Welsh

Welsh is one of Britain's oldest living languages, with a literary tradition stretching back over fifteen centuries and a contemporary presence as a language of government, education, media, and daily life in Wales. Studying Welsh at degree level means engaging with one of Europe's remarkable linguistic survivals: a Celtic language that has maintained its vitality through periods of significant pressure and that continues to be spoken, written, broadcast, and celebrated by hundreds of thousands of people. It is also a language in active policy and cultural expansion, with Welsh-medium education growing and the language enjoying official status alongside English in Wales.

This three-year full-time programme at Cardiff University develops your Welsh language skills to an advanced level while also engaging with Welsh literature from the medieval period to the present, Welsh history, culture, and society, and the linguistic structures and history of the Welsh language itself. Cardiff is uniquely placed for Welsh studies: as the Welsh capital it is the centre of Welsh-language public and professional life, and the university's Welsh department has a strong tradition of both teaching and research. With a typical tariff of 152 points, the programme attracts students who are seriously committed to the language and its culture.

You will read poetry, prose, and drama in Welsh across different periods, develop advanced written and spoken Welsh, engage with sociolinguistic questions about the language's history and present position, and study Welsh culture and identity with analytical rigour. The skills you develop, close reading, critical writing in Welsh, and deep cultural understanding, are valued across public, educational, and cultural life in Wales.

Graduates from Welsh degree programmes move into careers in the Welsh public sector, Welsh-language media including S4C and BBC Wales, education at all levels, Welsh government and local authorities, cultural organisations, and publishing. The growing Welsh-medium sector creates consistent demand for graduates with high-level Welsh-language capability.