Latin and Russian

Latin opens a window onto a civilisation that shaped much of the Western world's law, literature, philosophy, and language. Reading Virgil, Cicero, or Livy in the original is not simply a linguistic exercise; it is an encounter with modes of thought and expression that have influenced how societies organise themselves and how writers across centuries have understood the human condition. Russian, meanwhile, is one of the great literary languages, with a tradition that runs from Pushkin and Tolstoy to Chekhov and beyond, and it remains an important language for diplomacy, scholarship, and international affairs.

Studying Latin and Russian at the University of St Andrews over four years, you will develop proficiency in both languages while engaging seriously with their literatures and the cultures they express. In Latin, you will read original texts in prose and verse, building both close reading skills and the broader capacity to analyse complex arguments and cultural contexts. In Russian, you will work towards confident spoken and written fluency alongside deep engagement with Russian literary and intellectual traditions.

The programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to immerse yourself in a Russian-speaking environment and develop the kind of linguistic confidence that classroom study alone cannot replicate.

The skills you build across this joint honours degree are highly transferable. Close reading, precise argument, the ability to work in more than one language, and comfort with cultural difference are all qualities valued in a wide range of careers. Graduates pursue paths in academia, diplomacy, the civil service, publishing, translation, journalism, law, and international business.

For those who wish to continue their studies, postgraduate routes in classics, Slavonic studies, modern languages, and related fields are natural progressions. The combination of an ancient language and a modern one is unusual and intellectually rewarding, producing graduates with a genuinely distinctive set of capabilities.