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University of Bristol, School of Modern Languages
The School of Modern Languages at the University of Bristol is one of the UK’s leading centres for language studies. Demonstrating an overwhelming passion for foreign languages and cultures, the school prepares students to become agile leaders in the global world and the future workplace.
Internationally-recognised for its close-knit community and long-established reputation for innovative teaching and research, the school approaches Modern Languages as a progressive practice of intercultural communication along with the study of individual languages.
Our courses
We feature a range of BA programmes with one, two, or three languages, as well as programmes with one language and another subject, such as International Business Management, History, Law, Politics, and others. We offer MA programmes in translation, comparative literatures and cultures, and black humanities.
BA Modern Languages - One single honours degree, available four years full-time
Czech - Six BA honours degrees available
French - Thirteen BA honours degrees and one LLB honours degree available
German - Thirteen BA honours degrees and one LLB honours degree available
Italian - Thirteen BA honours degrees available
Portuguese - Eleven BA honours degrees available
Russian - Nine BA honours degrees available
Spanish - Twelve BA honours degrees available
Preparing global leaders
Student-centred teaching
We prepare our students to become agile participants and leaders in the global world. We treat Modern Languages as an opportunity to develop a range of specialised and transferable skills, forging attributes of global citizenship. In addition to learning one or more languages, you will become familiar with the cultures and societies in which these languages are spoken, taking units that range broadly from literature and film to history and politics.
In this way, learning languages opens up access to the worldviews of various communities. You will also be able to attend units that explore a problem across different cultures and societies, which enables you to consider an issue from different perspectives and develop the skills of multi-dimensional understanding. This will give you the creativity and adaptability required for a flexible future career. And of course by being exposed to the values and ways of living of different societies, you will also develop a deeper appreciation of the distinctiveness of UK cultures.
Our students are at the heart of what and how we teach. We’ve developed an interactive learning environment in which our students become independent thinkers with a broad range of intellectual and interpersonal skills. You will be taught via a mixture of interactive lectures, seminars, and language classes, most of which ‘flip’ the traditional classroom by introducing you to key material online before your classes. Your time in class is then used to deepen your understanding by getting you to interact with your peers while receiving specialist input from your tutors.
In turn, we assess your learning through an innovative variety of models, from written projects and exams to oral presentations, video projects and groupwork. Throughout, you will be taught using a range of state-of-the-art resources, including a dedicated Multimedia Centre and all its IT and AV features.
Research-rich teaching
You will also be taught by academic experts who are recognised for how their cutting-edge research shapes the latest thinking about the importance of modern languages and the cultures in which they have developed. This research makes our courses rigorous, relevant, and imaginative, in line not only with what the job market demands but also with the realities of what it means to live in a multilingual world. For example, you will quickly understand that translation is more than just a process of transferring meaning from one language to another, since you have to think about the contexts in which those transfers take place: when, where, and in what specific ways? To answer such questions requires global and cross-cultural viewpoints, so our School’s research reaches far beyond Western Europe to Russia and large areas of Latin America, Africa and South East Asia.
This breadth of research helps us to attract world-leading international academics, many of whom work with non-academic partners – for example, the Quipu Project, which teamed with documentary makers, creative technologists and NGOs to fight for social justice and African literary activism projects developed with the Centre for African Cultural Excellence and Bakwa Books to support entrepreneurship. Such research excellence enriches your experience as a learner and inspires top employers to be proactive in targeting Bristol graduates.
Transferable skills
The transferable skills you’ll gain as a Modern Languages student here are highly valued by employers. You’ll develop linguistic and intercultural understanding, mental agility, clarity of communication, and the ability to collaborate with others, not to mention your adaptability, independence, and creativity. Crucial to this skills set is our well-prepared Year Abroad, where you will immerse yourself in a foreign-language environment either through work placements or on academic courses at one of our university partners. We also offer study options in professional practice, for example in translation and interpreting, language-teaching pedagogy, or business culture.
By nature, these skills don’t just focus on academic success but on your general personal development as well, so the overall student experience is very important to us. We have a lively and friendly community which offers lots of activities to get involved with. You can write for one of our many language-specific newspapers or student-edited blogs, attend or host film screenings with our student-run film clubs, or participate in our yearly student-staged theatre/ variety shows. And our School’s academic and administrative staff alike are always here to help you however we can, even when you are on your Year Abroad – whether that’s help with study skills or with well-being support.
Undergraduate
Masters
PG DIP/MA in Translation
MA in Chinese-English Translation
MA in Comparative Literatures and Cultures
MA in Black Humanities
Taught Programmes (MA)
Research programmes (MPhil, PhD)
Research degrees can be taken in the following subjects:
French
German
Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
Italian
Russian and Czech
