, interaction, and support for claims by textual reference.
Worked example
Prompt: read and translate Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris / Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque venit / litora. Reasoning:
- Read with correct vowel quantities and observe elision where the line requires it.
- Parse qui primus … venit: relative clause, “who first came”; profugus agrees with the subject; fato is ablative of cause; ab oris Troiae = “from the shores of Troy”; Laviniaque litora is accusative of place to which, poetic without a preposition.
- Translate: “I sing of arms and the man, who first, exiled by fate, came from the shores of Troy to Italy and the Lavinian shores.”
- Then explain the opening as a programmatic invocation and its Homeric model.
Traps
- Reading Latin without respecting vowel length and elision; this affects comprehension.
- Translating words but not clause structure; missing relative clauses or poetic word order.
- In L1/L2 orals, reciting a memorised answer and failing to respond to follow-up questions.
- Making literary claims without returning to the text for evidence.