Unix Essays (1679 words) - Unix, Berkeley Software Distribution

Unix ?UNIX was the first operating system designed to run on ?dissimilar' computers by converting most hardware specific commands in machine language into an independent programming language called ?C,'? Jon Wolfe writes in the Nashville Business Journal. (Wolfe 29) UNIX was the basis of AT&T's telephone system and the government's wide area network system. Then it became the basis of communication between engineers and scientists, and eventually the basis of communication for everyone worldwide (World Wide Web (Web)). It has held this remarkable spot since 1969. However, in the 1990s there are competitors in the market, namely, Microsoft Corporation with its Windows NT product. But UNIX-based software suppliers are not just turning over and letting the competitors win. UNIX supporters are many, and UNIX remains, and will remain a major player in the marketplace. The unique advantage of the UNIX operating system when it was introduced was that it could (and still does) run on dissimilar machines, unheard of prior to 1969. UNIX also can run more than one program at a time, store complex graphics and databases, and link to other UNIX and mainframe computer systems, including DOS since the late 1980s. UNIX-based systems control various programs written by many companies to distribute information between multiple computers within the network. This minimizes user costs and eliminates system-wide hardware crashes. Some of the original UNIX programs are ?still evident today.? (Wolfe 29) UNIX was developed at AT&T in 1969, primarily for controlling the phone network and handling government communications. Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sun Systems, other U.S. companies and international companies now sell versions of UNIX that work best on their computers. UNIX at first worked over ARPnet, ?named after its sponsor from the Pentagon.? (Sembawang 1997). The ARPA network grew throughout the 1970s when computer networks from various organizations, both nationally and internationally, began to link to ARPAnet, mostly for transferring engineering and scientific research data. ?With the advent of satellite transmissions, the first international network connection was made with the University of London (England) and the Royal Radar Establishment of Norway in 1973.? (Sembawang 1997) In 1979, the National Science Foundation established the Computer Science Research Network (CSnet), which connected to ARPAnet through a gateway. This system was used for e-mail and sharing technical information. (Sembawang 1997) In the early 1980's, the NSF created its own network, NSFnet, which added educational links for schools and libraries. However, access to NSFnet was limited to these government or government research organizations. (Sembawang 1997) In 1992, NSF created Advanced Network and Services, Inc. (ANS), used to manage the NSFnet, which opened up the Internet to everyone. ANS also opened up the potential for multimedia on the Internet through the World Wide Web. (Sembawang 1997) Once the potential was there, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) began a project to create the international internet. The CERN project operated on TCP/IP transfer protocols developed inside a Berkeley UNIX system. The project was started in the mid-1980s and completed in 1990. By 1993, the internet had become a world-wide phenomenon. (Segal 1995) The Web allows users to easily browse through hypertext and multimedia located on various computers and main frame systems around the world. Prior to the CERN project, internet users had to know UNIX programming language and move around in a cumbersome UNIX shell environment. (Segal 1995) The Web can best be described as a ?global interactive, dynamic, cross-platform, distributed, graphical hypertext information system that operates over the internet. (Lemay 4) It operates on many protocols, including FTP, Gopher, UseNet, WAIS databases, and TELNET. Most of the text transferred over the internet is written in hypertext markup language (HTML). Graphics are transferred via standard generalized markup language (SGML) through the UNIX operating system. No one owns the web, but a consortium of U.S. and European individuals and organizations who support its operation, called the World Wide Web (W3) Consortium, established the protocols and languages that will be supported on the web. (Lemay 12). Popular browsers include Netscape, NCSA Mosaic, Lyna, MacWeb and WinWeb. A URL (home pages, BBSs, etc.) is a pointer to a posting on a Gopher, UseNet or FTP. All of these are currently transferred over the UNIX operating system. ?Today, the Internet is still growing in terms of size and number

