Modern Languages

Modern languages is both a practical discipline and a deeply humanistic one. Learning to speak, read, and write in another language at a high level opens your access to a different culture, a different literary tradition, and a different way of making meaning. It also develops cognitive flexibility, attentiveness to nuance, and the ability to communicate across difference, all of which are increasingly valued in a world where most important work is done across national and cultural boundaries.

This four-year full-time programme at the University of Reading gives you the space to develop real proficiency in your chosen language or languages, while engaging with the literature, history, culture, and film of the countries where those languages are spoken. Reading has particular strength in European languages and offers a curriculum that takes literary and cultural study seriously alongside language skills. You will read authors in the original, analyse films and cultural texts, study the history of the societies you are learning about, and develop both oral fluency and sophisticated written expression.

The four-year structure allows for a period abroad, which is the single most effective way to develop genuine linguistic and cultural competence, and the programme is designed with that extended exposure in mind.

Modern languages graduates are sought after across a very wide range of careers, precisely because their combination of communication skills, cultural knowledge, and intellectual discipline is unusual. Careers include diplomacy and international relations, journalism, translation and interpretation, international business, law, publishing, education, and the arts. Many graduates work for international organisations, multinational companies, and NGOs where language skills are directly applied.

Others work in fields where the analytical and communication skills of the degree are valued regardless of the specific language. Postgraduate options include translation studies, comparative literature, international relations, and further language training.