Program Overview

BA French and Japanese

Overview

Course overview

• Perfect your expertise in two languages and extend your knowledge of a wide range of countries and cultures.
• Spend your third year studying or working abroad in Japan and French-speaking countries.
• Study at a university ranked sixth in the UK for Modern Languages (QS World University Rankings by subject 2024).

Entry requirements

A-level

• ABB including French or Japanese.
• This programme is designed for students whose level of Japanese at entry ranges from complete beginner to approximately A Level standard. It is not suitable for students whose first language is Japanese.
• Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken.
• Where applicants are applying for science and related degrees, this is likely to be made explicit in the offer you will receive.
• Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.

A-level contextual offer

• BBC including French or Japanese.
• You will be placed in the Advanced stream for your post A Level language(s) with a requirement of grade B or above and the Beginners stream if you have not studied the language before. Only one language can be studied at Beginners level.
• Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken.
• Where applicants are applying for science and related degrees, this is likely to be made explicit in the offer you will receive.
• Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.

UK refugee/care-experienced offer

• BBC including grade B in French or Japanese.
• Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken.
• Where applicants are applying for science and related degrees, this is likely to be made explicit in the offer you will receive.
• Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.

International Baccalaureate

• 34 points overall. 6,5,5 in Higher Level subjects including French or Japanese.
• Applicants studying the International Baccalaureate Career Related Programme (IBCP) should contact the admissions team prior to applying so that their academic profile can be considered.

GCSE/IGCSE

• Applicants must demonstrate a broad general education including acceptable levels of Literacy and Numeracy, equivalent to at least Grade 6 or B in GCSE/IGCSE English Language and 4 or C in Mathematics. GCSE/IGCSE English Literature will not be accepted in lieu of GCSE/IGCSE English Language.
• Please note that if you hold English as a second language IGCSE qualification, we may also require you to offer one of our acceptable equivalent English Language qualifications or achieve a higher grade in your IGCSE than the one stated above. Please contact the admissions team in your academic School/Department for clarification.

Other entry requirements

• Other entry requirements exist for this course. You may view these by selecting from the list below.

Fees and funding

Fees

• Fees for entry in 2026 have not yet been set. For entry in 2025 the tuition fees were £9,535 per annum for home students, and are expected to increase slightly for 2026 entry.

Policy on additional costs

• All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

• Find out more from student finance
• Eligible UK students can apply for bursaries and scholarships
• Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages
• Many students work part-time or complete a student internship

Application and selection

How to apply

• Apply through UCAS

Advice to applicants

• Mitigating circumstances may be personal or family illness, other family circumstances, change of teachers during a course, problems with school facilities or an unusual curriculum followed by your school or college.
• We recommend that information on mitigating circumstances that have affected or are likely to affect your academic performance should be included in the referee's report.
• We cannot usually consider information that is supplied after an adverse decision has been made on an application by the admitting School.
• If you encounter mitigating circumstances after you have submitted your application, please inform the admissions staff in the School to which you applied as soon as possible.

Home-schooled applicants

• If you are a student who has followed a non-standard educational route, e.g. you have been educated at home; your application will be considered against the standard entry criteria of the course for which you are applying.
• You will be required to demonstrate that you meet the specified academic entry requirements of the course.
• We will also require a reference from somebody who knows you well enough, in an official capacity, to write about you and your suitability for higher education.

Non-standard educational routes

• Mature students are some of our most well-equipped learners, bringing skills and attributes gained from work, family and other life experiences.
• Students come from a whole array of backgrounds, study every kind of course, undertake full-time and part-time learning and are motivated by career intentions as well as personal interest. There is no such thing as a typical mature student at Manchester.
• The application process is the same as for other prospective undergraduates. If you require further clarification about the acceptability of the qualifications you hold please contact the academic School(s) you plan to apply to.

