Chinese and Russian

Chinese and Russian is a combination of exceptional intellectual ambition, joining the world's most widely spoken language by native speakers with the language of the largest country on Earth. Chinese, in its Mandarin form, is the native language of nearly a billion people and the official language of China, one of the world's most significant geopolitical and economic actors. Russian is the first language of more than 150 million people and the political and cultural language of a vast territory stretching from the Baltic to the Pacific.

Mastering both opens a dual window onto Asia and Eurasia that is genuinely rare and increasingly valuable.

At the University of Edinburgh, this four-year, full-time programme develops both languages seriously, taking you from an appropriate starting point in each to an advanced level that allows engagement with literature, culture, and professional contexts in both Chinese and Russian. Edinburgh has strong departments in both East Asian studies and Slavonic studies, and you will engage with the literary, historical, and cultural worlds that each language carries. Chinese literature from classical poetry to contemporary fiction, and Russian literature from Pushkin to the Soviet period and beyond, are both explored with depth and rigour.

Language learning in both Chinese and Russian demands considerable commitment, given their very different structures and writing systems, and the four-year format gives you the time needed to develop real competence in both. A typical entry tariff of 168 UCAS points reflects Edinburgh's academic expectations.

Combining Chinese and Russian at degree level is a genuinely distinctive achievement that opens doors across diplomacy, international business, journalism, academia, and government.

Graduates pursue careers in international affairs, business with China or Russia and the former Soviet states, translation, journalism, the cultural sector, and academia. Many continue to postgraduate study in area studies, languages, or international relations.