International Relations and Language & Linguistics

International relations and language and linguistics is a combination that addresses both the political structures of the contemporary world and the communicative systems through which human beings understand and negotiate it. International relations provides the theoretical and empirical frameworks for studying how states, international organisations, non-governmental actors and social movements interact, examining questions of power, conflict, cooperation, security, trade and human rights. Linguistics investigates the nature of human language itself, asking how languages are structured, how they are acquired and processed, how they vary across communities, and how they change over time.

At the University of Aberdeen you will study across four years full-time, including a year abroad that deepens both your international perspective and your engagement with language in real social and cultural contexts. You will develop a solid grounding in the political analysis of world affairs alongside a scientifically rigorous understanding of how language works, how communication succeeds or fails, and what the diversity of the world's languages reveals about human cognition and society. The combination is particularly relevant in an era when communication, translation and the politics of language are increasingly central to international affairs and intercultural understanding.

Graduates are well placed for careers in government, diplomacy, international organisations, journalism, public policy, research, NGOs and any professional field that requires both analytical understanding of global affairs and sophisticated awareness of how language functions. The linguistic dimension is particularly valued in translation, language teaching, communications, human rights work and the design of international information systems. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in international relations, linguistics, applied linguistics, translation studies or political science, building on the dual foundation the degree provides.