Studying languages at university: 5 course types to consider

January 15, 2023

You’ve heard all the chat about how learning a foreign language opens doors, yaddah yaddah yaddah, but it’s not as simple as just going and learning a language and becoming fluent enough to work in it. There’s strategy behind it. Here are my suggestions to make the most of language learning at university, in line with your goals and interests:

Work back from potential jobs

Graduate career experts Prospects lists a number of things you can do with a foreign language degree, splitting jobs into “directly related to your degree” and jobs where “your degree [in foreign languages] would be useful”. The former list includes:

I don’t know about you, but that seems like a very small list, especially when you consider that for all of them, you would need further qualifications:

Interpreter or translator*: Master’s degree often required (costing on average £12,000)
Secondary school teacher: PGCE required (the UK government is offering a £25,000 bursary for MFL, but first you have to stump up £9,250 for the course fees, before receiving the bursary, so you’ll need that in cash)
Academic researcher: PhD required (you can source poxy funding for this, usually between £15,000-£20,000)
Political risk analyst: likely a Master’s degree in a political science field required

*It’s worth bearing in mind that interpreters and translators come in many shapes and sizes. Conference interpreting at the UN is not the only option! If you want to work as a freelance translator, for a range of jobs, you don’t necessarily need further qualifications beyond your undergraduate degree; for example, the freelance website Fiverr is full of freelance translators with varying levels of expertise. If you’d like to be a public service interpreter in the healthcare sector (very in demand!), you can simply take a short, part-time course and take an exam for a Diploma in Public Health Interpreting. Another lesser known job is a Localisation role. This involves translating and transforming websites, software, marketing materials, user documentation, and various other publications for companies to make it appear as though the product on offer originated in the country where it will be sold. This requires not only language skills, but cultural knowledge of the country in question. Starting in this career direction can lead to Localisation manager/specialist/translation project manager roles.

I studied English Literature and Italian at uni; I am really glad I did choose to study Italian, though I found English Literature intolerably boring and it took me years to realise that it’s because I prefer reading non-fiction books… However, when my Spanish A Level students used to ask me what I recommend they study at university, I always gave them the same advice:

Choose a joint honours course, where you study a language and a subject to which you can apply the language.

This is because you can then pitch your knowledge of that language as “specialised”, that is, you’ve got command of industry jargon, meaning that any job you apply for you’ve got the same qualification as others, but you’ve got something else on top, too. Larry Lamb discusses the value of this from a class perspective in an interview he did for The Guardian some years ago:

Ultimately, these days there are soooo many graduates competing for jobs that, if you’re looking for a job in the UK, at least, companies will always choose knowledge of the industry they work in over knowledge of a language. If you’ve got knowledge of both, and the language you speak is spoken in their target market, that’s when you hit the bull’s eye.

When to go Dutch

Language options vary from university to university, but here are the most common to the least common when it comes to studying a language as a part of your course:

Study a language as a joint honours subject

There are a lot of already paired subjects out there, for example, Law with many-a-foreign-language; (here’s an example at the University of Nottingham). You can also mix-and-match at some universities; the University of Sheffield offers a range of options of dual degrees with non-language subject, where you can combine up to two languages with Business Management, Economics, English, History, Linguistics, Music, Philosophy, or Politics.

Universities are increasingly providing the option of tailoring courses exactly to your needs, as the University of Exeter does, with its Flexible Combined Honours. The website explains that the course provides a “unique and appealing degree structure combining two or three subjects where there is currently no existing Combined Honours degree and thus blend subjects across departments.”

It’s always worth working backwards and considering what kind of job you’d like to do, which will inform which subject is worth studying alongside your language. For some ideas of jobs where languages could complement your career and increase your employability, here’s Prospect’s list (this is not an exhaustive list):

Study a language as an optional module or as a Minor

From what I’ve understood, “optional module” and “minor” are one-and-the-same, as they both contribute to your credits. Different universities will offer courses of different credit rating. This is great if you’re more interested in learning the skill of speaking and operating in the language, over the whole cultural shabang that comes with a joint honours course. You’ll also still get the option of doing a year abroad even if this is just your minor, meaning you will be able to go and study your main subject in your foreign language.

This is what one of my brothers did; he studied Natural Sciences, and minored in French, meaning that he spent a year studying in the Sciences department of the Université de Lyon*. You can do this at the University of Southampton, the University of Birmingham, and no doubt at many more.

*Lyon is incredible for street art!

Study a language in your first year only

Some universities require students to choose three subjects to study in their first year, and to whittle this down to one or two in their second year. I think this is a great idea and that all universities should at least offer this as an option, so that students are sure they’ve made the right choice by the time they really buckle down.

