The Cambridge MML course is ranked second in the country. This course is four years long, with the third year spent abroad in the country of the language you are studying. The course is incredibly flexible. Everyone studies two languages, and one of these can be learnt from beginner level (your ab initio language). You may choose to study German, French, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, or Spanish. You could also study any of these with Latin or Greek.
In your second and fourth years, you may choose to take beginner classes in a language you have not studied previously; these are subject to availability but have in the past featured Catalan, Dutch, Polish, and Ukrainian. There are even opportunities to take linguistic-oriented modules. Topics stretch from the Renaissance to Soviet Russia, covering issues and knowledge from the ancient to the present day.
Classes are led by native speakers in order to ensure that by the time you graduate, you are a near-native speaker yourself. Students will also have access to computer facilities and libraries.
In your first year, you begin your study of your chosen languages, and explore your own language speaking and writing skills, as well as various aspects of that country’s culture – this might refer to literature, history, philosophy, media, or linguistics.
In second year, your study becomes more intense; you take much the same papers, just at a higher level.
Your third year will be spent abroad; at the end of this period, you will be expected to submit a project which counts towards your final grade. You will have an oral exam before starting your fourth and final year.
In your last year, you have an incredible amount of flexibility. You can choose to focus on one language or take papers in two or more different ones. You may even take options from parallel courses such as English and History. Comparative papers are available which are designed to grant you the chance to combine the study of both of your chosen languages; most students will also write a dissertation in lieu of one of their written papers.
The Modern and Medieval Languages course has one of the highest offer rates at Cambridge, with nearly 50% of applicants receiving an offer in 2020. Women made up 67% of applicants and the same percentage of acceptances in 2020.
To apply, you will need an A-Level in at least one of the languages you have chosen to study. Being fluent in another language, as well as being aware of international culture, is highly desirable. The experience you will gain from your year abroad will look amazing on your CV, regardless of whether your job is language-based or not. You might want to use your bilingual abilities for foreign policy; companies that graduates have worked for include the BBC and UNICEF. You might also decide to become a translator or similar language expert, after further training.
