Language university help - chinese or arabic??

Hi,

I was planning to apply for the EMEL (European and Middle Eastern Studies course at university, which I will have an A-Level for French and German.
I was planning to take French for my European Language and for my Middle Eastern Language either Chinese or Arabic?
Actually, I am not sure if that course even exists at Oxford or Cambridge?
I am deciding which one to choose.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

European and Middle Eastern Languages is a specific degree at Oxford (a joint honours course between the MML and AMES departments). As above, Chinese is not a middle Eastern language and consequently is not an option on that course. Arabic can be combined with various European language options there though. At Cambridge you would apply to the AMES course which allows you to combine specific middle Eastern languages (including Arabic) either which each other or with a European language. Chinese is not an option that can be combined with a European language there. At other universities you need to look for the specific subject combination. It may or may not be possible to combine French and Chinese or French and Arabic at other unis - the degrees would probably be called "French and Chinese" (or vice versa) or "French and Arabic" (or vice versa). Also I think you used to be able to combine Arabic and French at SOAS (with French taught at UCL and Arabic taught at SOAS) although I'm not sure if that still runs now (they seem to be killing all the joint courses between UCL and SOAS).
I'd note that at Oxford particularly the European language courses are very literature focused and a lot of the degree is studying literature of the target language in the original language (Cambridge to a slightly lesser extent I believe also has a somewhat literary focus). The AMES options at Oxford also focus a lot on literature and history of countries speaking the target language as I understand (moreso than e.g. contemporary sociopolitical studies, which I think is more widely available at Cambridge) and I believe Arabic includes compulsory classical Arabic at Oxford (unsure about Cambridge). Obviously this will be paired with the language learning elements although a languages degree (in any language) is never just language learning
One thing to look for where possible are unis with a dedicated Middle Eastern Studies/Asian Studies/Asian and Middle Eastern Studies department (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge, I believe Edinburgh, Exeter also has a notable middle Eastern and Islamic studies department, SOAS obviously but no European language provision unless the joint course with UCL still runs). As this usually demonstrates some depth of expertise in that area!