East Asian Studies and Linguistics
East Asian studies and linguistics is a combination that pairs one of the world's most culturally and economically significant regional specialisms with a scientific discipline devoted to understanding how language itself works. East Asian studies encompasses the histories, cultures, languages, literatures, and politics of China, Japan, Korea, and related societies, regions that together are home to more than a billion people and that have shaped and are continuing to reshape the global economy, international relations, and cultural production. Linguistics brings the tools of scientific language analysis to bear on this study, asking how the languages of East Asia are structured, how they compare with other language families, and what they reveal about cognition, culture, and communication.
At the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, this programme is available with a foundation year, making it accessible to students who need additional preparation before entering degree-level study. SOAS is one of very few universities in the world where East Asian languages and cultures can be studied alongside rigorous linguistics, and its research expertise in both areas is internationally recognised. You will develop skills in at least one East Asian language, learning to read, speak, and write at a level that allows genuine engagement with the region, alongside a systematic understanding of linguistic structure, phonology, morphology, syntax, and meaning.
The combination gives you both regional expertise and the analytical framework to approach languages more generally.
Graduates with East Asian studies and linguistics expertise are sought in government, intelligence, diplomacy, international business, translation and interpreting, education, and research institutions working on Asia-Pacific affairs. SOAS graduates are particularly well placed for organisations focused on international and development contexts. Postgraduate study in linguistics, East Asian studies, or applied linguistics is a natural continuation.