Modern Languages: Italian
Italian at Oxford allows you to learn this language of poetry and music. You will have the opportunity to study in the original:
- the great works of the past (of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli)
- famous recent writers (Pirandello, Calvino, Primo Levi, Anna Maria Ortese, Elsa Morante)
- as well as renowned exponents of the visual arts (Alberti, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Cellini) and cinema (Visconti, Fellini, Sorrentino).
Contemporary Italy still has much to teach us. Students who spend their year abroad in Italy:
- enjoy a unique, culturally enriching experience (not to mention the food, fashion and sport)
- regularly form lasting friendships with Italians
- and often return there to live and work.
If you do not have an A-level or equivalent knowledge of Italian, it is possible to study Italian from scratch.
Options for studying Italian at Oxford
Italian cannot be studied on its own as a single language, but it can be studied in combination with one of the following languages/subjects:
- A modern European language: French, German, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Modern Greek, or Czech (with Slovak). Students who do not have an A level or equivalent in the relevant language may (in all cases, except French or Spanish) combine Italian with a beginners’ version of the language. It is also possible to combine Italian with Polish. We generally expect all students wishing to study Polish to be beginners, though those with experience are also very welcome to apply.
- A Middle Eastern Language offered by the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies: Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish. These languages are all available to beginners with no prior knowledge of the language
- English
- Classics
- History
- Linguistics
- Philosophy
The study of European languages at Oxford provides both practical training in written and spoken language and an extensive introduction to the literature and thought of the language(s) you have chosen.
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. You can study the literature of a language chronologically and focus on particular periods - the medieval, the early modern or the modern era.
A degree in Italian combined with another language/subject, is normally four years in length. Modern Languages students usually spend the third year of their course abroad (except if they are taking beginners’ Russian, in any available combination, in which case they spend the second year abroad). This is often as a paid language assistant in a foreign school, though you may work abroad or study at a foreign university.
Italian with another European language
If you are studying for a joint degree, combining Italian with another language, you will spend around half your time studying Italian language and literature and around half studying the other language and related literature.
Italian with a Middle Eastern language (BA in European and Middle Eastern Languages)
If you are studying for a joint degree combining Italian with Arabic, Hebrew, Persian or Turkish, you will spend around half your time studying Italian language and literature and around half studying the other language and related literature.
In the first year, however, there is less literature in the European language to allow for intensive focus on the Middle Eastern language. You will normally spend your second academic year at an approved course of study in the Middle East. You are strongly advised to spend the adjacent summers where the European language of your choice is spoken.
Italian and another subject (English, Classics, History, Linguistics, Philosophy)
If you are studying for a joint degree combining Italian with another subject, around half of the degree programme will consist of Italian language and literature, and around half will be made up of courses related to the other subject.
Visit Italian on the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages website for more information
