Spanish and Portuguese Studies
Spanish and Portuguese is a combination that brings together the two most widely spoken languages in the Americas and the two dominant linguistic and cultural traditions of the Iberian Peninsula. Spanish is spoken by around 500 million people across Spain, Latin America, and the United States, and carries a literary heritage spanning the medieval through to the contemporary. Portuguese opens access to Brazil, Portugal, and the Lusophone communities of Africa, making it the sixth most widely spoken language in the world.
Together, they give you access to an enormous and culturally diverse stretch of the globe.
At Queen's University Belfast, this four-year full-time degree develops your competence in both languages through modules that focus on communication and that draw on authentic materials relating to contemporary social, cultural, and political issues across the Spanish-speaking and Lusophone worlds. The degree reflects the diversity of cultures in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, ensuring that your linguistic study is grounded in genuine cultural understanding rather than just formal grammar and vocabulary. The programme includes a year abroad, giving you immersive experience in countries where your languages are spoken and deepening both your linguistic competence and your cultural awareness.
Graduates from Spanish and Portuguese programmes bring a distinctive combination of linguistic skills and cultural knowledge to the job market. Translation and interpreting, journalism, diplomacy, international business, development organisations, the foreign office, NGOs, education, publishing, and academic research are all well-established destinations. The combination of the world's second and sixth most widely spoken languages is commercially significant, particularly given the economic importance of Brazil and the growing international weight of Lusophone Africa.
Postgraduate study in translation, Hispanic studies, Lusophone studies, or area studies is a natural continuation.