Modern Languages (Arabic and Russian) and Latin

Arabic, Russian, and Latin at the University of St Andrews is a four-year combination of striking intellectual scope, spanning three languages from very different linguistic families and three civilisations whose histories have intersected in complex and consequential ways. Arabic is the primary language of the Middle East and North Africa, carrier of one of the world's richest philosophical and literary traditions. Russian is the language of a major Eurasian power, with a literary culture from Pushkin to Tolstoy to the twentieth-century avant-garde that has left an indelible mark on world literature.

Latin is the language of Roman civilisation and of the learned culture of medieval and early modern Europe, essential for understanding the roots of many modern languages and the intellectual traditions that sustained Western thought for more than a thousand years. The programme includes a year abroad.

You will develop reading proficiency in all three languages, learning to engage with texts in their original form and to move between very different linguistic systems. The comparative perspective that emerges from working across three languages is itself intellectually valuable, developing an unusual sensitivity to how languages encode meaning and culture differently. St Andrews notes that Arabic's breadth of application makes it a powerful complement to almost any other subject, and the three-way combination with Russian and Latin creates a programme with few equivalents in British higher education.

A typical entry tariff of 200 points reflects the selectivity of the programme. Graduates are exceptionally well placed for careers in academia, the diplomatic service, intelligence and security analysis, international journalism, translation and interpreting, and cultural and heritage institutions. Many continue to doctoral research in one or more of the language areas they have studied.