BA Modern Languages (4 years)

Compulsory modules

You'll take at least one of the following:

Beginners French, German, Italian or Spanish Language

If you have no experience of the language, this module will develop your skills to a level comparable to level A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference. You’ll learn the basics and gain the proficiency needed to undertake a degree in or involving the language. 

Intermediate French, German, Italian or Spanish Language

If you have a good GCSE grade or AS level in the language, this module will develop your skills to a level comparable to B1 of the Common European Framework for Reference. You’ll learn the speaking and writing skills required to study the language to honours degree level.  

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I

If you’ve achieved an A level in the language, this module will develop your skills to a level comparable to level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. You’ll advance your written and spoken skills, enabling you to study the language to honours degree level. 

Optional modules

Ideas of Frenchness 1

Gain a foundation in the history, culture, literature and ideas of France and the Francophone world, helping you to understand key ideas and developments that shaped the concept and perception of ‘Frenchness’. 

Ideas of Frenchness 2

Build on your existing knowledge of ‘Frenchness’ by critically assessing cultural, historical, and literary materials, texts, and artefacts. Concepts covered include war, colonisation, decolonisation and changing conditions for women.

The Making of Contemporary Germany

You’ll analyse and assess social and political developments in Germany since 1945, interacting films, official documents, media discourse, documentaries, national symbols, and song lyrics to identify themes of the historical period. 

Belonging in Germany

Examine the changing ideas that address national belonging and exclusion in Germany. Using various media, you’ll gain insight into the question of how ‘belonging’ has been defined in different periods of German history.

Making Italians: A Journey in the History and Culture of Modern Italy

Explore the history and culture of modern Italy, from unification to the present. You’ll consider what and who contributed to the birth of Italy, including how they shaped the political landscape of the Fascist regime and the Republic.  

Introduction to Linguistics (for students of Italian)

Investigate human language including aspects of acquisition, multilingualism, and non-verbal communication. Focusing on Italian, you’ll consider the phonological, morphological, syntactical, semantic, and pragmatic features of the language. 

The Making of Modern Spain and Latin America

Discover the factors that contributed to the development of modern Spain and Latin America from 1492 to the present day. You’ll gain a broad overview from the days of Spanish empire to its decline through revolutions, experiences of dictatorship and globalisation. 

Introduction to Spanish and Latin American Culture

Using short stories, poetry, documentaries, films, and popular music from Spain and Latin America, you’ll analyse culture in the Hispanophone world, identifying themes of national identity, resistance, cultural and social revolution, power, and religion. 

Liberty and Empire in the Making of the Modern World

Consider how the modern world was shaped by liberty and empire. You’ll examine the movements for democracy and national independence globally, the rise of a new European imperialism in Africa and Asia, and how these affect the lives of ordinary people. 

Optional Language Modules

Combine an additional language to your studies, choosing from Arabic, British Sign Language, Chinese (Mandarin), Modern Greek, Japanese or Russian.

What is Comparative Literature?

Learn about the major critical and theoretical issues in the study of Comparative Literature, as well as the important methodologies for studying literature in a comparative context. Approach a cluster of texts from different cultural and historical traditions, you'll be be encouraged to reflect on the practices and consequences of reading transnationally.

Greats of European Cinema

Explore some of the main developments and key achievements of European cinema. Through analysing a selection of major films from Germany, France, Italy and Spain, you’ll develop an understanding of the broader cultural contexts in which these films were produced. 

Introduction to Linguistics

Investigate the origin, development, and characteristics of human language. You’ll focus on topics such as language endangerment, bilingualism and multilingualism in childhood, and non-verbal communication. You’ll also explore different linguistics aspects of modern European Languages.

Thinking Translation: History and Theory

Learn about the current thinking on translation by exploring some specific case studies. The historical approach to translation will allow you to develop a critical awareness of the role played by: genres, readership, institutional influences, market constraints, gender attitudes and discourses, purpose. In seminars, you will explore the challenges facing translators when dealing with literary, scientific, philosophical and political texts. 

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Compulsory modules 

You'll take at least one of the following:

Intermediate French, German, Italian or Spanish Language

Develop your language skills and advance your proficiency to undertake your final year. Upon successful completion, you’ll have achieved the equivalent of level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference.  

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I

Develop your language skills to a level comparable to level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. You’ll advance your written and spoken skills, enabling you to study the language to honours degree level.  

