German and Hebrew

German and Hebrew is an intellectually rare and culturally significant combination, bringing together two languages that are deeply entangled in the history of European thought, religion, and catastrophe. German is one of the great literary and philosophical languages of the modern world, carrying traditions from Goethe and Schiller through Nietzsche, Kafka, and Thomas Mann to the contemporary German-speaking literary scene, and it is the language of an extraordinary output of philosophical, scientific, and theological thought. Hebrew, as both a classical religious language and the revived national language of modern Israel, opens access to the Hebrew Bible and the rabbinic tradition, to medieval Jewish philosophy, and to modern Israeli literature and culture.

At Oxford, this four-year full-time programme trains you to a high level of proficiency and critical engagement in both languages, studying their literatures, cultures, and histories alongside the linguistic structures that make them work. The intersection of German and Hebrew studies is particularly rich in the context of modern European and Jewish history, and the programme gives you the scholarly tools to engage with that history with both linguistic access and intellectual rigour. Oxford's Modern Languages faculty has world-leading specialists in both German and in Hebrew and Jewish studies, making this an exceptional place to pursue this combination.

Entry is highly competitive, typically requiring a tariff of around 184 points.

Graduates of German and Hebrew programmes work in diplomacy, journalism, education, publishing, interfaith dialogue, Holocaust research and commemoration, cultural organisations, and academic research. The combination is genuinely distinctive in the UK graduate market, and graduates who develop professional proficiency in both languages occupy a specialist position that relatively few others can match. Many continue to postgraduate study in German studies, Jewish studies, Hebrew and Jewish languages, or a related historical or cultural field.