Studying Modern Languages is a great way to explore various cultures and expand your horizons. Oxford has a large Modern Languages department and offers numerous languages and combinations of languages. It is possible to study one or two languages that you have previously studied at A Level (or equivalent), or choose one familiar language along with a new language. There is also the option of pursuing a single language course in either French, German, Russian or Spanish. Other languages can be studied in over 60 combinations and available languages include Polish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Czech (with Slovak), Portuguese, Russian and Modern Greek. It’s a large course with an annual intake of over 160 undergraduates, of whom about 70% tend to be women.
The Oxford course offers some degree of flexibility in the modules you can pick. Although Oxford is somewhat more literature-heavy than most other universities, there are also linguistics, gender, and film options. The course is split half-and-half between language studies and literature, with the option to replace some of the literature with other papers after the first year. Teaching takes place in the form of lectures, language classes, seminars and tutorials. Students are expected to write essays on literature (in English) and complete translations into and out of their foreign language.
The year abroad is a major part of the course. Students go abroad in their third year unless they take Beginners’ Russian, in which case they spend their second year abroad. There is a lot of latitude in what students can do on their year abroad. Some students choose to work as language assistants in schools, others complete internships abroad, and others study at a foreign university.
An A Level (or equivalent) in your chosen language is required, except for beginners’ languages.