Are AP Classes Worth It Should You Take Them

Are AP Classes Worth It Should You Take Them SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you're in high school, you've probably heard about AP classes. You might have even taken some already. But is all the hard work that goes into an AP class actually worth it? We think AP classes can be a great choice for students, as long as you’re well prepared, get a lot out of the class, and align your schedule to work with your college goals. However, AP classes might not always be the best choice. Keep reading to learn when AP classes are a good idea and when they're wasting your time- as well as what steps you must take to build an optimal schedule. How AP Classes Can Be Worthwhile: 4 Benefits There are several compelling reasons to take AP classes in high school. We'll discuss the different ways taking AP classes can help you discover new interests and make you a competitive applicant for college. #1: You Can Get a Challenging, Rigorous Academic Experience AP classes exist to expose high school students to college-level courses. Even though you’re taking the class at your high school, AP classes tend to have harder, more detailed curriculums than your typical high school classes do. So if you’re looking to take more difficult classes or want to impress college admissions offices with a rigorous schedule, AP classes can be a great way to up the rigor of your schedule. (As we’ve discussed in the past, AP classes are just one way to signal to colleges that you're taking the most challenging schedule available to you as a high school student.) AP classes are also useful for showing off a particular academic strength. For example, if you’re strong in math, taking AP Calculus BC and getting a 5 on the test is a concrete way to demonstrate your skills to admissions committees. #2: You Can Earn College Credit If you pass the AP test at the end of the school year (meaningyou get a score of 3 or higher), you will be eligible to receive college credit for that test. This processcan vary at different colleges. While some will grant you actual course credit, allowing you to graduate faster and therefore save time and money, others will use the AP credit to put you in harder classes as a freshman. Either way, AP credit can be very helpful! We recommend looking up the AP credit policies of schools you’re interested in to get a better idea of how the AP classes you want to take could save you time and/or money in college. #3: You Can Learn Time Management and Self-Study Skills Maybe this isn’t the most exciting reason, but taking AP classes can really improve your studying skills. Since AP classes culminate in a cumulative test at the end of the school year, you can’t just go from unit to unit as you can in other high school classes.Rather, you need to ensure you're retaining information the whole year and have a foolproof study plan for the AP test! While any good AP teacher will include review sessions in their curriculum, since there is limited classroom time, students will inevitably have to do some studying on their own. Speaking from experience, I learned a lot of my time-management and study skills by taking AP classes in high school. Every year, I made my own study schedules in the spring to make sure I was prepared for each AP test. Making study schedules and sticking to them ultimately helped me develop more effective time-management skills, which were invaluable in college! #4: You Can Explore New Interests Although some AP classes build off a typical high school schedule (particularly the math, English, history, and science classes), many others are more specialized. Taking these AP classes can allow you to explore specific fields of study as a high school student. Here are some examples of specialized AP classes: AP Micro and Macroeconomics Computer Science Psychology Art History Human Geography Statistics While you can definitely take these courses in college, taking the AP version in high school gives you early exposure and can help you discover a unique academic interest. A specialized AP class can also add a fun, interesting twist to your typical routine of math, English, science, and social studies. How AP Classes Can Waste Your Time: 5 Scenarios Taking AP classes can be helpful for a variety of reasons. But if you slack off, don't get much out of the material, or (worst of all) fail the exam, the AP program loses a lot of its benefits. In this section, we give you some reasons why the AP program might not be the best choice, and offer tips for making the most of your schedule. Scenario 1: You Fail the AP Test While an AP class isn’t a total waste if you fail the test- you still get the academic experience of a harder class, after all- it’ll be much less beneficial. As we discussed, you need a passing score in order to get college credit for an AP class.Without a passing test score, your AP class will be a lot less useful. What's more, colleges will look to see whether you passed the AP test. If you didn't pass, the AP class loses a lot of its admissions benefit. Even (or especially!) if you get an A in the class, that would just mean your class was too easy compared with those in the rest of the country. In short, how good an AP class will be for you hinges on whether you pass the exam or not. Scenario 2: AP Classes Ruin Your GPA Even if you pass your AP tests, if AP classes dramatically drag down your GPA, they won't be worth taking. Colleges want to see that you’re taking the hardest classes available to you, but they also want to see that you’re mostly succeeding and that you know your limits! This doesn’t mean that getting an A- in Calculus BC is a bad thing, though. (In fact, an A- in Calculus BC is more impressive than an A in regular Calculus.) What this does mean isthat taking four AP classes and getting Cs in all of them will not look good. As a general rule, don’t worry about an AP class knocking your usual grades down one half step- that is, an A to an A-, or an A- to a B+. But if you see a full grade drop, even in one class (A to B, B to C, etc.) that’s cause for concern. You should either make serious changes to your study schedule or, if you continue to struggle, consider dropping down to the regular course. This is why not overloading and knowing your strengths is important when signing up for classes! Scenario 3: You Don't Get Much Out Of the Class Even if you pass an AP class and the test, if you personally feel like you didn’t learn much or if the class didn’t improve your study skills, it might not have been worth it. Even if you get college credit for a particular class, it won't be worth it if you decide to take the same version of that class in college. It’s also not worth it if the class doesn’t significantly improve your studying or academic skills. Since