Studying modern languages is about more than vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation: you will also immerse yourself in culture, spend time working or studying abroad and learn to understand the subtleties of communication. Linguistics looks at the structure and sound systems of language, how grammar and meaning relate, how dialects work. You’ll develop systematic ways of understanding how the modern English language works, how it’s used and how it changes, looking at situations as diverse as youth language in our multicultural and multilingual cities, or the English used in the media and politics. You’ll consider how new technologies shape the form of English and whether the spread of English in the world is changing or even killing other languages.
Each year you follow core language modules in which skills in the understanding and expression of French are developed by a variety of methods. In your first year a foundation module introduces you to linguistics, literature and culture. In your second and final years, for both linguistics and French, you select more specialist modules, to broaden and deepen your knowledge. You can choose to concentrate on a research project in your final year and by the end, you are able to speak French fluently, write analytically in accurate French, interpret and analyse complex texts, present papers on chosen topics, and translate challenging texts. Your third year is normally spent abroad, in France or a French-speaking country. You can choose to study at another university, or else take up a work placement, for example as a teaching assistant. |