German/Russian
German and Russian is one of the most demanding and rewarding language combinations available in higher education, giving you access to two major world languages that carry very different but equally rich literary, cultural, and political traditions. German is the language of Goethe, Kafka, and Brecht, of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, of contemporary European politics and engineering, and of Europe's largest economy. Russian is the language of Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Dostoevsky, of one of the world's great musical traditions, and of a vast country that occupies a central and contested place in international affairs.
Together they open up an extraordinary breadth of cultural and professional engagement.
At the University of Glasgow, this five-year full-time programme teaches both languages to a high level while also developing your knowledge of the cultures, histories, and contemporary societies of the German-speaking and Russian-speaking worlds. In German you will engage with a wide spectrum of material from the eighteenth century to contemporary culture. In Russian you will build from grammar and vocabulary through to literary analysis, cultural history, and engagement with contemporary Russia and the post-Soviet states.
A sandwich year in industry and a work placement are both part of the programme, giving you direct professional experience, possibly in German or Russian-speaking environments, before graduation.
With a typical entry tariff of 184 UCAS points, this degree attracts highly capable linguists. Graduates move into careers in diplomacy, international business, translation and interpreting, journalism, teaching, the civil service and foreign office, intelligence, academic research, and any professional role requiring engagement with Germany, Russia, or the broader German-speaking or post-Soviet worlds. The combination of two major but very different languages is a distinctive and rare credential.
Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in German, Russian, Slavonic studies, or translation.