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Languages at Uni - Help!!!

I did both French and Spanish at GCSE and have carried Spanish onto A Level. For GCSE, I was only allowed to do Spanish 1 hour a week and it wasn't until A Level that I realised how much I enjoyed languages. I was pretty set on doing History and Spanish at uni but then I decided that I wanted to go into a career in languages in the future and questioned whether doing history would be worthwhile. I am interested in going into interpreting and translation and I was reading that two foreign languages are sometimes preferred. I was also looking at MA courses in interpretation and translation and quite a few asked for 2 foreign languages at degree competence. My A Level options are English Literature, History, Religious Studies, and Spanish, so I don't currently do 2 foreign languages. I know I could do a degree in just Spanish and then pick up a language as a beginner, but when applying to do an MA or applying to a job, would the language that I picked up be represented? I also looked into the fact that with some courses you only need to have done an A Level in one of the languages. My first choice would be to do French and Spanish but some unis require you to have at least French. I also looked into Italian and Spanish. I'm not sure what to do. I don't know if it would be a good idea to pick up a whole new language for degree. Is it too risky?
Original post by Liv2109
I did both French and Spanish at GCSE and have carried Spanish onto A Level. For GCSE, I was only allowed to do Spanish 1 hour a week and it wasn't until A Level that I realised how much I enjoyed languages. I was pretty set on doing History and Spanish at uni but then I decided that I wanted to go into a career in languages in the future and questioned whether doing history would be worthwhile. I am interested in going into interpreting and translation and I was reading that two foreign languages are sometimes preferred. I was also looking at MA courses in interpretation and translation and quite a few asked for 2 foreign languages at degree competence. My A Level options are English Literature, History, Religious Studies, and Spanish, so I don't currently do 2 foreign languages. I know I could do a degree in just Spanish and then pick up a language as a beginner, but when applying to do an MA or applying to a job, would the language that I picked up be represented? I also looked into the fact that with some courses you only need to have done an A Level in one of the languages. My first choice would be to do French and Spanish but some unis require you to have at least French. I also looked into Italian and Spanish. I'm not sure what to do. I don't know if it would be a good idea to pick up a whole new language for degree. Is it too risky?


Look into degrees specifically at each university some are fine with a second language being done as a beginner, for example manchester is happy with an a level in just one of those languages
Original post by Liv2109
I did both French and Spanish at GCSE and have carried Spanish onto A Level. For GCSE, I was only allowed to do Spanish 1 hour a week and it wasn't until A Level that I realised how much I enjoyed languages. I was pretty set on doing History and Spanish at uni but then I decided that I wanted to go into a career in languages in the future and questioned whether doing history would be worthwhile. I am interested in going into interpreting and translation and I was reading that two foreign languages are sometimes preferred. I was also looking at MA courses in interpretation and translation and quite a few asked for 2 foreign languages at degree competence. My A Level options are English Literature, History, Religious Studies, and Spanish, so I don't currently do 2 foreign languages. I know I could do a degree in just Spanish and then pick up a language as a beginner, but when applying to do an MA or applying to a job, would the language that I picked up be represented? I also looked into the fact that with some courses you only need to have done an A Level in one of the languages. My first choice would be to do French and Spanish but some unis require you to have at least French. I also looked into Italian and Spanish. I'm not sure what to do. I don't know if it would be a good idea to pick up a whole new language for degree. Is it too risky?

hey I'm in the exact same position I'm hoping to do Spanish and French at uni. but like you im also looking at maybe doing Italian instead of frech. I do a level Spanish and teach myslf French at home. as long as you do one language at a level they're happy for you to learn one more from scratch. im currently looking at Exeter, portsmoth, Nottingham kent ect all of these allow you to do Spanish and French from scratch and its the same for most unis however some don't accept French to be learn form scratch because most people have already studies it but that is only in very few unis.

its also really common for people to learn a new language ab initio at uni when I was looking around some of them lots of the teachers seemed to be really supportive with it and it seems like they are willing to help you a lot. you also have extra contect hours when picking up a new language to help support you through it.
I hope this is helpful.

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