Persian and Spanish

Persian is one of the great literary languages of the world, with a continuous written tradition stretching back over a millennium. It is the official language of Iran and is widely spoken across Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and serves as a significant cultural and historical language across Central Asia and South Asia. Spanish, by contrast, is the most spoken Romance language globally, the first language of more than 480 million people across Europe, Latin America and beyond.

Studying both together gives you access to two entirely distinct literary traditions, two different ways of encoding culture in language, and the analytical skills to move between them.

At the University of St Andrews you will study Persian and Spanish as a four-year joint Honours programme, delivered full time. St Andrews does not offer Persian as a single-Honours degree, making this joint combination one of the few routes to serious Persian study at the university. You will develop proficiency in both languages from the level appropriate to your entry experience, working towards a high degree of competence in reading, writing and spoken communication.

Literary, historical and cultural study runs alongside language learning, and you will engage with texts and ideas across very different historical periods and geographical contexts. A year abroad is built into the programme, immersing you in one or more of the language communities you are studying. The typical tariff of 184 reflects the academic demands of a genuinely demanding dual-language degree.

Graduates of this kind of joint languages programme enter careers in diplomacy and international relations, translation and interpreting, journalism, international development, academia, the civil service, cultural organisations and international business. Persian is a language of significant strategic and diplomatic importance, and graduates with both Persian and Spanish alongside strong analytical skills are genuinely rare. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in area studies, international relations, linguistics or literature.