Chinese and French

Chinese and French is a combination that carries you simultaneously into two of the world's most globally significant languages and the rich literary, cultural, and intellectual traditions associated with them. At the University of Edinburgh, the MA Chinese and French is a four-year full-time programme that engages with both languages in the context of the histories, literatures, and societies of the many countries in which they are spoken, as the current description notes. French is spoken as a first language by around eighty million people and as an official language across five continents, while Mandarin Chinese is the first language of more people than any other language on earth.

The programme takes both languages with equal seriousness. The French strand develops your linguistic proficiency to a high level while engaging with the history, literature, culture, and contemporary society of France and the broader Francophone world, from Quebec and the Caribbean to sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. The Chinese strand develops your Mandarin from a level appropriate to your prior experience, working with the tonal spoken language and the character writing system simultaneously, while engaging with Chinese literature, history, and contemporary society.

Edinburgh's Scottish MA structure provides breadth in the early years before you specialise more deeply, and the programme benefits from the university's strong research presence in both language areas.

Graduates of Chinese and French programmes carry a combination of linguistic competence and cultural knowledge that is genuinely rare and exceptionally valuable in the international graduate jobs market. Diplomacy, international business and trade, journalism and media with an international focus, translation and interpreting, the European and international institutions, education, and cultural organisations are all natural career directions. The combination covers two of the most important diplomatic and commercial language pairs simultaneously, which is a distinctive professional advantage.

Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in one or both language areas, in area studies, translation, or international relations. The analytical and cultural depth the degree develops is a strong foundation for any career involving sustained international engagement.