all AP classes have a pretty big cost in terms of time, if they’re not serving to develop your academic interests or improve your skills, they’re likely not worth taking. This effect is more dramatic if you’re overloading on AP classes: the fourth AP class you take in a year might not add as much to your skills as it’s taking away from your time. For example, if you’re heading toward a humanities major in college (English, Economics, Political Science, etc.), trying to cram in AP Statistics and AP Calculus your senior year might not be helpful. You’re not likely to do a lot of deep learning in either math class if you’re also busy with college applications and other commitments. And if you don’t do well in these math classes, you might have to retake one in college anyway. Or, let's say you’re a future computer science major going out of your way to fit in an AP Human Geography class, just so you can have another AP class. This, however, likely won’t add much to your schedule, and if it’s not a personal interest, you probably won’t get much out of it. To sum up, if you're taking an AP class just because it's AP, you should reconsider taking it. You don't want to be this guy. Scenario 4: AP Classes Become Your Main Extracurricular While AP classes can be great- academically rigorous, cost effective, interesting- if they’re taking away from the rest of your schedule, those benefits begin to shrink. For example, if you neglect studying for the SAT/ACT because you’re so busy with AP classes, this can really hurt your college admission chances. We strongly recommend taking adequate time to study for the SAT/ACT, since having a high score can greatly boost your college admission and scholarship chances. Furthermore, if you stop getting involved in extracurriculars because you’re too busy studying, that doesn’t help your college applications, either. We’re not saying you need to be a perfectly well-rounded student who's in 10 clubs. But we do think it’s important to a have a few strongly developed interests- and overloading on AP classes can take away from that. In short, AP classes should enhance your schedule and indicate your academic interests- they shouldn't be your chief extracurricular. Scenario 5: You Burn Out in High School Even if you do really well in all your AP classes, you need to have the big picture in mind. If you graduate senior year completely exhausted and struggle your freshman year of college, you’re setting yourself up for a substandard college experience. Remember that the goal of AP classes- and high school in general!- is to be prepared to do well in college. Taking one less AP class but staying more sane and balanced might actually help you more in college than overloading your schedule with APs. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your AP schedule, don’t feel bad about dropping an AP class. If dropping that class allows you to do better in your other classes and stick to your commitments, it will be better for you in the long run. You don't want to be running on empty during your freshman year of college! Next Steps: Should You Take AP Classes? As you know, AP classes can give a huge boost to your college applications, but they can also hurt your college chances if you're not careful. So how do you make sure you're getting the most out of your AP classes? Follow the steps below to make sure your AP schedule is challenging but not overwhelming. Step 1: Learn the Reputation of AP Classes at Your School Learning the reputation of AP classes at your high school can help you decide if taking certain AP classes is worth your time. There is a huge amount of variation in how AP classes are taught at different high schools. You'll struggle if an AP class is poorly taught or overly difficult. On the flipside, a well-taught class might not only help you pass the AP test, but also help you discover a new academic interest. Talk to your guidance counselor, older students, and other teachers at your school to get a sense of which AP classes have positive buzz- and which ones have a reputation of being overly hard or poorly taught. Don’t necessarily avoid a hard class, especially if it’s in an area of interest for you. Also, don’t sign up for multiple AP classes with especially tough reputations the same school year. But if an AP class has rave reviews at your school, strongly consider adding it to your schedule! Step 2: Consider Your College Goals Knowing your college goals can help you decide between AP classes or how many AP classes to take. For example, if you’re aiming for your local state school and want to complete as many general education requirements as possible during high school, you should focus on core subject AP classes, such as Calculus, Literature, Biology/Chemistry/Physics, and US History. However, if you’re trying to get into top colleges, you'll want to use AP classes to demonstrate your academic strengths. In this case, your AP classes might be more concentrated in either math/science or the social sciences/humanities, depending on your interests. Check out our in-depth guideto learn moreabout choosing the right number of AP classes based on your college goals. Step 3: Talk to Your Guidance Counselor Your counselor will be able to help you come up with a challenging but manageable schedule. She'll also have a sense of your school’s context, including how many AP classes students take on average, which teachers get the best AP test results, and how to build a challenging schedule that doesn’t overload on AP. Even if you don’t have a close relationship with your counselor, it’s her job to know about school context, and she has lots of important information.So don’t be afraid to make an appointment and talk through your AP plans with your counselor! Step 4: Remember the Big Picture Your goal in high school is to learn as much as possible and be prepared for college. Taking one extra AP class is not going to dramatically affect your future, but cultivating a strong academic or extracurricular interest will. Try to create a course load that is both challenging but reasonable, and definitely don’t hesitate to drop something from your schedule- e.g., an AP class, a sport, volunteering- if you’re feeling like you’re reaching your breaking point! What’s Next? Need more help picking AP classes? Learn about the hardest and easiest AP classes you can take. AP classes are great, but they’re not going to guarantee admission to college. Learn why a high SAT/ACT score is the best single way to improve your chance of admission to a competitive school. Studying for the SAT or ACT?Check out our in-depth study guides to the SAT and ACTfor expert tips and the best study materials available online! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Case Study on Capital Gains Tax and Fringe Benefits Tax

