About this course

Become a highly proficient linguist in French, German and Portuguese on this 4 year Modern Languages degree. You'll develop a strong understanding of the cultures and societies you study by spending a year abroad, before graduating prepared for professions in which these languages are a key requirement.

This programme will immerse you in international experiences. This is our broadest range of languages offered, and will prepare you to communicate and work in a range of diverse and multilingual contexts.

You will:

develop your knowledge and understanding of key aspects of the cultures and societies you study, enabling you to ‘read’ and interpret different cultural traditions
get to know foreign cultures first hand by spending a year abroad, either as a student or in a work placement
develop a range of communicative and intercultural competencies, as well as analytical, research and personal skills

Knowing a range of languages opens up many opportunities in today's globally interconnected economy. French is native to France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and the French Caribbean, and it’s an official language in much of Africa and Asia.

German has around 95 million speakers, and is spoken in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It also comes first in terms of first-language speakers in the European Union and the EU.

Portuguese itself is an increasingly popular choice on our degree programmes at Southampton. It's got over 200 million speakers worldwide, is the sixth most spoken language in the world, and the third most spoken European language after Spanish and English.

This programme complements your language learning with modules on:

history and contemporary society
literature and film
ethnography and anthropology
linguistic studies

You can choose to combine these areas of study for a broad-based curriculum or focus on the area that interests you most.

Course location

This course is based at Avenue.

Awarding body

This qualification is awarded by the University of Southampton.

Entry requirements

A-levels

ABB including French, German or Portuguese

A-levels additional information

Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking. Strong candidates with an A level in one language but with no previous knowledge of the other two languages may still apply for this programme. Students on this route would study accelerated language classes from beginner’s level.

More information about A-levels

A-levels with Extended Project Qualification

If you are taking an EPQ in addition to 3 A levels, you will receive the following offer in addition to the standard A level offer: BBB including French, German or Portuguese, and grade A in the EPQ

A-levels contextual offer

We are committed to ensuring that all applicants with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise an applicant's potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme, as follows: BBB including French, German or Portuguese

International Baccalaureate Diploma

Pass, with 32 points overall with 16 points at Higher Level, including 5 at Higher Level in French, German or Portuguese.

More information about International Baccalaureate Diploma

International Baccalaureate contextual offer

We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.

International Baccalaureate Career Programme (IBCP) statement

Offers will be made on the individual Diploma Course subject(s) and the career-related study qualification. The CP core will not form part of the offer. Where there is a subject pre-requisite(s), applicants will be required to study the subject(s) at Higher Level in the Diploma course subject and/or take a specified unit in the career-related study qualification. Applicants may also be asked to achieve a specific grade in those elements. Please see the University of Southampton International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme (IBCP) Statement for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.

BTEC

Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Diploma plus B in A level French, German or Portuguese Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Diploma plus B in A level French, German or Portuguese Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Certificate plus AB in A level French, German or Portuguese and one further A level

RQF BTEC

Additional information

The University aims to recruit students from a wide range of backgrounds who we believe have the potential and motivation to succeed on our challenging programmes. We are committed to fair admissions and strive to ensure we give equal consideration to all applicants who possess the necessary knowledge and skills.

More information about BTEC

QCF BTEC

Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC Extended Diploma plus B in A level French, German or Portuguese Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC Diploma plus B in A level French, German or Portuguese Distinction in the BTEC Subsidiary Diploma plus AB in A level French, German or Portuguese and one further A level.

Entry requirements filter options

Other requirements

GCSE requirements

Applicants must hold GCSE English language (or GCSE English) (minimum grade 4/C) and mathematics (minimum grade 4/C)

Got a question?

Please contact our enquiries team if you're not sure that you have the right experience or qualifications to get onto this course.

Email: enquiries@southampton.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)23 8059 5000

Course structure

The programme is normally studied over four years full-time, but may also be taken on a part-time basis. It is possible to change between full and part-time study during the programme. Study is undertaken in four Parts (each corresponding to one year of full-time study). There are 30 study weeks in each academic year.

