Italian and Spanish

Italian and Spanish are the two most widely studied Romance languages in the UK, and studying both together opens up an extraordinarily rich linguistic and cultural territory. Italian gives you access to one of the world's great artistic and literary traditions, from Dante and Petrarch to the modernism of Calvino and the cinema of Fellini, as well as the economic and political culture of contemporary Italy. Spanish is the official language of twenty countries and is spoken by hundreds of millions of people across Europe, the Americas, and beyond, making it one of the most geographically and culturally diverse linguistic communities on earth.

Studying both languages side by side deepens your understanding of each, since their shared Romance roots and overlapping but distinct histories illuminate one another.

At University College London, this four-year full-time programme gives you the time and academic environment to develop serious fluency in both languages alongside genuine depth of knowledge in the cultures, literatures, and histories they carry. UCL's Modern Languages faculty is one of the strongest in the UK, and you will be working with researchers who are experts in Italian and Hispanic studies. You will typically include a period of study or work in Italy and Spain or Latin America as part of the degree, which is essential for the level of fluency the programme aims to develop.

Language study at this intensity develops a distinctive set of analytical capabilities. You become skilled at close reading across linguistic systems, sensitive to the way meaning is constructed differently in different languages, and capable of sustained intellectual work in more than one language. The literary and cultural content of the degree adds historical depth and critical sophistication to these skills.

Graduates in Italian and Spanish move into careers in translation, interpreting, teaching, journalism, international business, law, diplomacy, and the cultural industries. The combination of two major European and global languages makes these graduates attractive to multinational organisations, the European institutions, and to businesses with interests in the Spanish-speaking world. Postgraduate study in languages, translation, European studies, or Latin American studies is a natural continuation for those who want to deepen their expertise.