French and Beginners' Modern Greek

French and Modern Greek is one of the more unusual pairings available within modern languages at Oxford, and it reflects the university's exceptional breadth in less commonly taught languages alongside the major European tongues. French is one of the most diplomatically significant and widely spoken languages in the world, and its literary and intellectual tradition is among the richest in any language. Modern Greek, the contemporary form of one of the oldest recorded languages in the world, connects a living language of over ten million speakers to an ancient heritage of extraordinary depth, and it carries a modern literary and cultural tradition that deserves to be much better known in the English-speaking world, from Cavafy and Seferis to contemporary Greek fiction and cinema.

At the University of Oxford, this four-year, full-time programme begins Modern Greek from scratch, so no prior knowledge is assumed, while French is studied at an advanced level from the outset. Oxford's tutorial system means that your intellectual development in both languages and literatures is supported by intensive one-to-one and small-group teaching with leading scholars. You will develop genuine linguistic competence in both French and Modern Greek alongside a serious engagement with the literary and cultural traditions of both.

The programme situates both languages in their historical and contemporary contexts, examining modern Greece in relation to its Byzantine and classical past and to its place in contemporary Europe, and French in relation to its global reach and its philosophical and literary centrality to the Western tradition.

Graduates are equipped for careers in diplomacy, translation and interpreting, academia, journalism, cultural organisations, international business, and the EU institutions where Greek language skills are genuinely useful. Postgraduate study in French or Modern Greek studies, classics, European history, or translation is a natural next step for those who wish to specialise.