Year 1 overview

Part 1 of this degree is foundational. You will take three core, double Language modules in your chosen languages, and you will complement your language learning with two modules which will introduce you to the core areas of politics, history, culture and linguistics, relating to the places where those languages are spoken.

Year 2 overview

Part 2 builds on the previous foundation. As well as continuing with the three double, core language modules, you will take two optional modules rooted in key disciplinary frameworks such as politics, socio-historical studies, ethnography, cultural studies and linguistics.

In addition to the credit bearing modules in this part, you will receive preparation for the period abroad (Part 3). Part 2 contributes to the final degree classification.

Year 3 overview

In year 3 you'll undertake your period abroad, in which you'll complete an assessed portfolio of work which counts as a double module and is used to determine progression to year 4.

You may either spend all the time in the country of one of the languages, or split the time between two countries where two of the languages are spoken.

This will be your opportunity to:

work independently on focused tasks as you acquire more knowledge of the target language, culture and society
get to know a foreign culture first hand, either as a student or in a work placement
practice using the foreign language; you'll also be ideally placed to get to know the people, with many lifelong friendships are made during this period

We aim to support you, mainly by frequent email contact/video chat sessions.

Reasonable adjustments will be made for individual students who are unable to spend a period abroad. Year 3 contributes to the final degree classification.

Year 4 overview

In the fourth Part, you will take three double, core language modules alongside two Modern Languages and Linguistics modules relating to two of those languages.

The foundation of intellectual and transferable skills, which has been laid progressively through the earlier parts of the programme, will enable you to engage with a range of cultural studies, linguistics, ethnographic, socio-historical and political modules which will complement your core language modules.

The final year dissertation is available as an optional double module, with MLL students on 4 year programmes having already completed a piece of extended, independent research during the period abroad.

You will also have the opportunity to reflect on your experience of the period abroad and the ways in which it can inform your plans for the future. Part 4 contributes to the final degree classification.

Want more detail? See all the modules in the course.

Modules

Changes due to COVID-19

Although the COVID-19 situation is improving, any future restrictions could mean we might have to change the way parts of our teaching and learning take place in 2022 to 2023. This means that some of the information on this course page may be subject to change.

Find out more on our COVID advice page.

For entry in Academic Year 2022-23

You must study the following modules in year 1:

Academic Skills for Modern languages and Linguistics students

This module is designed to ease the transition from A-level to the first year of a single or combined honours degree programme by setting out clearly what we expect of you at undergraduate level and equipping you with the resources to be able to operate a...

French Language Stage 4

The aim of every language course at the University is to enable you to communicate in your target language (TL) at that particular level and in your particular area of interest. We use the word ‘communicate’ in its widest sense, meaning that you will not ...

German Language Stage 4

Introduction to French and Francophone Studies

This module is designed to provide you with a broad introduction to the culture, history and language of France and Francophone countries. By studying various types of primary and secondary sources, you will become familiar with a wide range of themes, e...

Introduction to German Studies

This module is designed to provide you with a broad introduction to the culture, history and language of Germany and other German-speaking countries. By studying various types of primary and secondary sources, you will become familiar with a wide range o...

Introduction to The Portuguese-Speaking World

This module is designed to provide you with a broad introduction to the diverse cultures and histories of the Portuguese-speaking or ‘Lusophone’ world. By studying various texts, films, images and digital materials, from the fifteenth century to the twent...

Portuguese accelerated language stages 1-2

You must also choose from the following modules in year 1:

Applications of Linguistics

This unit will introduce you to the main areas relevant to applied language studies.

Understanding Culture

This introductory course will give you an overview of some approaches to, and topics within, cultural and literary studies. You will spend time on close textual reading, as well as on broader cultural analysis. It aims to encourage you to experiment in c...

Understanding History and Society

This module will introduce you to studying questions of history, society and culture through the prism of Southampton in order that you can apply those approaches to the study of cities in the French, Spanish and German-speaking world.

You must study the following module in year 2:

Managing Research and Learning

The module will clarify the links between the Year Abroad Portfolio and modules in years two and four.

