Russian and Linguistics

Russian is one of the world's major languages, spoken by over 150 million people and serving as a lingua franca across much of the former Soviet Union. It is a language with a literary tradition of extraordinary richness, from Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky to Akhmatova and Bulgakov, and a political and historical significance that remains central to understanding twentieth and twenty-first century European and global affairs. Linguistics is the scientific study of language itself, examining how language is structured, how it is acquired, how it changes over time, and how it varies across communities and contexts.

Studying the two together gives you both a deep knowledge of a specific major language and the analytical tools to understand how language works in general.

At Queen Mary University of London, this four-year full-time degree allows you to study Russian and linguistics from the beginning, with no prior knowledge of Russian required. You will develop high-level proficiency in Russian alongside a rigorous grounding in phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and the history of language. The degree benefits from Queen Mary's exceptional linguistic research environment in east London, and the combination of language acquisition and linguistic analysis develops a distinctive intellectual profile.

Graduates combining Russian with linguistics are well placed for careers in translation and interpreting, language teaching, journalism, international relations, the civil service and diplomatic service, and the broad range of organisations with interests in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Linguistics training also opens doors in computational linguistics, speech technology, language assessment, and applied linguistics research. For those drawn to academic work, the combination provides excellent preparation for postgraduate study in Russian studies, linguistics, translation, or language acquisition.

The typical entry tariff is 136 points.