Hey, aspirants! Welcome to the Lawctopus Judiciary Corner series.
Language Paper in any judicial exam is as important as any other paper. However, aspirants neglect or delay it because it looks easy.
They assume that language papers don’t need the same attention as other subjects.
But they are ONLY partially correct. In terms of preparation, it is easy if the fundamentals of the subject are clear and the syllabus is also not vast.
However, can any aspirant claim they don’t need to brush up on the grammar rules or practice writing essays because they know everything?
Without practice, can aspirants translate Hindi to English or any other language accurately in the language of the Court?
Of course not.
Then, why do we live in the bubble that language paper doesn’t hold any importance? It’s a high-scoring section and can also help achieve a high rank in the judicial examination.
Let’s see the pattern of language papers in judicial exams to understand what it demands from the aspirants.
Majorly, language papers consist of four parts:
- Essays
- Translation
- Hindi and English Grammar
- Précis-writing
Now, we will look at each part individually to see how to prepare them for any judicial services examination.
Essays
We all have written essays during our school days. Unfortunately, the level of essays in competitive exams is much higher than in middle school. Not writing a well-drafted, informed essay can lead to a deduction in marks.
In the language paper of judicial exams, there are three types of essays.
1. Essays on Social Themes
These are on topics such as women empowerment, corruption which could be called contemporary socio-legal topics.
2. Essays on Current Affairs
Here, applicants are tested on their ability to analyse and formulate an opinion on important developments around the world.
3. Essays on Cultural Heritage
These essays help the examiner gauge the cultural heritage knowledge of a candidate.
Even though the essay requirement is not the same for every state, the pattern remains the same.
To write an essay, aspirants need to apply a holistic approach. An essay needs to be well articulated. Successful candidates who score good marks in this paper can logically construct their content.
Every essay has four components:
- Introduction
- A body that includes causes and consequences
- Legal provisions (if applicable)
- Conclusion
Prepare Your Essay The Right Way
Two factors that contribute to an excellent essay are the command of the language and the content.
The correct way to prepare for a language paper is to start reading editorials and write essays every day or every alternate day as you can’t learn the art of writing overnight. One of the benefits of reading newspapers, specifically editorials is you will learn how to frame your material into a well-crafted piece, which not many know.
Another important thing is preparing the introduction and conclusion effectively beforehand. Aspirants, the introduction and conclusion are two different things. Don’t copy-paste the same material in the introduction and conclusion.
Always end the essay by encapsulating the whole material and adding your own opinion to the same.
Take ten common essay topics from the previous years’ question papers and the internet and prepare them first. After that, search for topics on current affairs and start preparing those. Add quotations, if possible, that suit your topic.
Translation
One of the problems for aspirants these days is not having familiarity with languages other than English.
Most states like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan focus on Hindi or English translation. This is not an ordinary language but language used by Courts. Other states like Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, Punjab have translation questions based on regional languages.
It is quite a challenge for aspirants. For tackling that, aspirants can follow the following tips:
- Solve Previous Years’ Question papers to see the difficulty level of the translation portion.
- Read newspapers available in Hindi and English like Jan Satta and Indian Express.
- Practice translating editorials, judgments, paragraphs every day from English to Hindi (regional language, if applicable).
- Purchase Bare Acts in Hindi and English for learning the language of the Court.
Hindi and English Grammar
This portion of the language paper can be covered by online sources or any basic book available in the market. For learning Hindi grammar, purchase Samanya Hindi by Dr. Raghav Prakash. Wren and Martin‘s book is a good source for improving English grammar.
Other than that, so many youtube channels are available online that teach grammar for free. If you have time, watch the videos and learn.
Précis-writing
Précis-writing is a form of summary in which you need to take out main points from a given paragraph without losing the essence of the original material. It needs to have clarity, improvisation, and structure.
The most basic and simple part of the language paper, précis-writing can be high scoring if you practice it well. For practicing Précis-writing, aspirants don’t need to buy any specific book.
Few Things to remember while writing a Précis:
- Make the given paragraph concise and don’t lose its originality.
- The length of the Précis must not be more than 1/3rd of the original paragraph.
- Cover all the major points.
- Précis should have a title as well.
- Details of the given paragraph must match with your Précis.
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Source: Lawctopus