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language II

Further develop your speaking and writing skills to achieve the language level required to your final year. Upon successful completion, you’ll achieve the equivalent of level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. 

Optional modules

The First World War: Then and Now

To understand the French experience of the First World War and its wider impact on twentieth-century France, you’ll analyse experiences and responses to the conflict and consider representations and memory of the war. 

Cinema of Germany

Cinema has become a site of identity discourse for many Germans. You’ll analyse and assess films produced between the First World War and unification, relating these to changing political regimes and the wider cultural context of Germany.

'Apocalittici e integrati': Intellectuals and Society in Twentieth Century Italy

Gain insight into the conflicts between the intellectual class and state in Fascist and Republican Italy. Exploring case studies will reveal the relationships between key Italian intellectuals and institutions such as the state, universities, media, and the Mafia. 

Transatlantic Exchanges: Latin America in the Global Nineteenth Century

Explore how Latin America faced challenges in the nineteenth century such as wars of independence and the abolition of slavery, and how the period has left its political and cultural mark on the region today. 

Science, Perversion, and Dream in Global Fantastic Literature

You’ll examine how French, Hispanic, Italian, and German literary traditions have impacted global fantastic literature, considering the usage of Gothic, grotesque, supernatural and uncanny elements in selected key texts. 

Optional Language Modules

Combine an additional language to your studies, choosing from Arabic, British Sign Language, Chinese (Mandarin), Modern Greek, Japanese or Russian.

How to Think in French

Strengthen the links between the linguistic and cultural study of French language and achieve ‘thinking in French’. You’ll focus on French rhetoric and style and how writing and thinking are taught within the French education system. You’ll also explore the way ideas about the French have developed and have been debated over time.

Children’s Books in France

Discover some of the important texts, authors and themes in the study of children’s literature in modern France.

Glorification, Denial and Contempt – Reconstructing Austria's Past

Critically examine discourses about Austrian identity and culture, while discussing key events and turning points in Austrian history. You’ll closely examines the commemoration, evaluation, and potential reinterpretation of these events by different generations or political groups. 

One Country, Many Languages. Linguistic Variety and Society in Contemporary Italy

Prepare for your year abroad in Italy and explore the linguistic complexity of the Peninsula, focussing on the socio-historical events that contributed to the spread of Italian as a standard language and to the survival of regional dialects and minority languages. You’ll be assessed through a variety of methods, familiarising yourself with techniques of oral assessment and independent study that you’ll use while preparing for exams in the Italian universities.

Modern and Contemporary Spanish Narratives

Discover pivotal narrative trends in modern and contemporary Spanish culture, including realism, the uncanny, the fantastic, metafiction, and symbolic representation. You’ll study various fictional works, including short stories, novels, and films from the late 19th century, exploring narrative devices and situating the texts within their intellectual and socio-cultural contexts.

Culture and Revolution in Modern Latin America

Explore key moments of revolution and cultural policy in Latin America. You’ll examine how these events have been represented in different media, while developing an understanding of the various interactions and relationships between radical political change and culture.

Society, Thought, and Art in Modern Europe

Discover the birth of modern humanity in late 18th-century Europe and the revolutionary changes that Enlightenment and Romanticism intellectual movements brought in all spheres of thought and social life. You’ll also explore how different European nations contributed to innovation, how modernity diffused beyond the Western world, the transformations brought by non-European influences, and the leading role of art in the modernisation process.

Unity, Nationalism and Regionalism in Europe

Discover how modern ideas of nation, national identity, the nation-state and nationalism have shaped modern Europe and the rest of the world from the 18th century to the present day. You’ll examine the impact of the idea of the nation and the persistence and profound significance of regionalist tendencies across Europe. You’ll also explore the dynamic relationship between nationalism and other ideologies of community and identity.  

Global Ecologies: Discourse, Environment and Society 

Explore case studies of climate discourse and activism from around the world. You’ll gain the skills needed to think critically about environmental issues and discourses and their wider implications.

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Study Year Abroad

Expand your linguistic skills and intercultural understanding in one or two of your core languages by spending a year abroad. You can choose to study at a partner university, go on a work placement or work as a language teaching assistant. If you choose to study more than one core language, you will have the chance to prioritise the core language that you started at beginner level.

For more information, please visit the Department of Languages and Cultures website.

