Program Overview

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Modern Languages and Cultures with Year Abroad

Overview

Develop advanced language skills and in-depth cultural awareness as you delve into a range of modern languages. A degree in modern languages is your passport to exciting international career opportunities.

Start Dates

• September 2026
• September 2025

Degree Type

BA

Course Length

4 years full-time

Location

Durham City

UCAS Code

R002

Typical Offers

• A Level: AAA
• BTEC: DDD

Course Details

This BA offers you the opportunity to combine the development of high-level language skills with in-depth critical engagement with other cultures through studying literature, art, film, and visual culture, history, and politics.

If you already have an A level (or equivalent) in French, German, Italian, Russian, or Spanish, we offer advanced courses in those languages. You will also have the choice to study beginner courses in the above languages or Arabic. Whether you are a beginner or a post-A level student in your chosen languages, you will also study cultural modules together, and the beginner and advanced streams fully merge in the final year.

In Year 1, you can study up to three languages, focusing on the key skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. You will also explore aspects of the literature, film, art, history, and politics of the cultures you are studying.

In Year 2, you will be able to study one or two languages, building on your skills and allowing you to begin to specialize in areas that interest you.

You will then spend Year 3 abroad, either as an English assistant in a school or university, as a student, or on a work placement. You will divide your time between countries whose languages you will study in your final year. This is a time of enormous linguistic and personal development, when you should gain fluency in your language and enjoy a unique opportunity to make new friends, appreciate other cultures, and learn to work and study in new ways. You can also apply to add a placement year to your degree, increasing the course from four years to five.

In Year 4, you will develop your advanced skills in one or two chosen languages. You will also continue your cultural studies, focusing on your areas of interest (such as the work of a particular writer or the culture of a particular period).

Course Structure

Year 1 Modules

Core Modules:

• Languages
  • Arabic (Beginner)
  • French (Beginner or Advanced)
  • German (Beginner or Advanced)
  • Hispanic Studies (Beginner or Advanced)
  • Italian (Beginner or Advanced)
  • Russian (Beginner or Advanced)

Optional Modules:

• Introduction to Middle Eastern Cultures
• Islam Observed: Ethnographic Accounts of Muslim Practice
• Reading French Literature (Beginner or Advanced)
• Society and its Outsiders in Modern France
• The Invention of France
• Picturing the Past of the German-Speaking Countries
• Reading German Culture
• Italy and the Arts
• Understanding Russian: Arts and Ideologies

Year 2 Modules

Core Modules:

• Languages
  • Arabic (double module)
  • French
  • German
  • Hispanic Studies
  • Italian
  • Russian

Optional Modules:

• Arabic Literature
• Persian
• Modernity and Disenchantment: 19th and 20th Century French Literature and Culture
• Sex and Identity in Germanic Cultures
• Catalan (Beginners)
• Latin American Texts
• Narratives of Fascist and Post War Italy
• The Languages of Italy
• Russian and Soviet Cinema

Year 3 Modules

Core Modules:

• Study Abroad

The third year is spent abroad as an English assistant in a school, as a student in a university, or in employment of some kind. During the year abroad, you complete a summative Year Abroad assignment with guidance from Durham staff.

Year 4 Modules

Core Modules:

• Extended Dissertation or a Dissertation

You will produce an Extended Dissertation or a Dissertation depending on the number of languages studied.

• Languages
  • Arabic (double module)
  • French
  • German
  • Hispanic Studies
  • Italian
  • Russian

Optional Modules:

• Trends in Modern Arabic Literature and Film
• French Cinema 1930s to 1990s
• German Interpreting
• Berlin: City of Diverse Cultures
• Representing Women: Sex and Power in Colonial Latin America
• Centres and Margins Across Italian Literatures and Media
• Italian Cinema
• The Poet and the State
• The Making of the Russian Intelligentsia (1762–1917)

Learning

Language modules cultivate speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. For cultural and historical modules, lectures will introduce themes, context, and commentary. Seminars provide an opportunity to develop your critical skills through discussion with other students and staff.

Classroom teaching is only the start; there is an increasing emphasis on independent learning and research, culminating in your dissertation in Year 4. Most of your time will be spent working independently – reading widely, making notes, finding sources, and watching/listening to audio-visual materials. The course aims to help you learn how to learn, guiding you towards independence in using resources effectively, thinking critically, and formulating persuasive arguments.

Feedback is an ongoing element of the learning process, progressively preparing you for written and oral assessments.

The year abroad is a key element in your developmental education, enhancing your language skills and expanding your intercultural competence.

Assessment

Cultural and historical modules are assessed by essays, commentaries, projects, and examinations, while language modules are assessed by a mixture of oral, listening, and written examinations. You will also complete a dissertation or extended dissertation in your final year.

During your year abroad, you will complete a Year Abroad assignment.

Entry Requirements

• A Level Offer: AAA
• Contextual Offer: BBB

Including at least one language from Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian, or Spanish.

• Grade A at A level in French, German, Italian, Russian, or Spanish is required to study that subject at advanced level.
• Grade A at A level in a modern European language is required to begin the study of a new beginners’ language, including French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic.

Fees and Funding

The fees for this academic year have not been confirmed yet.

The tuition fees shown for home students are for one complete academic year of full-time study and are set according to the academic year of entry. Fees for subsequent years of your course may rise in line with an inflationary uplift as determined by the government.

The tuition fees shown for overseas and EU students are for one complete academic year of full-time study, are set according to the academic year of entry, and will be subject to an annual inflationary increase expected to rise throughout the programme of study.

Career Opportunities

A degree in Languages and Cultures will provide you with an impressive portfolio of cultural knowledge, transferable skills, and real-world experiences that is valued by employers worldwide. In particular, the year abroad which, as well as developing language abilities, can also greatly enhance your intercultural, problem-solving, and communication skills.

With the UK as a whole producing fewer linguists, proficiency in languages coupled with the intellectual rigor and cultural understanding acquired during your degree will make you highly employable in a wide range of careers both in the UK and internationally. These include occupations such as interpreting, translation, and teaching, media and the arts, but also working across wider industry in research, administration, human resources, sales, and business development, and the financial services.

Department Information

The Department of Languages and Cultures offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programs in languages, cultures, and linguistics. Our research expertise spans language and society, the arts, and cultural history, and we have a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research and collaboration.

Rankings

• Top 5 for languages in The Complete University Guide 2025
• Top 10 for languages in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025
• Top 100 The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025

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