You must also choose from the following modules in year 2:

Conflicts, Crisis and Identities in the Francophone Context

How do writers and filmakers grapple with the difficulties of remembering events that many would rather forget? How do they seek to represent events that seem to defy representation? In tackling these questions, this module provides you with a fascinating...

Culture, Power and Resistance in the Portuguese-Speaking World

This course is designed to expand and deepen your knowledge of the cultures of the Portuguese-speaking world, bringing together written texts, visual and conceptual art, political materials, and cinema from twentieth-century Portugal, Brazil, and Portugu...

Discourse Analysis

This module highlights and analyses the link between language structure and its situation of occurrence.

Exploring French Linguistics

This module explores various aspects of the French language from the perspective of modern linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and lexis

Globalisation: Culture, Language and The Nation State

This module will problematize the concept of globalisation and explore and develop an understanding of its meaning in economic, political and cultural terms. Furthermore, we will examine the ideological struggle between competing forces over the nature an...

Immigration, Race and Ethnicity in France

What developments led to the headscarf and the so-called ‘burka ban’ in France? Why has ‘multiculturalism’ been a taboo subject? To what extent have anti-racism associations been a success in combating racism? This module offers you the opportunity to gai...

Language and Society in German-Speaking World

The main aim of this course is to explore and assess the contemporary importance of the German language, both within the so-called German-speaking countries and in the wider world. We shall identify key sociolinguistic issues as they relate to German-spea...

Learning about Culture: Introduction to Ethnography

Multilingualism

This module will introduce you to the notion of ‘Multilingualism’, how this is understood and represented in different ways, and why it matters to you. You will explore how people become multilingual, and whether it makes a difference if multilinguals are...

Post-War French Thought and Culture

This module is designed to explore in detail the key areas of feminism, postcolonial theory, and cultural semiotics i.e. the analysis of cultural signs, whether in visual culture, such as advertising, political culture, or based in cultural practices. Th...

Psycholinguistics

This module examines three areas of psycholinguistics which help to understand what the relationship between language and the human mind might be.

Sound and Voice

This module builds on the basic concepts of articulatory phonetics introduced in the first year, and introduces theory and methodology of acoustic science for the study of the production and perception of speech sounds.

Syntax: Studying Language Structure

This module will provide introduce you to the study of syntax within current linguistic theory.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language

This module will introduce you to key issues, concepts and methods in teaching English as a second/foreign language.

The EU and European Identity

The course seeks to provide an overview of the evolution of the European Union (EU) from its early stages to the present. In so doing, it examines the ideas and history of the EU, the institutions of the EU, examples of specific issue areas and the presen...

Variation and Change in English

This module takes an empirical approach to questions such as: - Are there patterns of speech and language associated with males and females in varieties of English? - What is the role of teenagers in the propagation of change in English? - After a...

Vienna and Berlin: Society, Politics and Culture from 1890 to the Present

This module will introduce you to the social, political and cultural history of Vienna and Berlin in the 20th century, German using a wide range of sources which will include literature, film and architecture. Topics covered may include the following:...

You must study the following modules in year 4:

An ambivalent asylum: the histories and memories of refugees in early twentieth-century France

Where does the idea of a stateless person come from? Why did France become one of the foremost nations for refugee reception? How were refugees fleeing from persecution in other parts of Europe treated in France? Why did France establish a system of ‘conc...

Seeing and Being Seen. Period Abroad re-entry

This module is designed to accompany you as you resume your programme of studies in Southampton and grapple with the challenges of re-entry. We will support you as you reflect upon your experience of study abroad, enable you to articulate those experience...

You must also choose from the following modules in year 4:

English as a Global Language

This module explores the rise of English as a global language focusing on the factors that have led to, and the issues that have arisen from, its dominant status. You will learn about the interrelation between globalisation, standardisation and variabilit...

Audiovisual Translation

This module will introduce you to the different types of audiovisual translation and the various kinds of subtitles produced nowadays. You will learn about the interaction between text and image and the technical issues and constraints involved in creatin...

