MA Arabic and French and Italian
About this course
Arabic, French, and Italian is an ambitious three-language combination that spans three of the world's most culturally significant linguistic traditions and gives access to a vast range of literary, political, and cultural territories. Arabic is the language of the Middle East and North Africa, French connects Europe to francophone Africa and the Caribbean as well as to a major European literary tradition, and Italian opens access to one of the richest concentrations of art, literature, and cultural history in the world. Together, the three languages create a profile of linguistic and cultural breadth that is genuinely rare and professionally distinctive. At the University of St Andrews, this four-year full-time programme allows you to develop genuine competence in Arabic alongside French and Italian within a joint Honours degree structure. You will study the languages systematically, building practical skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in all three, while also engaging with the literary, cultural, and historical traditions that each language carries. The combination invites comparative analysis across languages, literatures, and civilisations that each study of one language alone would not make possible. In your third year you will spend a year abroad, giving you immersive linguistic and cultural experience in the relevant country or countries. With a typical entry tariff of 232 UCAS points, this is a highly competitive programme suited to students with exceptional linguistic talent and intellectual curiosity. Graduates with three languages of this combination are among the most sought-after linguists in the job market. Translation and interpreting, diplomacy, the foreign office, international journalism, multinational business, international organisations, academic research, and education are all natural destinations. The Arabic component is of particular strategic value in diplomatic and commercial contexts. Postgraduate study in translation, linguistics, area studies, or one of the individual language traditions provides a natural continuation.
Syllabus & Modules
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