Modern Languages and English

Studying modern languages alongside English literature opens up a genuinely broad intellectual space, one that spans linguistic structure, literary tradition and cultural history across two or more traditions. Languages and literature are not separate pursuits here: the ability to read texts in their original tongue changes how you understand them, and literary study deepens your sensitivity to the nuances of language itself. At the University of Leicester, this four-year full-time programme combines advanced language learning with the close reading and critical thinking at the heart of English studies.

You will develop fluency and analytical precision in your chosen modern language, studying its grammar, spoken registers and written forms while engaging with literature and culture from the countries where it is used. Alongside this, you will explore the English literary canon from medieval writing to contemporary fiction, developing skills in textual analysis, argument construction and contextual interpretation. The programme encourages you to draw comparisons across traditions, to think about translation, cultural exchange and the ways in which language shapes meaning differently in different contexts.

Working across two linguistic traditions trains a kind of intellectual agility that employers in many fields find highly valuable.

Graduates from combined modern languages and English programmes move into a wide range of careers, including translation and interpreting, publishing, journalism, education, international business, diplomacy and the civil service. The communication skills, cultural awareness and analytical rigour developed over four years are transferable to almost any professional environment that involves working with language, people or ideas. Many graduates also proceed to postgraduate study in linguistics, literature, translation studies or teacher training, finding that the breadth of this degree provides a strong foundation for specialisation.