Modern Languages

If you want to focus on gaining fluency in one, two or three modern languages, our BA Modern Languages degree is for you. You will combine language study with translation and cultural modules in a ratio which suits you and your ambitions. Choose to study French, German, Italian and/or Spanish at beginners', advanced or native speaker level, developing your writing, reading, speaking and listening skills. You will be taught by native speakers who will guide you through the core language components for each of the languages you have chosen.

The remainder of your course will give you an opportunity to explore the literature, art, culture and history of the language areas you are studying, from seventeenth-century French theatre to representations of childhood and youth in German culture, and from Italian fashion and design to visual arts from all the corners of the Spanish-speaking world. As a modern linguist, you will develop excellent communication and research skills, and combine proficiency in multiple languages with cross-cultural perspectives.

In your third year you will have the opportunity to spend a year working, teaching or studying abroad, where you will immerse yourself in another language and culture, truly broadening your horizons in the process. You also have the choice to combine experiences in up to three different countries.

In the event of a no-deal Brexit, we will commit to providing 2019 and 2020 entry students with a subsidy equivalent to current Erasmus+ funding (where this would have previously been funded by the Erasmus+ scheme). To find out more visit the Erasmus+ page.

• Choose beginners’, advanced or native-speaker level French, German, Spanish or Italian.

• Spend a year abroad working, studying or teaching.

• Specialise in translation, visual culture or literature.

• Core language skills alongside cultural options.

• Gain skills in writing, reading, speaking and listening.

Course Modules

Core Modules

Year 1

Depending on which languages you have studied prior to starting at Royal Holloway, you may choose to study up to three from French, German, Italian and/or Spanish.  All languages we teach have a beginners' and a post-A Level pathway in Year 1, allowing you to study one language ab initio (intensively, from scratch). From Year 2 onwards all students take the same language modules, regardless of your Year 1 pathway.

As a Modern Languages student you will take:

• Critical Analysis for Linguists

• French Advanced Written I

• French Advanced Oral I

• French Ab Initio Written I

• French Ab Initio Oral I

• German Advanced Written I

• German Advanced Oral I

• German Ab Initio Written I

• German Ab Initio Oral I

• Italian Advanced Written I

• Italian Advanced Oral I

• Italian Ab Initio Written I

• Italian Ab Initio Oral I

• Spanish Advanced Written I

• Spanish Advanced Oral I

• Spanish Ab Initio Written I

• Spanish Ab Initio Oral I

Year 2

• French Language II

• German Language II

• Italian Language II

• Spanish Language II

Year 3

• Year Abroad

Year 4

• Pratique du Français III

• German Language III

• Advanced Italian III

• Spanish III

Optional Modules

Below is a taster of some of the exciting optional modules that students on the course could choose from during this academic year. Please be aware these do change over time, and optional modules may be withdrawn or new ones added.

Year 1

• Key French Texts: The Individual and Society

• The Visual Image in French Culture and Society

• Tales of the City: Introduction to Thematic Analysis

• International Film 1: Contexts and Practices

• The Birth of Film

• French Language: Culture and Translation

• Introduction to German Studies

• Strange Encounters: Texts and Contexts in Modern German Culture

• Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and their Heritage

• Journeys of Identity Discovery, Subversion and Destruction in the Hispanic Worlds

• Spanish Language: Culture and Translation

Year 2

• Writing Romance and Desire

• Cinema in France

• Advanced French Translation: Skills and Practice

• Death, Desire, Decline: Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka

• Belonging and the Self in Contemporary German Fiction and Film

• Postwar Italian Cinema: the Auteur Tradition

• Art and Literature in Renaissance Florence

• Fake News, Gossip, and the Pursuit of Truth: From Renaissance Newsletters to Online Journalism

• Advanced Spanish Translation: Skills and Practice

• Deceit, Desire and the Self: Literature of the Spanish Golden Age

• Seducing the Nation: Spanish Film 1940s to 1980s

• Conflict in Latin American Literature

Year 4

• From Aestheticism to the Avant-Garde

• Transnationalism, Diaspora and Globalisation in Contemporary Film: Dissertation

• Modern Languages Dissertation

• Text and Image in France: from Cubism to the Present

• Blindness and Vision in French Culture

• Villains and Villainy in Early Modern French Theatre

• Redefining the Erotic in Contemporary French Literature and Film

• Fake News, Gossip, and the Pursuit of Truth: From Renaissance Newsletters to Online Journalism

• Narrative and Identity: The German Novel from the 18th to the 21st Century

• National Socialism and the Third Reich in German Film and Visual Culture from 1933 to the Present

• Art and Literature in Renaissance Florence

• Seducing the Nation: Spanish Film 1940s to 1980s

• Deceit, Desire and the Self: Literature of the Spanish Golden Age

https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/undergraduate/languages-literatures-and-cultures/modern-languages/

The course has a modular structure. You will take 120 credits’ worth of modules each year in years 1, 2 and 4, and 60 during your year abroad. Some modules are compulsory while others are elective thereby offering flexibility and choice.  You will take a core module in critical analysis and theory, with translation modules being offered in all languages at all levels. You will also take some cultural modules focusing on aspects such as visual cultures, literature, society or history of your chosen languages. The number of these modules you can take will vary depending on the number of languages you choose to study.

Our teaching combines a majority of seminars and small group work as well as role play and conversational activities, with some lectures. Private study and preparation are essential parts of every module, and you will have access to many online resources such as Powerpoint slideshows, copies of selected primary and secondary texts, audiovisual materials, class and seminar preparation aids, links to relevant external sites, quizzes and grammar and essay writing guidance, and the University’s comprehensive e-learning facility, Moodle. When you start with us, you will be assigned a Personal Tutor who will support you both academically and personally, and will be available for appointments during their regular surgery hours which take place at least twice weekly.

Each module is assessed using a varied range of methods such as coursework and end of year examinations. Coursework includes essays, language exercises, translations and reports. Oral presentations and computer-based tests are used in some modules to assess grammar and comprehension skills. You can, to some extent, choose modules which suit your own assessment preferences. In your final year, you will have the option of writing a dissertation or submitting a portfolio of essays, and you will attend individual tutorials to support this work.

You will also take a study skills module during your first year, designed to equip you with and enhance the writing skills you will need to be successful in your degree. This module does not count towards your final degree award but you are required to pass it to progress to your second year.