It is assumed that Dave Solomon, is an individual, whose main source of income is the salary, paid by his employer. He is not involved any kind of trading business. The assets sold by him in the current tax year can be considered, completely, as his capital assets. Moreover, he has generated any revenue from those assets earlier. The net taxable capital gain or loss, generated from the sale of assets by David Solomon in the current tax year, is presented below (Law.ato.gov.au, 2016):- Calculation of Net Capital Gain/Loss for the period ending on 30th June,20†¦. Less : Purchase Price of the painting Less : 50% Exemption on Capital Gain Less : Purchase Price of the Cruiser Less : Purchase Price of the Shares Less : Stamp Duty on purchase of Shares Less : Capital Loss of Previous Year The net capital gain, earned by David Solomon in the current year, will be added with the other assessable income to ascertain the net taxable assessable income of the taxpayer. The income slab for taxation purpose will be then determined on the basis of that net taxable income. If David Solomon would generate any net capital loss, then that would be carry forwarded into next tax periods. It would be adjusted only if the taxpayer would generate any capital gain in future.   It is assumed that Periwinkle Pty. Ltd. is a normal company and not entitled to any benefit for small business entities.   The FBT consequences of Periwinkle, aroused for the benefits provided to Emma, one of the employee of the company is discussed below:- 1) It is assumed that the employee uses the car not only for office use but for non-work related purpose in frequent and regular basis. Therefore, the car benefit should be accounted for FBT as it is allowed to use for private purposes (Stilwell 2016). During the interstate travel of the employee, the car was parked at airport, not at the employer’s premises and the repairing of the car was annual maintenance type, not an unscheduled repairing. Therefore, the ten days, when the car was not used, also to be included in the FBT calculation (Hodgson and Pearce 2015). The statutory formula method is used for estimating the car fringe benefit. The calculation of car fringe benefit is shown in the following table:- Calculation Of Car Fringe Benefit:- Total Kms. Travelled during the FBT year Statutory Rate as per Annualised Km. No. of Days available for Private Use 2) The interest charged on the loan, given to the employee, should be treated as FBT. The Benchmark Interest Rate for such loan is 5.95% (Ato.gov.au, 2016). The company has charged the loan at an interest rate of 4.45%. As the actual rate is lower than the Benchmark Rate, the FBT should be calculated on the actual rate of interest (Pearce and Pinto 2015). The calculation for FBT on interest on loan is shown below:- Calculation of Interest on Loan for FBT:- 3) The bathtub provided to the employee at a special discounted rate, is a FBT expense. The taxable value of the bathtub is estimated at 75% of the normal selling price and the FBT is calculated accordingly in the following table (Ato.gov.au, 2016):- Calculation of Special Discount for FBT:- The Fringe Benefit Tax for Periwinkle Pty. Ltd. is calculated in the following table according to the above-mentioned assumptions (Ato.gov.au, 2016):- Name of Taxpayer : Periwinkle Pty. Ltd. for the period ending on 31st March,2016 Total of GST Inclusive/Free Benefits If the employer, herself, purchased the shares, instead of her husband and earn dividend from such shares, then the part interest on loan for $50000, will be considered as an deductible expenses of the employee. Therefore, the FBT of the employer will also get reduced accordingly (Eccleston 2013).   Ato.gov.au. (2016).  How to calculate your FBT | Australian Taxation Office.   Ato.gov.au. (2016).  Property fringe benefits | Australian Taxation Office.   Chan, C., 2014. Earnouts and CGT: Fine-tuning the.  Tax Specialist,  18(1), p.27 Conesa, J.C. and Domà ­nguez, B., 2013. Intangible investment and Ramsey capital taxation.  Journal of Monetary Economics,  60(8), pp.983-995 Eccleston, R., 2013. The Tax Reform Agenda in Australia.  Australian Journal of Public Administration,  72(2), pp.103-113 Faccio, M. and Xu, J., 2015. Taxes and capital structure.  Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis,  50(03), pp.277-300 Harding, M., 2013. Taxation of dividend, interest, and capital gain income Hodgson, H. and Pearce, P., 2015. TravelSmart or travel tax breaks: is the fringe benefits tax a barrier to active commuting in Australia? 1.  eJournal of Tax Research,  13(3), p.819 Jacob, M. and Jacob, M., 2013. Taxation, dividends, and share repurchases: Taking evidence global.  Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis,48(04), pp.1241-1269 Law.ato.gov.au. (2016).  TR 1999/19 - Income tax capital gains: treatment of forfeited deposits (As at 11 October 2000).

