German and English

German and English is a combination that brings together the study of one of Europe's most significant literary and intellectual traditions with rigorous engagement with the English literary canon and its global reach. German is the language of Goethe, Kafka, Brecht, and Arendt, and of a philosophical tradition that includes Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche. English literature spans more than a thousand years of texts from across the world.

Studying both gives you depth in each and a genuinely comparative perspective on how language, culture, and literature work.

At University College London, this four-year full-time degree is split equally between German and English, ensuring you develop substantial expertise in both without either dominating. In the German strand, taught in the School of European Languages, Culture and Society, you will take modules in language skills covering speaking, listening, reading, writing, and translation, alongside cultural topics including literature, history, film, linguistics, and politics. The English strand develops your skills in close reading, literary analysis, and critical argument across a wide range of texts and periods.

A wide variety of modules allows you to shape the degree around your interests, whether those lean towards literary study, cultural history, linguistics, or the contemporary. Your third year is a year abroad, spent in a country where German is spoken, giving you the immersive linguistic and cultural experience that classroom study alone cannot replicate.

The combination of two languages and literary traditions develops exceptional analytical, communication, and intercultural skills that are highly transferable.

Graduates go on to careers in publishing, journalism, translation and interpreting, academia, international business, diplomacy, the civil service, and the cultural sector. Many continue to postgraduate study in German studies, comparative literature, translation, or related fields. The year abroad and the bilingual competence you develop make you genuinely distinctive to employers.