Modern Languages (French and Spanish) and English

Modern languages, French and Spanish, combined with English, is an unusually broad and rich combination. French and Spanish are two of the world's most widely spoken and culturally significant languages, used across Europe, Latin America, Africa and beyond. English, studied here as a literary and cultural discipline rather than simply a language, brings a critical tradition that illuminates all three subjects when they are read comparatively.

Studying all three together allows you to move between literary and cultural traditions in ways that reveal connections and contrasts invisible from within any one language alone.

At the University of St Andrews, this four-year full-time degree, which includes a year abroad, develops your language skills in both French and Spanish to a high level of proficiency across all registers, from everyday spoken communication to the analysis of literary and cultural texts. You will engage with French and Francophone literature and culture, with Hispanic literature and the rich diversity of Spanish-speaking worlds from the Iberian Peninsula to Latin America, and with English literature across its range. The year abroad is central to serious language study, providing the extended immersive experience that classroom instruction cannot replicate.

The degree develops multiple forms of analytical competence: close reading and literary interpretation, critical argument in several languages, cross-cultural understanding, and the capacity to engage with diverse texts and traditions. Translation, in both its practical and critical dimensions, typically features throughout.

Graduates from modern languages and English programmes at St Andrews move into translation and interpreting, teaching, journalism, international business, diplomacy, the cultural sector, law, and a wide range of roles in organisations with European and international dimensions. Postgraduate study in languages, literature, translation or comparative literature is a natural pathway.