Russian and Persian

Russian and Persian is one of the rarest and most intellectually demanding language combinations available at degree level, and one of the most geographically and culturally expansive. Russian is the most widely spoken Slavic language and has been a language of world literature, science, diplomacy, and geopolitics for centuries. Persian, known as Farsi in Iran and Dari in Afghanistan, is one of the oldest literary languages in continuous use, the tongue of the poets Rumi and Hafez, and a language spoken across Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and much of Central Asia.

Studying both languages means working within two very different linguistic traditions and gaining access to cultural, historical, and political worlds of immense significance.

At the University of Oxford, this four-year programme is taught through the intensive tutorial system, which means you will receive individual academic supervision from scholars who are among the leading authorities on Russian and Persian language, literature, and culture in the world. Oxford's Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and the Oriental Institute together provide an exceptional research environment for this combination. You will develop serious linguistic competence in both languages, reading literature and contemporary texts in the original, and engaging with the histories, intellectual traditions, and contemporary affairs of the societies where they are spoken.

The analytical and textual skills this degree develops are of the highest order. Working across two very different scripts, literary traditions, and cultural worlds requires sustained intellectual discipline and a quality of comparative thinking that is genuinely rare and valuable.

Graduates go on to careers in diplomacy and the foreign service, where expertise in Russian or Persian-speaking regions is in sustained demand; in intelligence and security; in international law and arbitration; in journalism and broadcasting focused on Russia, the Middle East, or Central Asia; in academia; and in international business and energy. Postgraduate study in Slavonic studies, Iranian studies, international relations, or area studies is a common continuation.