Compulsory modules

You'll take at least one of the following:

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language I

Increase your competence in spoken and written language. Upon successful completion, you’ll achieve the equivalent of level B1.2/B2.1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. 

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language II

Consolidate your language skills and achieve the equivalent of level B2.2 of the Common European Framework of Reference upon successful completion. 

Advanced French, German, Italian or Spanish Language III

Advance the spoken and written language skills you developed during your year abroad to express yourself fluently. Upon successful completion, you’ll achieve the equivalent of level C1/C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference. 

Optional modules

Philanthropy à la française: The History of Ideas and Practices in the French Third Sector

You’ll examine case studies that address the significant role that charity has played throughout French history and consider the social, economic, political, and cultural motivations and consequences of voluntary action.  

The German Language and National Identity

Investigate debates around the German language including standardisation and codification, the uses and misuses of German, and the role it has played in the development of Germany as a nation. 

Crisis, Change, Opportunity: Italy from 1968 to the Present

Discover themes and events that have contributed to change in modern Italian society. You’ll examine how moments of crisis engendered long-lasting change whilst fostering opportunity in terms of identity, citizenship, and nationhood. 

Memory, Dictatorship and Cultural Resistance in the Southern Cone

Examine the politics and aesthetics of 1970s Latin America, when authoritarian rule took hold across the Southern Cone. You’ll consider factors that led to military dictatorship, cultural resistance, and representations in literature, film and collective memory. 

Language and Power

Language is a powerful tool that can construe reality, challenge power, harm and discriminate individuals and foster social cohesion. You’ll investigate a range of genres, discourse, and theoretical approaches to disclose a text’s underlying ideological stance. 

Optional Language Modules

Combine an additional language to your studies, choosing from Arabic, British Sign Language, Chinese (Mandarin), Modern Greek, Japanese or Russian.

May '68

Investigate the events of May ’68 in France and put them in relation of the wider moment of global protest and counter-cultural turbulence. Through examining key texts, visual sources, ideas (and ideologies) from the period, you’ll explore the significant political, social and cultural change of these event and their legacy on contemporary French society.

French Popular Music and Society

Explore French popular music of the late 20th and 21st centuries, focusing on the development of the relevant genres and on music’s wider socio-cultural role. You’ll spend time looking at the texts, performances and personae of major artists in contemporary music genres including rap, rock, and electronica. 

War on Screen - Germany and its Films about WWII

Analyse representative examples of German post-1945 war cinema and evaluate them as part of wider discourses about the legacy of the Nazi dictatorship in East, West, and unified Germany. You’ll compare war films from different post-war decades and German states, focusing on central ethical questions relating to guilt and atonement, resistance and participation as well as the representation of atrocities in a context of entertainment.

Language, Diversity, and Inclusion: The Representation of Otherness in the Italian Context

Explore how the concepts of identity, otherness, inclusion, and exclusion have been articulated and transmitted through the Italian language. You’ll examine case studies based on the Italian context, and look at issues around national stereotyping, diversity, representation of minorities, migrants and foreigners, gender, political correctness, cancel culture, and ‘inclusive language’. 

Narrating the Colombian Conflict

Investigate the history of the Colombian armed conflicts, from the 1940s civil war to the present day war on drugs. Through the analysis of interdisciplinary historical and cultural texts, including essays, fiction, films and new media, you’ll explore the role stories play in both justifying conflict and creating the possibilities for peace. 

Writers and Publishers in Spain

Explore how recent history, politics, society, ideology and technology have shaped Spain’s cultural landscapes. You’ll focus on critical episodes in Spanish history, like the rise of a parliamentary system, the Republic of 1931, the Civil War, the Francoist regime, and the Transition to democracy. This module is conducted in Spanish, but assessments can be done in either English or Spanish.

Future Worlds in Film

Explore genre features, contexts, and aesthetic genesis of science-fiction films from different traditions and periods. You’ll analyse formal and thematic features of the films and identify central ethical questions they raise, evaluating each film in its specific cultural, political, and social context.

Extended Essay

Prepare for postgraduate study and engage in extended research on a topic of your choosing, within the subject area and relevant to your degree programme. 

Identity and Conflict in Modern Europe

Explore the diversification, evolution and fluidity of definitions of modern notions of race, gender, and how individual and collective identities have been redefined by intellectuals and ideologies. You’ll be encouraged to engage with competing and conflicting visions and values both through set case studies and group projects.

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.