June 21, 2005

Spanish as PhD Language Requirement -- Help is on the way

My doctoral progess is being held up in the absence of a scholar who can test my Spanish competency. In light of recent blog discussions regarding language requirements, I thought I'd share my lament, and offer my plea to the biblioblogsphere. Is there no other Spanish-reading scholar here of whom I may inquire?

Two years ago, like a good traditional NT PhD student, I spent a summer in Germany and then returned home to take a translation exam to satisfy a requirement of my doctoral program, a standard program requiring two modern languages. The two languages have historically always been German and French, but because of my context, my interests, and encouragement from other scholars, I decided to prepare to make use of Spanish scholarship in my work. While my doctoral program approved of the decision, they have no means to satisfy the requirement, mostly because the GSFLT went defunct. My school offers a mini French and German program, but nothing in Spanish.
We have contacted three Spanish-reading scholars, and none have been able to assist. For several months now, I have been in limbo until we can figure out a solution. I can't submit my dissertation proposal until I get this taken care of. Hence, my plea for help.

Can anyone among my small but distinguished readership recommend a Spanish-reading biblical scholar that could be such a reader? The process need not be time intensive: send a Spanish Biblical Studies article... I translate... you read and say "yea" or "nay"... repeat as needed. :) My directer is very open to any qualified scholar using whatever means they wish to simply say, "Yes, Joe can make use of an article written in Spanish to contribute to his scholarship." We'll pay!

Update: The biblioblog community has been extremely responsive and helpful regarding my plea. I just want to say thank you, and that this represents some of the best of what an online community is. A few very able folks contacted me directly, as well as some in the comments for this post. But more so, colleagues contacted me to brainstorm ways in which "we" might solve this problem together--offers to make referrals, etc.
David Ford told me that he would love the opportunity to fail me, so it looks like we'll make arrangements for it soon. I'll let you know how it goes.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about Moises Silva.

Bill Combs
DBTS

valorhispano said...

Bueno, tal vez yo pueda ayudarte. Por favor, ponte en contacto conmigo:

elcristiano118@hotmail.com

David Ford said...

If you don't get anyone, I would be glad to help

All the best

David Ford,
New Testament Professor,
Fundación Universitaria, Seminario Bíblico de Colombia; Seminario Evangélico de Lima

www.recursosteologicos.org
david@recursosteologicos.org

Anonymous said...

Dear Joe,

I think I might qualify as a Spanish-reading scholar. Although not being a native-speaker (I am Brazilian and speak Portuguese), I was about ten years old when I started reading Spanish and never stopped...

I've got a PhD from the School of Archaeology, Liverpool University.

If you think I might be of any help, please feel free to get in touch.


Marcio Redondo
marcio@ftsa.edu.br

Anonymous said...

Glad to see folks offering to help!

I also did Spanish for one of my languages for my Ph.D., but my department just had me take the standard test for social scientists. The article I translated was something about early 20th-century Mexican history, which meant that there was some vocabulary with which I was unfamiliar, but otherwise it was fine.

Hope all works out for you.