Hungarian and Yiddish

Hungarian and Yiddish is a rare and genuinely distinctive combination, one of the few university programmes in the world that places these two languages alongside each other. Hungarian is the language of a nation of around ten million in the heart of Central Europe, a non-Indo-European language with deep roots in the region and a rich literary and cultural tradition. Yiddish is the historical language of Ashkenazi Jewish communities across Central and Eastern Europe, a language that carried a vibrant literary, theatrical, and intellectual culture before the devastation of the Holocaust, and which continues to be spoken and studied as both a living language and an object of cultural and historical importance.

At University College London, you will study this four-year full-time combination with the seriousness and rigour that two minority languages of this significance deserve. You will develop genuine proficiency in both languages alongside deep engagement in the histories, literatures, and cultures they carry. Hungarian opens access to a Central European tradition that has produced major contributions to literature, music, philosophy, and science, as well as to contemporary Hungary and its diaspora.

Yiddish takes you into the world of Eastern European Jewish life before 1945, its literature, theatre, and journalism, as well as to the ongoing efforts to preserve and transmit this heritage. The programme develops exceptional linguistic skill alongside a profound awareness of the ways language, culture, and history intersect.

Graduates with these language skills are sought after in diplomatic, academic, heritage, and cultural contexts. UCL's reputation and London's role as a centre for European and Jewish cultural organisations open distinctive career and further study opportunities. Careers include academic research, translation, heritage and archival work, journalism, publishing, cultural diplomacy, and teaching.

Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in linguistics, European studies, Jewish studies, or history, where the combination of languages is a genuine scholarly asset.