Spanish and Arabic

Spanish and Arabic together represent two of the world's most widely spoken and culturally significant languages, with Spanish spoken by more than 500 million people across Europe and the Americas and Arabic serving as the official language of more than 20 countries spanning North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Middle East. Studying both languages at degree level is an intellectually ambitious undertaking that expands your access to extraordinarily diverse literary, philosophical, and cultural traditions, and that equips you with linguistic capabilities of genuine professional significance across diplomacy, international business, journalism, law, and many other fields.

At the University of Oxford, this four-year full-time programme is among the most demanding and rewarding language degrees available in the UK. Oxford's approach to language study combines rigorous linguistic and philological training with deep engagement with literature, history, and culture. You will develop high-level proficiency in both Spanish and Arabic, studying their grammatical structures, historical development, and contemporary usage.

You will read widely across the literatures of the Spanish-speaking world, from medieval texts through the Golden Age and into contemporary Latin American and Iberian writing, and engage with the rich tradition of Arabic literature from the classical period through modern prose and poetry. The programme runs over four years, giving the depth of study that two languages of this complexity require, with both taught content and independent research forming an important part of the experience. Oxford's tutorial system provides an exceptionally personalised learning environment.

Graduates from this degree go on to careers in diplomacy and the foreign service, international organisations, law, journalism, translation and interpreting, finance, academia, intelligence, and international development. The combination of Spanish and Arabic in particular is valued in contexts where engagement with the Middle East, North Africa, or the Spanish-speaking world is central to the work. Many Oxford graduates pursue postgraduate study in linguistics, area studies, comparative literature, or law.

The linguistic dexterity, cultural breadth, and analytical rigour this degree develops are assets across an exceptionally wide range of careers.