This was in place at my uni, where I chose to study Philosophy as my third subject, alongside English Lit and Italian. It didn’t change my mind about my chosen subjects by the end of year one, but I remember that my Italian class was full of students who were studying everything from History to Media Studies, and were just trying on Italian for size, which made things interesting!

If you feel that signing up to study a foreign language over the course of your degree is a bit daunting, this is a great way to test the waters. Having had a quick skim online, I’ve just found a pretty cool offer from The University of Edinburgh, which promotes a four-year degree (this is standard for Language degrees – year abroad, hello!). There are even a couple of quotes from students that prove my point:

“I was able to study Economics, Philosophy and Italian in my first year, and I’m able to make a much more informed decision about my final degree, having been able to study several subjects to begin with.“

“I like that I have had the opportunity to take outside subjects. I didn’t get a chance to take more than one language in school so, when I came to Edinburgh, I used all my outside courses to learn new languages – German, Spanish and Gaelic – and taking these languages has of course enhanced my linguistics skills.“

The University of Glasgow offers something similar, as does the University of Newcastle and the University of Saint Andrews, to name a few.

Study a language for no extra credit alongside a Masters (piggybacking off option 2)

This is a “wangle-the-system” recommendation. When I started my Masters’ degree in Political Science, I noticed that the university ran beginner Portuguese classes as an optional extra (as per point 2 of this post). Never one to miss an opportunity to learn a new language (for free!), I visited the languages office and asked if I could sign up.

The jobsworth at the desk told me that optional modules were only budgeted for undergrad students. Uff!

I decided to go round her and I eventually managed to speak to the Director of Languages, who told me that I just needed a letter from my course leader explaining why learning Portuguese was relevant to my course. So, I told my course leader that I was planning to write my dissertation on “something to do with” Brazil. This was neither true nor untrue… I hadn’t decided yet (though later wrote my dissertation on HIV/AIDS policy in South East Asia…).

I took classes for the whole year and they really set me on the road. It was really cool being in a class of people who were fascinated by a less popular language, from first years to a PhD student. The module appeared on my transcript as “not graded”, meaning that there was no pressure to pass any exams when I was learning.

When to go all in

Study a single honours language or study two as joint honours

If you studied one language or more at A Level, and love languages (of course), then Joint Honours can be a great choice. I had many classmates who had studied one language at A Level and picked up Italian at uni at beginner level – those who had studied French or Spanish were devilishly good… Now I know why! Others had done studied Italian at A Level, so only appeared in my classes after my ERASMUS year, when I’d vaguely caught up.

One thing I was REALLY jealous of with the double language lot is that they got to live in two different foreign countries during their ERASMUS year. I spent one year in Verona, Italy, which was great, but I was gutted when halfway through the year, so many of my newly made friends either moved onto another ERASMUS placement or back to their home unis. Having got to grips with a foreign city for the first time, I was desperate for another crack at it!

If you are really passionate about languages, already have your sights set on one of the language-related careers I mentioned earlier and you plan to go onto further study to train to be a teacher, interpreter, or academic researcher, for example, then this is a great option for your degree.

Ok, so which language do I choose?

Once you’ve decided what route you want to go down, this should inform which language you want to study. Want to be a secondary school teacher? French and Spanish are most common in state schools (German is becoming less popular), with some private schools offering other subjects from Latin, German, Italian and Mandarin. Bear in mind that state schools want to maximise what they can get out of a teacher, so most jobs ask for the ability to teach two languages these days.

Think you want to work for MI6? Study Russian, Mandarin or Arabic to increase your employability. There is such a high demand for these three languages at a governmental level that many universities offer courses for beginners.

Wondering whether to move overseas after your degree? Choose the language of the country you want to live in – and check the visa requirements #Brexit!

Final thoughts

My overriding point in this post is that it’s worth doing some really thorough research before embarking on your degree, balancing your passion for languages with what is going to end up being a sound investment. After all, if you can start making a half-decent wage a short time after you graduate, it’ll take the sting out of that nearly £28,000 you spent on your degree, especially now that, post-Brexit, there are fewer options for getting a significantly cheaper degree in the EU.

This takes me back full-circle to the start of this blog post – why I think it’s worth having a language complement your knowledge of a particular industry.

When I’m 80 – and in an alternate universe where education is significantly subsidised – I will absolutely do a Joint Honours language degree for the joy of it! That’s the dream.

Did you study a language at university or are you thinking of doing so? What do you think is the best format? Comment below!