Modern & Medieval Languages

This degree opens up countless career opportunities, is stimulating, mind–broadening, enjoyable, sociable, diverse, flexible, wide–ranging, and uses state–of–the–art technology.

Why choose Modern and Medieval Languages (MML)?

There are several good reasons. You study two foreign languages, one of which you can learn from scratch. You become fluent in both and have the chance to gain in–depth knowledge about the culture, history, cinema, literature, art, politics, philosophy, values and ideas of other countries. You can learn about linguistics

"The course opens so many doors; you aren’t restricted to any one area of work, plus it gives you the freedom to travel and live in different countries." – Natasha

From the start, you can choose which areas (and languages!) you want to focus on, tailoring the course to your interests.

You develop multiple skills. You're aiming to acquire virtually the same grammatical accuracy, expressive range, and fluency as a native speaker. You learn how to translate from and into the language, and write creatively and accurately in the language. You become able to rapidly pick up other 'varieties' of your languages (for example, specialist business uses), and to learn new languages more easily.

Why choose Cambridge?

We offer a good range of languages, including an exceptionally wide range of cultural and linguistic options, taught to a high level. We also give you the great opportunity to begin one language that you haven’t previously studied.

You’ll benefit from our excellent teachers and teaching resources, including the well stocked Faculty libary and state–of–the art Language Centre; fully equipped with satellite television, audio, video and other equipment. In addition, our substantial Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) facilities are used for both private study and teaching programmes.

And the course?

The MML course lasts four years, with your third year spent abroad. In your first year, you study two languages, at least one at post–A Level/IB Higher Level standard. You can start any language from scratch, with the exception of French where A Level/IB Higher Level standard is required. As you progress, you can start specialising in one language, and in your final year, you can choose options in one language only. However, most students keep up both languages throughout their degree.

Teaching is made up of lectures, seminars, language classes (many of which are in the target language), intensive oral work in small groups, and supervisions. For your supervisions, you prepare written work which you then discuss and explore the subject further. In your first year, you can generally expect around 12–14 hours of teaching time each week.

Languages available are:	You can study two out of: French German Italian Portuguese Russian Spanish Alternatively, you can combine any of the above with either Classical Latin (if you're taking it at A Level/IB Higher Level) or Classical Greek. If you wish to combine one of the modern European languages above with Arabic, Hebrew or Persian, you can do so by applying for the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies degree course.

The course is divided into successive Parts – IA, IB and II – with an Honours examination at the end of each. You may replace one of the Part IB examination papers with a portfolio of the best essays that you've done over the year for that paper. During your year abroad, you prepare a dissertation, translation project or linguistics project, which contributes to your Part II assessment. You may also offer a second dissertation instead of one of the Part II written examination papers.

Would you like to study more than two languages?

In addition to your two main languages, you can also study from scratch more languages, if you wish, as part of your MML degree. Options include Catalan, Dutch, Modern Greek, Medieval Occitan (if you’re studying French), Portuguese, Ukranian, and Neo–Latin (the Latin used throughout Europe c.1350–1700). Another possibility (open to any member of the University) is to obtain a further language qualification in addition to your degree course. You can do this by taking a one–year course at the University’s Language Centre. Courses are available in basic Mandarin and Russian; in basic and intermediate German and Italian; and in basic, intermediate and advanced French and Spanish. Diploma and certificate courses may be available through the Faculty. For more information, please see the Faculty website.

A year in ...

Your time abroad can be spent in one of three ways. You can attend a foreign university, become an English–speaking assistant in a school abroad, or seek voluntary or paid work overseas. For example, our students have spent their third year:

• working with a law firm in Buenos Aires
• studying art history in Rome
• volunteering with the International Baby Food Action Network in Brazil
• conducting an orchestra in St Petersburg

You can tailor your year to suit your interests and ambitions, the only formal requirements being that you must spend at least eight months of it abroad, and you must be in daily contact with the foreign language you're studying. If you wish, you can spend the year in more than one country, so long as you spend at least three months in each country.

We also hope you use some of your vacations to visit the countries whose languages you're learning. You can apply for travel grants to enable you to take language courses abroad.

What are we looking for?

As one of our students, you will have shown the following qualities in your application:

• an aptitude for languages – evidence that you're good at learning a foreign language
• an aptitude for studying some of the other things that are taught on our course – culture, history, literature, linguistics, film, philosophical ideas
• motivation – evidence that you enjoy stretching yourself to learn new things which weren't part of your school syllabus

It’s your choice

The MML course is one of the most flexible at Cambridge with regard to different subject combinations possible. In addition, in your final year you can take up to two options from certain other courses (eg English, History). You can even take one or two years of MML and follow this with a Part II in another course, provided your College approves.

And after?

Communication skills, knowledge of languages, an understanding of foreign cultures, analytical ability, and research skills are much in demand in a great many fields, and are precisely the qualities that our course promotes. Employers – even those who aren't primarily interested in languages – are especially impressed by the experience and skills our graduates have gained from their year abroad.

The most popular choices of profession amongst our recent graduates include journalism, the arts, marketing, banking, law, accountancy, teaching, and the diplomatic service. Most graduates continue to use their languages within their work. Some don’t, but the many skills that their degree has given them are still the decisive factor in securing jobs. For a small number of graduates, the degree is more directly vocational: they become professional linguists (translators or interpreters), usually after further specialised training.

Course outline

Year 1 Part IA Developing your language skills You study two languages at Part IA, with the options you take partly determined by your knowledge of your chosen languages on entry. The main emphasis is on developing your language skills, taught by a range of methods including faculty classes of up to 15 students and supervisions in groups of two or three. You also have an introduction to one or more of the following topics for your languages: literature linguistics history thought Year 2 Part IB Acquiring native or near–native fluency In your second year, you take five papers in total. You continue intensive language study with the aim of acquiring native or nearnative fluency in both languages and choose from a wide range of papers covering topics such as: literature history culture linguistics film thought art an introduction to a language and culture you haven’t studied before

Years 3 and 4 Part II Specialisation and options Year 3 In the third year, you spend at least eight months abroad, during which you prepare a project that will count as one sixth of your final mark. This can be a dissertation, a translation project, or a linguistics project. Just before the fourth year starts, you take an oral Examination back in Cambridge. Year 4 You’re free to specialise in one language, to combine options from two or more languages, to take comparative options which span several cultures and languages, or to sample papers from a range of other courses. You tackle advanced language work (in one or two languages), and focus on three options chosen from a wide range (culture, literature, linguistics, thought, history, film, and so on). You also have a choice from comparative paper options, enabling you to combine study of both of your languages. Examples include the European Film paper, and one on The Body, studying attitudes towards the human body. Three other comparative options involve linguistics and philology: The Romance Languages, The Slavonic Languages, and The Hispanic Languages. Many students replace one of their written papers with a dissertation (currently 8,000 – 10,000 words).