Course details

Course description

• French
  • Over 70% of our staff are native speakers, teaching you in French in 'language' classes as well as most 'culture' classes.
  • You will experience between three and six hours of French grammar and conversation every week (at post A-Level or beginners' level), in order to reach near-native precision and fluency. This will run in parallel with optional course units on French and francophone history, politics, literature, popular culture and/or linguistics, from the Early Modern period to the present.
  • You will benefit from our long-established partnership with the Alliance Française de Manchester with cultural events throughout the year, such as film screenings, talks, plays, concerts, exhibitions and intensive language classes.
  • You will also benefit from our collaboration with the Institut de Touraine in the Loire Valley, which hosts Easter and Summer French language classes that are appropriate for anyone from beginners to finalists.
  • Our range and quality of courses are regularly cited for praise by external examiners and three colleagues have won University Teaching Excellence Awards.
• Japanese
  • You will follow a Japanese Studies curriculum through which you will learn about Japan-related topics in historical, linguistic, cultural, religious and other contexts, drawing on the wide range of research carried out by staff in Japanese Studies.
  • The course centres on a core framework in Year 1 but some choice of course units from Year 2 onwards will enable you to focus on areas of interest in the study of Japan and East Asia.
  • Japanese Studies at Manchester is taught by a diverse team of academic specialists in the field.
  • The course gives you the opportunity to build on existing knowledge of the language or study it as a beginner.

Aims

• Provide you with a comprehensive grounding in French and Japanese language, literature, culture, history and linguistics, enabling you to become proficient enough to live and work effectively in a French or Japanese-speaking environment.
• Develop your linguistic skills including speaking and writing accurately, understanding and analysing audio, video and written materials, using different registers, speaking to a group with confidence, and translating with appropriate sensitivity.

Special features

• Residence abroad
  • You can study and/or work for up to a year in a country or countries relevant to your chosen language(s) to improve your communicative language skills in a native-speaker environment.
• Collaborations and partnerships
  • The University has links with language and cultural institutions across the city, including:
    • HOME - international and contemporary art, theatre and film;
    • Alliance Française - home of French language and culture.
• Societies
  • The University is home to over 30 international and language-related student societies offering a breadth of cultural activities and experiences, including the Francophone Society and the Japanese Society.

Teaching and learning

• You will learn through a mixture of formal lectures, seminars and tutorials, spending approximately 12 hours a week in formal study sessions.
• For every hour of university study, you will be expected to complete a further 2-3 hours of independent study. You will also need to study during the holiday periods.
• The individual study component could be spent reading, producing written work, revising for examinations or working in the University's Language Centre.

Coursework and assessment

• You will be assessed in various ways, including:
  • written and oral examinations;
  • presentations;
  • coursework (which may include library research, linguistic fieldwork and data collection, or web-based research);
  • in your final year, a dissertation based on a research topic of your choice.

Course unit details

• It is probably true to say that you will be doing more hours of study than many other students but if you put in the work your achievements will be correspondingly high.
• If you are concerned that Japanese is not the same as European languages in terms of workload then you should probably not be considering this course.
• If you are planning to work part-time you must ensure that you are able to put in sufficient study hours.
• Hard work is essential for learning Japanese - especially the written language - but doing so is an extraordinarily rewarding experience that opens numerous doors and produces very high levels of satisfaction.

Careers

Career opportunities

• A degree in Modern Languages and Cultures paves the way for a broad range of careers. You'll develop intercultural awareness and enhanced communication skills - both highly valued by employers.
• You'll also acquire transferable expertise at the very heart of language learning, including enhanced powers of perception and interpretation and advanced decision-making and multitasking skills.
• You'll develop independence and self-confidence during your residence abroad, and your intercultural communication skills will make you a strong contender for media, journalism and PR roles.
• Many of our graduates go straight into business services, marketing, advertising, management, banking or communications.
• Others pursue postgraduate study or further vocational training to become accountants, lawyers, teachers (both in the UK and overseas) or to enter the Civil Service.
• The University of Manchester is the second most targeted university in the UK for top graduate employers (High Fliers Research, 2024).
• Employers who have taken on graduates of our French courses in the past include KPMG, Deloitte, L'Oréal, BT, Louis Vuitton, Rothschild, Hilton Hotels, British Council, Teach First, Barclays and the BBC.
• Employers who have taken on graduates of our Japanese courses in the past include Nova (Kyoto), Hospital, The University of Manchester, The Confucius Institute, Hamburg Sud, Skin SN, Dell, Christian Dior Couture, Languages School, London LEA, IT Company, Media Company, Berlitz, DISCO, PC Games Company and JET.

Facilities

• The University Language Centre is home to language resources, including a new interpreting suite, purpose-built recording rooms, and resources for more than 70 languages.
• The Centre also offers multilingual word processing, language learning software, off-air recording and AV duplication, multilingual terrestrial and satellite TV, and extensive support and advice for learners.

Disability support

• Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service. Email: dass@manchester.ac.uk