Dutch and Russian

Dutch and Russian at UCL is an unusual and distinctively European combination that gives you access to two languages and two cultural traditions that play important but often underestimated roles in European and world affairs. Dutch is the language of the Netherlands and Belgium, of a rich literary and cultural tradition, and of one of the world's great maritime and trading nations whose global influence has been far greater than its population might suggest. The Dutch-speaking world also includes Suriname and Afrikaans-speaking communities in South Africa, adding further dimensions to the language's global reach.

Russian is one of Europe's major languages, spoken by over 150 million people, and the cultural tradition it carries, from Tolstoy and Dostoevsky through Chekhov, Bulgakov, and the Soviet and post-Soviet literary traditions, is of the highest literary significance.

At UCL, this four-year programme develops genuine proficiency in both languages, with literary and cultural study conducted in each. You will engage with Dutch and Russian literatures, histories, films, and contemporary societies, developing the close reading and analytical skills that serious language study requires. UCL's Scandinavian and Dutch Studies department and its School of Slavonic and East European Studies both have distinguished scholarly traditions, and the combination gives you access to expertise across both fields in a single programme.

Graduates with competence in Dutch and Russian are genuinely rare in the UK, and this combination opens distinctive career paths in international business, particularly in trade between the Netherlands and Russia or in organisations connecting Western and Eastern Europe, diplomacy, journalism, translation, academic research, and cultural organisations. Postgraduate study in Dutch studies, Russian and East European studies, or comparative European languages is a natural further direction.