Spoken across Europe, Latin America and Africa, Spanish and Portuguese open doors to diverse cultures and global opportunities. Advance your spoken and written proficiency, and explore Spanish and Portuguese literature, film, politics and history.
By learning Spanish and Portuguese, you’ll build near-native fluency in spoken and written Spanish, Portuguese or both, with support from our expert tutors. You'll also immerse yourself in the cultures of the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds, exploring themes such as gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, migration and displacement, linguistics, and storytelling across different media. Our Spanish and Portuguese courses help you enter the workplace as a multilingual graduate with a truly international outlook. Career-focused modules in audio-visual translation and public service interpreting will teach you the skills needed a future in international communication. For the year abroad, we have opportunities in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Colombia and Chile. Our students typically spend the year abroad studying, teaching or working – gaining language skills, international experience, and lifelong memories.
You can study Spanish on its own or with other languages, including Portuguese, French, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian and Arabic. You can also combine your Spanish studies with another subject – from linguistics and business management, to English and history. You can learn Spanish as a complete beginner on our BA Language, Culture and Communication degree, while Portuguese is offered from accelerated beginner level alongside another language. Portuguese is particularly useful, as there are a high number of speakers who do not speak English.
In London, Spanish-speaking Latin Americans forge a sense of belonging through cultural enclaves such as Seven Sisters Market, where language and community intertwine. Spanish itself remains a vibrant thread linking generations across the city.
Student stories
Skills from my linguistic studies degree opened up a career in coding
Elizabeth Gardiner talks about her career change from translation to coding using versatile skills gained from her studies at University of Southampton.
