Portuguese/English Language
Portuguese and English language is a degree that combines proficiency in one of the world's most widely spoken languages with systematic study of English as a linguistic system. Portuguese is the first language of over two hundred million people, making it the third most widely spoken European language by native speakers after Spanish and English, and the official language of Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, and several other nations across three continents. At the University of Glasgow, this MA runs over five years of full-time study and includes a sandwich year and work placement, giving you professional experience alongside your academic development.
As the current description notes, the English language and linguistics strand combines the study of the structure and meaning of the English language, past and present, with inquiry into what this reveals about culture, society, and identity. You will engage with phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics as formal systems, alongside sociolinguistics, the history of English, and the ways in which language shapes and reflects social life. The Portuguese strand takes you to a high level of proficiency in the language, with parallel engagement with the literature, history, and cultures of the Portuguese-speaking world, including both European and Brazilian contexts.
The combination of detailed knowledge of how language works as a system and proficiency in a major world language gives graduates an unusually well-founded linguistic education.
Graduates of Portuguese and English language programmes are well placed for careers requiring genuine multilingualism and linguistic awareness. Translation and interpreting, language teaching, journalism and media with a focus on the Portuguese-speaking world, international business and trade, diplomacy, and academic research in linguistics or area studies are all natural career directions. Brazil's economic significance makes Portuguese a language of growing commercial importance, and the sandwich year provides professional experience that strengthens career prospects directly.
Some graduates go on to postgraduate study in linguistics, Luso-Brazilian studies, translation, or related fields. The analytical understanding of language that the linguistics strand develops is also valuable in roles in speech and language therapy training, natural language processing, and communications.