Financial Accounting Midterm Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Financial Accounting Midterm Project - Essay Example Meanwhile, managerial accounting reports are designed to serve specific needs of the management. They make use of both historical data and estimated data. While financial accounting reports have to be prepared according to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the same does not hold true with managerial accounting reports. (Warren, Reeve, etc., 1987, pp. 2-4) A job opening in the field of financial accounting at the Monster website states that "the Accounting Manager is responsible and accountable for the entire Company's Accounting Department." As such, he/she will manage and provide direction to the accounting department personnel as well as direct and lead all accounting functions to ensure that all accounting, financial and tax information are properly disseminated and reported. The job requirements include a bachelor's degree in Accounting, experience in cost accounting and the preparation of cash flow statements and skills in preparing tax returns and audit revie ws. (Monster 2010) Meanwhile, a job opening in the field of managerial accounting requires a Revenue Accounting Manager who will have the following main duty: "continuously work to understand the various revenue streams to ensure the highest levels of revenue recognition." (Monster 2010) Similarly, the job requirements include a bachelor's degree in Accounting. In contrast to the job opening for a financial accountant, however, this one requires "strong project management and planning skills" and an "analytical mind which is able to process information logically delivering value added analysis." These stuffs are definitely necessary in the domain of managerial accounting. 2. According to history, accounting was first established by Luca Pacioli - an Italian Renaissance mathematician, a close friend and tutor to Leonardo da Vince and a contemporary of Christopher Columbus. Pacioli described in his work entitled "Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportione et Proportionalite" a syste m that served to make sure that financial information were efficiently kept in accurate records. This basic system eventually became established as the way to note down all transactions of businesses. (Weygandt, Kieso, etc. 2009, pp. 5-6) 3. The following are the liquidity ratios of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) for the year 2010: MSFT AAPL Current Ratio 2.5 1.8 Acid Test Ratio 2.2 1.6 These ratios show that both MSFT and AAPL have sufficient liquid resources to pay up their short-term liabilities. Of the two, MSFT is the company with the higher level of liquidity. The current ratios indicate that their current assets can well be utilized to fully settle their current liabilities. Meanwhile, the acid test ratios indicate that the two companies would be able to fully settle all their short-term liabilities by using only the most liquid of their assets - namely: cash, marketable securities and accounts receivable. 4. The following are the activity measures of Micr osoft Corporation (MSFT) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) for the year 2010: Asset Management Ratios MSFT AAPL Inventory Turnover (# of times) 19.2 63.9 Accounts Receivable Turnover 5.5 16.7 Fixed Assets Turnover 8.8 17.0 Total Assets Turnover 0.8 1.1 The above

