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Admissions

UCAS Course Code:
French: R110
German: R200
Modern Greek: Q710
Italian: R300
Portuguese: R500
Russian: R711
Spanish : R400

 

See below for Joint language courses

 

› View College options for Modern Language courses

Brief Course Outline

Duration of course: 4 years (including compulsory year abroad)
Degree awarded: BA

Course statistics for 2012 entry

Intake: 179
Applications shortlisted for interview: 88.4%
Successful applications: 33.9%
(We apologise that this figure is shown incorrectly as 3.9% in the print version of this prospectus.)

Joint courses

You can also study a modern language with a Middle Eastern language (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian or Turkish) or with Classics, English, History, Linguistics or Philosophy. Please see the separate pages on these courses for further information.

Open days 2012

27 April, 26 and 27 June, and 20 September 201

These are the main Modern Languages Open Days. Places must be booked on the website.

Contact details

The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, 41 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JF
+44 (0) 1865 270750
Please email us at reception@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk
View website

 

UG student profile iconUG pod oxford iconSubject brochure

Modern Languages

Courses tab icon About the course Course outline Entrance requirements How to apply

What is Modern Languages?

Studying Modern Languages provides both practical training in written and spoken language and also an extensive introduction to European literature and thought. You will learn to write and speak the language(s) fluently, and will be able to choose from a broad range of options including linguistics, film studies and advanced translation.

Modern Languages at Oxford

Modern LanguagesModern Languages have been taught in Oxford since 1724. The faculty is one of the largest in the country, with a total intake of more than 250 students a year (including joint courses). Undergraduate students can use the Taylor Institution Library, the biggest research library in Britain devoted to modern languages.
The University’s modern and excellently equipped Language Centre (see p 12) received special praise in the last Teaching Quality Assessment. Some of its resources are specifically tailored to the needs of Modern Languages students.

Language is at the centre of the Oxford course, making up around 50% of both first year and final examinations. The course aims to teach spoken fluency in colloquial and more formal situations, the ability to write essays in the foreign language, and the ability to translate into and out of the foreign language with accuracy and sensitivity to a range of vocabulary, styles and registers.

The course also focuses on studying literature, as this study is enjoyable, personally and linguistically enriching, and intellectually challenging. It gives you an understanding of other cultures that cannot be acquired solely through learning the language, and it leads you into areas such as gender issues, popular culture, theatre studies, aesthetics, anthropology, art history, ethics, history, philosophy, politics, psychology and theology. You can either study a broad, chronological range of literature or focus your studies on the medieval, the early modern, or the modern period right up to the present day.

The course also offers a wide range of options in non-literary subjects including linguistics, philology, advanced translation and film studies.

Careers

Employers value Modern Languages graduates because they are competent in one or two languages, have acquired a range of transferable skills and have first-hand experience of other cultures. The Languages Work website has further information about careers using languages: www.languageswork.org.uk. Modern Languages graduates from Oxford regularly go into highly competitive areas such as law, management consultancy, accountancy, international press agencies, the media, advertising, the Foreign Office and the performing arts. Recent Modern Languages graduates include a business development manager for a social enterprise company, a theatre director, and a personal tax manager.

Jenny, who graduated in 2000, has been working as a translator for the Star Group in the UK since 2005. She says: ‘I spent three years in a multinational blue chip company in the fast moving consumer goods sector using my languages daily in customer account management before studying for an MSc in Translation. The rigour and challenge of Oxford’s small-group tuition, plus the practical experience of working bilingually as a teaching assistant during my year abroad in Spain provided useful foundations for my work as a professional linguist.’

Richard, who graduated in 1999, is now a content developer for Linguascope.com. He says: ‘Studying languages at Oxford gave me a real focus for the subject, which has remained a life-long obsession and opened up great career opportunities. I have combined the strong grounding my studies gave me with a passion for IT, and currently work as     lead developer for the UK’s best-known language resources website for schools. Oxford set me up as a lifelong learner of languages, and the learning skills I picked up there continue to help me adapt and develop in the professional world.’

› View College options for Modern Language courses

UCAS code Celtic Czech French German Mod. Greek Italian
Celtic     RQ15 RQ25 QQ75 RQ35
Czech     RR1R RR2P QR77 RR37
French RQ15 RR1R   RR12 RQ17 RR13
German RQ25 RR2P RR12   RQ27 RR23
Mod. Greek QQ75 QR77 RQ17 RQ27   RQ37
Beginner's Italian RQ53 RR73 R1R3 RR32 RR93  
Italian RQ35 RR37 RR13 RR23 RQ37  
Polish     R1R7 R2R7 Q7R7 RR3T
Portuguese RQ55 RR5R RR15 RR25 RQ57 RR35
Russian RQ75 R790 RRC7 RR2Q RQ77 RR3R
Spanish RQ45 RR4R RR14 RR24 RQ47 RR34

 

UCAS code Polish Portuguese Russian Spanish
Celtic   RQ55 RQ75 RQ45
Czech   RR5R R790 RR4R
French R1R7 RR15 RRC7 RR14
German R2R7 RR25 RR2Q RR24
Mod. Greek Q7R7 RQ57 RQ77 RQ47
Beginner's Italian   RR53 RRJ7 RR43
Italian RR3T RR35 RR3R RR34
Polish   R5R7 R791 R4R7
Portuguese R5R7   RRM7 RR45
B. Russian   RR57   RR47
Russian R791 RRM7   RRK7
Spanish R4R7 RR45 RRK7  

 

UCAS code B. Czech B. Greek B. Italian
B. Portuguese B.Russian
Celtic   RQ95 RQ35  RQ5N   
Czech   RR97 RR73  RRN7   R792
French RR1S RR19 
R1R3  RR1M   RR17
German RRF7 RRG9 
RR32  RR2M   RR27
Mod. Greek RR7Y
  RR93  RR59  QR7R
Italian RR3S 
RR39 
   RR3M   RRH7
Portuguese RR75
RR5X
 RR53    RR57
Russian R793 RR79 
RRJ7  RRNT  
Spanish RR4S 
RR49 
RR43  RR4M  RR47

 

B. = Beginners' course

Related Courses

Students interested in this course might also like to consider other language courses or Oriental Studies.

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Key Information Sets

KIS iconClick on the subject names below to see KIS data for each language of each course.

Single Modern Languages
French R110   Portuguese R500
German R200   Russian R711
Modern Greek Q710   Spanish R400
Italian R300      

Beginners' Russian

Courses with Beginners' Russian UCAS codes
Czech and Beginners' Russian R792
French and Beginners' Russian RR17
German and Beginners' Russian RR27
Modern Greek and Beginners' Russian QR7R
Italian and Beginners' Russian RRH7
Portuguese and Beginners' Russian RR57
Spanish and Beginners' Russian RR47

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