History and Modern Languages

History and modern languages is a combination that brings together two disciplines whose objects of study are deeply intertwined. Languages are the medium in which history is recorded and transmitted; history is the context without which languages and their literatures cannot be properly understood. Studying them together allows you to engage with the past through the original documents in which it was expressed and to understand the languages you study in the full depth of their historical contexts.

At the University of Sheffield this five-year full-time programme is built to accommodate students whose prior qualifications may be non-standard, offering a foundation year at the start that provides thorough and supportive academic preparation before you progress to degree-level study in the School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities and the School of Languages, Arts and Societies. This makes the programme genuinely accessible to students who have the motivation and intellectual ability to succeed but whose educational background requires a more gradual transition into university-level work. The five-year structure gives you the time to develop genuine depth in both disciplines rather than moving too quickly across their surfaces.

You will study a wide range of historical periods and geographical contexts, developing your skills in archival research, source analysis and historical argument, while your language study develops proficiency in your chosen language or languages to a high level and engages with the literary, cultural and social dimensions of the societies in which those languages are spoken.

Graduates pursue careers in teaching, the civil service, diplomacy, international organisations, publishing, journalism, translation, cultural heritage and academia. The combination of historical analytical skills and linguistic competence is valued in many professional contexts. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in history, modern languages or related fields.