BA Modern Languages (3 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.

Narrating Italy: Fiction and Film

What is Comparative Literature?

Greats of European Cinema

Introduction to Linguistics

Thinking Translation: History and Theory

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.

Global French Life-Stories

How to Think in French

Children’s Books in France

Glorification, Denial and Contempt – Reconstructing Austria's Past

German Romanticism: The Search for Something More

The World of Words: Lexicology and Word Formation

Fictions of Italy: Themes and Genres

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

Italian Cinema I

Literature and Society in the Modern Hispanic World

Modern and Contemporary Spanish Narratives

Culture & Revolution in Modern Latin America

Society, Thought, and Art in Modern Europe

Unity, Nationalism and Regionalism in Europe

Global Ecologies: Discourse, Environment and Society 

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:

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

Refine your language skills to express yourself fluently in the language. 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.

French Language for Management and Business II

May '68

French Popular Music and Society

The French Caribbean: Language, Literature and Identity

German Language for Management and Business II

Migration in Germany

Writers of the Weimar Republic: At Home and in Exile

War on Screen - Germany and its Films about WWII

Italian Language for Management and Business

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

Spanish Language for Management and Business

Narrating the Colombian Conflict

Writers and Publishers in Spain

Future Worlds in Film

Extended Essay

Identity and Conflict in Modern Europe

History of the Italian Language 

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.