Prior to writing the thesis, every student must pass a language exam either in French, German, or Italian. This exam requires the translation of 500 words of musically related text in two hours with the aid of a dictionary. A petition for the substitution of a different language may be made if the student feels that mastery of that language is especially important to his or her future work in the field of music scholarship. In no case, however, will either English or a student's native language be considered a "foreign" language.