Should the U.S. Government Levy Additional Fines or Taxes on Companies Essay

Should the U.S. Government Levy Additional Fines or Taxes on Companies That Ship Jobs Overseas - Essay Example The paper tells that according to the McKinsey Global Institute the threat posed by shipping jobs abroad has been grossly exaggerated. To start with, they argue that the number of jobs lost per year to offshoring is far fewer than the normal rate of job turnover in the economy. Secondly, savings from offshoring enables companies to invest in future technologies that create more jobs at home and abroad. Thirdly, global competition improves the skills of American companies making them more competitive. Companies that offshore have the opportunity to take advantage of distinctive skills that are available overseas. Fourthly, the U.S. runs a trade surplus in services. This means that America needs other countries to buy its surplus services. If America refuses to similarly offer overseas countries a platform for trade – by refusing to procure their services – these countries may opt to retaliate and thus leave the U.S. with no one to trade in its excess capacity. On the con trary, in â€Å"It's a Flat World After All† argues that the convergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have leveled the playing field and if not addressed as a critical issue by the U.S. policies, it could signal the end of American wealth and global dominance. He further argues that whereas in the past American companies offshored primarily to minimize production costs, nowadays they do so because they are unable to find the talent they need locally. Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson agrees with Friedman when he states that free trade could leave rich countries worse off by eroding them off their comparative advantages. Moreover, who says that China, India, Russia and the other emerging economies are content with providing low-end, low-wage jobs for eternity.

Horse Dealers Daughter Essay -- essays research papers

Horse Dealer's Daughter This story is about a girl named Mabel who tries to commit suicide by drowning herself in a pond. A young doctor, Joe Ferguson, saves her. She then believes that he loves her. Although this idea never occurred to Joe, he begins to find that he indeed loves her. However, Mabel thinks she is "too awful" to be loved, and finds that when Joe declares over and over that he wants her and that he loves her, she is more scared about that than of Joe not wanting her. So does Joe really love Mabel? Somehow, he is convinced that he is. I don't think the idea of love or marriage ever occurred to him. When Mabel finds out that he saved her, she convinces herself that he loves her. "Do you love me, then?" she asks him. Then, more confidently, she says, "You love me. I know you love me, I know." The reason why I think she committed suicide is because she felt unloved at her home. Her father had recently died and her brothers were unkind to her. The father had left the family in debt, and the family will soon have to leave their house and move somewhere else. When asked which path she would pursue, she did not answer. I don't think she had anything planned. She probably didn't have a good education so there were few options for her. Perhaps she felt overwhelmed with the pressure to decide what to do, and decided to commit suicide. Thus, when Joe Ferguson saves her, her hope in life is renewed and she convinces herself that Joe loves he...

Foreign Literature Essay

We are committed to a cosmopolitan and multicultural syllabus. As part of this commitment, all our single-subject students take one module in a foreign literature, studied at least partly in the original language. Modules are normally available in modern Arabic, Old Norse, Anglo-Saxon and Latin, as well as French, German, Italian and Spanish literature. A detailed description of the available foreign literature pathways and modules is sent to new entrants in August. If you’re a combined course student, you don’t have to take a foreign literature pathway, though you will be welcome to do so. Pathways We offer two distinct pathways, leading either to a Literature and Language module (in the second year) or to a Foreign Literature module (in the second and third year). You can choose your pathway based on a combination of your own interests and your prior language learning, either improving your skills in a language you already know or learning a new one. Each pathway offers formal teaching in both language and literature in the second year of study, and the Foreign Literature module extends into the third year. Why study foreign literature? Investigating foreign literature will offer you a different sense of the contexts in which English literature has been produced and studied. Although foreign literatures can (and, on occasion, will) be fruitfully studied in translation, there is no substitute for engaging with a text in its original language. You’ll gain a richer understanding of the text and a particular awareness of the politics of translation, and your understanding of grammar, and developing alertness to vocabulary and ambiguity, will be essential critical skills that will inform your study of English as well. Employers look positively on the language skills our students have added to their CVs, and external examiners have praised their cosmopolitan and sophisticated literary sensibilities. The training provided by the department was fantastic and it really is a major feat being able to read foreign literature in its original language. Steve, English.