German and Italian

German and Italian together represent two of the most culturally productive and intellectually significant traditions in European history. German is the language of Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche and Mann, and of a cultural and political history that has shaped the modern world profoundly. Italian is the language of Dante, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Galileo and Gramsci, and of a civilisation that stretches from the ancient Roman world through the Renaissance to contemporary European politics and design.

Studying both at Oxford, the university renowned worldwide for the rigour and intimacy of its tutorial-based education, offers an extraordinary intellectual formation.

This four-year programme at Oxford develops both languages to an advanced level while taking you deep into the literatures, histories and cultures of the German-speaking and Italian-speaking worlds. You will read canonical and contemporary texts in both languages, study the intellectual and cultural history of each tradition, and develop translation, essay-writing and oral skills in both German and Italian. The Oxford tutorial system means that you will discuss and defend your interpretations directly with specialists, building the kind of precise analytical confidence that distinguishes Oxford language graduates.

The typical entry tariff is 184 UCAS points.

Graduates pursue careers in international diplomacy, European institutions, cultural and academic publishing, journalism, translation and interpreting, the arts, law, business with European connections, and academic research and teaching. The combination of German and Italian cultural knowledge is particularly distinctive, and graduates are well placed in any professional environment requiring sophisticated cross-cultural communication and deep familiarity with European intellectual traditions. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in German or Italian studies, European history, comparative literature or translation.