Czech (with Slovak) and Turkish

Czech (with Slovak) and Turkish is a degree that brings together two languages whose histories are deeply entangled with some of the most consequential events and regions of the modern world. Czech, with Slovak closely related, is the language of Central Europe, associated with a rich cultural and literary tradition and with a twentieth-century history of extraordinary political drama, from the Prague Spring to the Velvet Revolution. Turkish is the language of Turkey, a country that straddles Europe and Asia and occupies a pivotal position in the histories of the Ottoman Empire, the Islamic world, and the modern Eurasian political order, as well as being a Turkic language with connections extending into Central Asia.

At the University of Oxford, the European and Middle Eastern Languages course enables students to combine papers from a European language with papers in Arabic, Persian, or Turkish, exploiting the cultural and historical connections that exist between European and Middle Eastern linguistic traditions. Czech and Turkish is an intellectually compelling pairing: Central European and Turkish history intersect at multiple points across the medieval and modern periods, and studying the two languages together opens up comparative analyses of culture, literature, history, and politics that neither tradition illuminates fully on its own. The degree develops rigorous linguistic competence in both languages alongside deep cultural and historical understanding.

Graduates with this combination of Central European and Turkish expertise are exceptionally well placed for careers in diplomacy, international organisations, area studies research, journalism, the civil service, NGOs working in the region, and academic research. The rarity and depth of this linguistic combination, and the cultural intelligence it develops, is valued wherever work requires genuine engagement with two very different parts of the world. Postgraduate study in Slavonic studies, Turkish, Middle Eastern studies, or comparative cultural history provides routes to further specialisation.