Encounters with Bodies in Lusophone Cultural Narrative

Based on written texts, films and visual materials from and about Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, this course is intended to show you the cutting edge of cultural production and research from the Portuguese-speaking wo...

Fragmented France: Cultures and Identities in Transition

This option will examine the relationship between French identity and culture since 1981 with the elections of François Mitterrand by exploring the ways in which identities of different social groups are expressed within the economic, political and cultur...

French Sociolinguistics: Challenges to Francophonie

This module in French sociolinguistics aims to build on and re-evaluate your existing knowledge of the French language from a sociolinguistic perspective. The module has three major themes: language change, language variation and language identity in rela...

German-Jewish Writing Across the Twentieth Century

The turbulent history of Austrian and German Jews during the twentieth century was accompanied by the production of a diverse and influential body of German-language literature by Jewish authors. Prior to World War Two, Jews played a crucial role in the c...

Language Teaching Theory and Practice

This module examines the theory and practice of language teaching and explores 'reflective practice' as a set of skills that can be applied to your future working life.

Language Testing and Assessment in Society

This module develops awareness of how language testing and assessment have developed in educational and wider social contexts. It focusses on both purposes and processes of language testing and assessment, and critically examines applications in policy ar...

Language and the City

One of the socially and culturally most significant consequences of transnational mobility is that urban populations in particular are increasingly multilingual: in global cities such as London, New York and Berlin there are speakers of hundreds of differ...

Minorities and Migrants: Exploring Multicultural Germany

Germany has had a long tradition of immigration and is one of the most multi-cultural countries in Europe today. We will examine the impact of diverse immigration movements on recent German history and notions of German identity. This includes examining b...

Modern Languages Dissertation

This unit will allow students to undertake independent research to produce an in-depth study of a specific topic located in one of the fields within Modern Languages. You will also have the option of producing a professional project. In that case, your d...

Public Service Interpreting

This module will provide students with both a practical and theoretical insight into the role of a Public Service Interpreter. Beginning with a general introduction to interpreting, it will go on to focus more in depth on the wide range of issues and chal...

Second Language Acquisition

This module provides an insight into the cognitive processes involved in the acquisition of language. Different theories of first and second language acquisition will be examined and critically assessed in the light of empirical evidence. Various factors ...

Sex, Gender and Desire in French Literature and Culture

Fuelled by the sexual revolution, the women’s movement and gay activism, the late twentieth century saw a flourishing of critical interest in questions of sex, gender and desire and their relation to literature and culture. This module will develop your u...

Sociophonetic Project Module

This final year module builds on the theoretical grounding students gain in LING 2011 Variation and Change in English and the instrumental analysis techniques from LING 2008 Sound and Voice. Through a series of computer, lab-based sessions, students test ...

Travel and Identity in Francophone writing and film

The module examines selected written texts and films in the areas of travel, cultural encounter and identity. These will cover a variety of topics and cross-cultural encounters, within the broad area of Francophone film and non-fiction writing. Critical...

Writing in a Second Language

The module will take you through the process, the product and the place of writing. Process will deal primarily with modelling cognitive operations, analysis of composing strategies, and individual differences and changes in processes over time. Product w...

Fees, costs and funding

Tuition fees

Fees for a year's study:

UK students pay £9,250.
This course is not available to EU and international students.

What your fees pay for

Your tuition fees pay for the full cost of tuition and all examinations.

Find out how to:

Accommodation and living costs, such as travel and food, are not included in your tuition fees. Explore:

Bursaries, scholarships and other funding

If you're a UK or EU student and your household income is under £25,000 a year, you may be able to get a University of Southampton bursary to help with your living costs. Find out about bursaries and other funding we offer at Southampton.

If you're a care leaver or estranged from your parents, you may be able to get a specific bursary.

Get in touch for advice about student money matters.

Scholarships and grants

You may be able to get a scholarship or grant to help fund your studies.

We award scholarships and grants for travel, academic excellence, or to students from under-represented backgrounds.

Support during your course

The Student Services Centre offers support and advice on money to students. You may be able to access our Student Support fund and other sources of financial support during your course.