Modern Languages / History

Modern languages and history together offer a rich intellectual combination, using linguistic and cultural analysis alongside historical method to understand human experience across time and geography. Languages give you direct access to sources, literatures, and perspectives in their original form, while history develops the skills of evidence evaluation, causal reasoning, and contextual understanding needed to make sense of the societies those languages have shaped. The combination produces graduates who are both globally minded and historically literate.

Aberystwyth University's four-year full-time programme in modern languages and history allows you to combine the study of one or more modern languages with historical enquiry, developing competence in language alongside expertise in historical periods and questions that interest you. Aberystwyth has a long tradition of language teaching and of Welsh and European history, giving the programme a distinctive character shaped by the bilingual, multicultural context of Wales and by the university's research strengths. You will study language skills at an advanced level, including written and oral communication, translation, and engagement with literature and culture in the target language, alongside historical methodology, primary source analysis, and thematic historical study across a range of periods and regions.

The programme develops strong research, writing, and communication skills in both disciplines.

Graduates from modern languages and history programmes go on to work in education, translation, journalism, international business, diplomacy, heritage, publishing, the civil service, and a wide range of policy and research roles. The ability to work in more than one language, to think historically, and to communicate complex ideas with precision is valued by employers across the public and private sectors. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in history, linguistics, area studies, or international relations.