Modern Languages / English Literature

Modern languages with English literature is a combination that develops two distinct and deeply complementary areas of expertise. Modern languages study builds high-level proficiency in a foreign language alongside a rich engagement with the literature, culture and history of the relevant language communities. English literature develops your capacity to read closely, think critically and write with precision across the full range of written forms in the English tradition.

Studied together, they develop the kind of comparative, cross-cultural sensitivity that is increasingly valued in a globalised and multilingual world.

At Aberystwyth University, this four-year full-time programme enables you to explore a wide range of literary texts from the early medieval period to the present day, while simultaneously developing your linguistic capabilities in one or more modern languages. You will build your powers of critical expression and analytical thinking across both subject areas, developing specialist knowledge and research skills that are directly applicable in a wide range of professional and academic contexts. The programme draws on two departments with strong reputations for teaching and research, and it is designed to produce graduates who are genuinely bilingual in a literary and analytical as well as a linguistic sense.

Graduates from modern languages with English literature programmes pursue careers in education, journalism, publishing, translation and interpreting, the civil service, cultural organisations, international business and academia. The combination of literary analytical skill and modern language competence is particularly valued in organisations that work across cultural and linguistic boundaries. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in linguistics, literary studies, translation, creative writing or area studies, and the programme provides a strong foundation for those who want to teach, research or work in the cultural and creative industries.