Would studying languages at uni require a lot of.....?

...work and study on the arts and history side?

Because I love to learn languages, but I'm not into history and definitely not interested in art! I love linguistics, but wouldn't take it as a degree choice on its own.

Also, any other experiences you've had with studying languages at uni? If you do two or more, can it get confusing? How much freedom have you had to choose modules of topics you do enjoy?

Reply 1

Beth286

Original post by DeepInTheMeadow

Im in the same position, I want to do Spanish a level but I want to learn the language and culture not history about Spain!! I don’t know what to do haha!

Reply 2

gjd800

Original post by Beth286

Im in the same position, I want to do Spanish a level but I want to learn the language and culture not history about Spain!! I don’t know what to do haha!

Culture is inextricably linked with history, unfortunately.

Reply 3

DeepInTheMeadow

Original post by gjd800

Culture is inextricably linked with history, unfortunately.

Very true, but unfortunately history just bores me. Art history more so, I can cope with history for at least a little while.

Any other responses?

Reply 4

gjd800

Original post by DeepInTheMeadow

Very true, but unfortunately history just bores me. Art history more so, I can cope with history for at least a little while.

Any other responses?

I've only learnt languages as a kind of necessary parallel to my terminal degree, and so not in the manner you're asking about. My experience was one that saw me learn two languages 'dry' (without any of the history stuff necessarily attached), but I would hazard that this isn't indicative of degree-level languages in general. Sorry!

Reply 5

umbrellala

Universities Forum Helper

If you're talking about a pure single language degree, there does tend to be a lot of history involved. Typically, your first year compulsory modules would be aimed at building up a good background of the culture and history of the country in order to have a good foundation for the rest of the course. Past that, you can choose modules that are more economics, politics, sociology, linguistics, or arts focused (eg. film, literature, art) but you will need some in-depth understanding of the culture beforehand which inevitably includes history.

In terms of learning more than one language at once, most universities will discourage learning more than one ab-initio (depending on the languages), but if you already have a good hold of one language then there's no reason to continue that as well as picking up another. It would be very challenging, but it does reduce the amount of 'extra' modules you have to pick, and would therefore reduce the amount of history-related modules you take if you really don't want to know about the background of the languages and countries you're studying (which I would strongly recommend that you do).

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 6

FionaMG

Original post by DeepInTheMeadow

Not necessarily. Modern language degrees can vary considerably in their content from university to university. What you need to do is pick a few universities that would initially interest you and then take a close look at the module descriptions for their modern language courses. If those universities don't make the cut, consider widening your options to others that you might not previously have considered.

Look for universities that offer modern languages and linguistics. You may be able to take some linguistics modules alongside your languages.

Again choices vary considerably from university to university. Some will have your course completely mapped out for you with no leeway for options, while others will offer options for just about every module.

I can give you the example of the university my daughter is attending, the University of Essex. I know it is not widely mentioned as being a university for languages but if you take a look, you will see that it fits your requirements very closely.

I hope this helps and wish you good luck in your search. :smile:

Reply 7

DeepInTheMeadow

Original post by umbrellala

Thanks for answering :smile:

I do understand completely how the history of a culture will intrinsically tie into their culture and traditions, so I am willing to study that if need be.
it's just not my main area of interest and I don't know if it has to be if I'm studying a language degree?

Reply 8

umbrellala

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by DeepInTheMeadow

Thanks for answering :smile:

It certainly doesn't have to be your main area of interest, there are other avenues you can explore depending on which uni course you choose, although it is inevitable that you will come across some history during the degree. I would go on some uni websites to see what your options are for the course you're interested in, since it will change from uni to uni and course to course.