French with Polish

French is one of the great literary and intellectual languages of the western world, with a tradition stretching from the medieval fabliaux and the poetry of Villon through Moliere, Racine and the philosophes of the Enlightenment to the modernist experiments of Proust, Beckett and the nouveau roman. Polish, less commonly studied in UK universities but rich in its own extraordinary literary tradition, brings into focus a culture shaped by centuries of partition, occupation and recovery, producing writers of international significance including Milosz, Szymborska and Kapuscinski. Studying both at the University of Oxford means engaging with these traditions at the deepest academic level, through the intensive and individual tutorial system for which Oxford is known.

This four-year full-time programme will develop your French to the highest level of academic proficiency, deepening your language skills through close reading of literature, engagement with film and culture, and the sustained practice of writing and speaking in the language. You will develop Polish from an advanced to an expert level, working through language classes and literary study in parallel with your French. You will engage with both the canonical texts and the theoretical and critical traditions that surround them, developing the analytical and interpretive skills to work independently with complex literary and cultural material.

Graduates from Oxford language combinations are exceptionally well placed in the graduate market. Translation and interpreting, the foreign office and diplomatic service, international organisations, journalism, publishing, academia, business, consultancy and cultural organisations all seek graduates with the depth of linguistic and cultural knowledge that this degree develops. Polish-French bilingualism is unusual enough to be genuinely distinctive, and many graduates find that it opens unexpected professional doors.

Postgraduate study in French, Slavonic studies, comparative literature, translation or European culture is also a natural next step.