Portuguese and Beginners' Russian

Portuguese and Russian represent a pairing of two languages of extraordinary global reach, each carrying a civilisation of remarkable depth and influence. Portuguese is the fifth most widely spoken language in the world, the primary language of Brazil as well as Portugal and Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, and other lusophone nations, and it carries a literary tradition from Camoes to Fernando Pessoa and a contemporary cultural vitality that extends across music, cinema, and literature. Russian is one of the great languages of world literature, philosophy, and science, spoken across a vast geographical area and carrying the weight of a history that has shaped the modern world profoundly.

At the University of Oxford, this four-year, full-time programme is one of the most academically demanding modern languages degrees available. The programme begins Portuguese from scratch, so no prior knowledge is assumed, while Russian is studied at beginners' level, meaning the programme is designed for those coming to both languages without extensive prior study in one or both. Oxford's tutorial system means your intellectual development is supported by intensive one-to-one and small-group teaching with leading scholars in both fields.

You will develop linguistic proficiency alongside a serious engagement with the literatures, histories, and cultures of the Portuguese-speaking and Russian-speaking worlds, including the colonial and post-colonial dimensions of lusophone culture and the extraordinary complexity of Russian history from the Tsars through the Soviet period to the present.

Graduates from Oxford's modern languages programmes go on to careers in diplomacy and the foreign service, international business, translation and interpreting, journalism, law, finance, academia, and the cultural sector. The combination of Portuguese and Russian fluency is rare and highly valued in international organisations, development work, energy and resource industries, and research contexts where engagement with lusophone Africa, Brazil, and the Russian-speaking world is relevant.