Arabic and Italian and Spanish

Arabic, Italian and Spanish is an ambitious three-language degree that brings together one of the great Semitic languages with two of the most widely spoken Romance languages in the world. Arabic connects you to the culture, literature and contemporary life of the Arab world, spoken across the Middle East and North Africa and carrying one of the richest intellectual and literary traditions in human history. Italian opens the world of Dante, the Renaissance, opera and modern Italian culture.

Spanish provides access to the literature of Cervantes, Lorca and the extraordinary output of Latin America, and to the communities of Spain and hundreds of millions of speakers across the globe.

At the University of St Andrews you will develop proficiency across all three languages, studying not only linguistic skills in reading, writing and spoken communication but also the literary, historical, cultural and political dimensions of the societies that speak them. The programme runs over four years full time and includes a year abroad, spent in contexts where your languages are spoken and where you can deepen your linguistic and cultural engagement through immersion. The combination allows for a remarkable range of comparative analysis across literary and cultural traditions.

Graduates of this degree bring a genuinely unusual combination of linguistic capabilities to professional life. Translation and interpreting, diplomacy and foreign affairs, international business, journalism, cultural institutions, education and the creative industries all offer relevant career paths. The combination of Arabic with Italian and Spanish is particularly unusual and opens opportunities in organisations and roles requiring engagement across Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.

Postgraduate study in modern languages, Arabic studies, translation, comparative literature or international relations is a natural further route.