History at Warwick

Did you have to pay extra to learn a language?

Not the OP, but I'm in my second year of History (Renaissance). Apart from the special Italian for Historian classes you get in the Venice stream, you can take an extra-departmental language module. That means it replaces one of your optional module slots and is, of course, completely free (except for textbooks and dictionaries and so forth, of course). You also have no obligation to do a language for the entirety of your course, I have friends who did Japanese respectively Chinese in their first year, then dropped it, and another friend who picked up (standard) Italian in their second year. Note that, if you want in the Venice stream, you'll have to make your decision in the first or second week of the first year and then either stick with it or drop out into the standard stream, meaning you can't enter the Venice stream in year 2. Though I suppose there might be exceptions if you're already fluid in Italian.

Sorry mb! So if I am currently a beginner in Spanish and took it as a module, I would get spanish lessons for free? And if I don't get to the standard my History capabilities are at, does that affect my ability to get a 1st?

They'd start at zero, but yes. On the downside, this means you'll have one less optional module "slot" to do a history module in. Language modules are marked and graded just like any other module, so it would impact on your final mark. However, your first year is non-assessed, so you could take a Spanish module in year one and then see at the end of the year if you feel confident enough to continue or not. Note that I don't think you can pick a language module in your third year one way or the other, though there are extra-curricular options.