[cid]

Hi guys, i had recently been applying for a degree course in a foreign language, however eventually decided against it and will now be doing English and History.

However i am still curious about what it would have entailed.

From what i understood, there was learning the language (obviously), learning about the culture and exploring the literature of said language.

I was wondering what sort of depth students would go into regarding study of the culture. Would it just be a brief understanding of the culture, or would you look into its past, its causes, how it was shaped and influenced into what it has become today, in short a sort of sociology based on the countries the languages belong to? Would you take elements from several humanities and apply them to the said country, so examine its History, literature, media, politics, geography and religions and such, perhaps a module or so each? Or is it pretty much language and that stuff is just something you would look into if you were passionate enough?

I would presume someone compleating a foreign language degree would leave the course with quite a mastery of the language, does the student have time to look into all these areas at any great depth?

Just curious.

[superwolf]

With my degree (Russian Studies) you get a fair bit of choice - you can study history, literature (both split roughly into pre- and post-1917), film, politics, aspects of Eastern Europe (history/politics/culture), popular culture, business Russian (separate from the compulsory language element), Polish, and probably various other stuff I've missed out. Basically there are some compulsory modules but mostly you just get to choose to study whatever aspects interest you most.

How advanced a level your language is is down to a number of factors - how hard you work (not all people put in enough effort, there's a lot of self-study you need to do), what you do on your year abroad and for how long, whether you started from scratch or had prior experience, if you were studying multiple languages, and of course there's natural ability too.

[hannah_dru]

It probably varies from course to course. My course had no literature but there were modules on the history of the language, different countries where the language is spoken, culture and history. We were able to go into depth with certain topics as there were a lot of essays to write. The same applied to the dissertation.

I don't know about a mastery of the language though, I do think it's like superwolf said and it depends how much effort you put in.

[yabbayabba]

Depends on the university, MFL non-language modules can vary a lot depending on where you go to uni. I've just completed my first year doing English and French and did a module on French literature for the cultural side. It was pretty much like studying English literature but obviously reading French texts. The amount of 'depth' was just the same as my modules in English, they complemented my English modules rather well actually. Though, I can't guarantee it will be the same at every university. Look into the course content of places you're looking to apply.

I'd imagine if you were doing half your degree in one language and your cultural module in 1st year was a mixture of literature, history, politics etc. then level of 'depth' you'd go into when studying each aspect would be more superficial simply due to time constraints. Though in 2nd and final year you'd have the choice of specialising in whatever interests you most whether that be literature, history, politics etc. It all depends on the university and what they offer.