MA in Modern Languages

This MA is a broad-based programme focused on language and intercultural skills. It allows you to develop your language skills in one or two languages at the same time as exploring the cultures, politics and societies of Europe and the Hispanic and Francophone worlds. It offers an ideal preparation both for careers involving the use of modern languages, and for academic research.

The MA is taught by specialists in a range of languages, disciplines and cultures, with particular expertise in 19th- and 20th-century studies, film and visual culture, the study of identities, and colonial and postcolonial studies. MA-level language teaching is offered across a broad range: Czech, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian.

Our students are drawn from a variety of backgrounds. Studying for the MA is a chance to become part of a thriving academic community, with a close-knit student body and a lively programme of research and social events.

Core units

• Cultural Encounters
• Research Skills in Modern Languages

• European Literature of Ideas
• Constructing Identities
• Advanced Language unit

Students take at least two of the following units:

• Constructing Identities
• European Literature of Ideas
• European Society
• Theories of Visual Culture: Text and Image
• Europe and the Americas

Optional units

One further optional unit is chosen from a list across the Faculty of Arts, which varies slightly from year to year. You can opt to take a second language at advanced level; a supervised independent study module is available to students with specific research interests. Sample units include:

• Constructing German Identity since 1800
• The End of the Spanish Empire 1770-1898
• Tradition and Experimentation in 20th-Century European Fiction
• French Comic Drama 1639-1789
• French Literature and the Crusades
• Culture and Conflict
• Dante - Divine Comedy
• Dostoevsky's Major Fiction
• The Russian Revolution in Social and Cultural Perspective
• Small is Beautiful? National Identity in Czechand Slovak Writing Since 1918

Dissertation

You will complete approximately 15,000 words of detailed research on a theme arising from the taught components.