Modern Languages and English Literature

Birmingham’s fusion of language and culture places employability at its heart, preparing you to live and work as an engaged citizen of the world.

Studying a modern language from beginner or advanced level (French, German, Italian, Russian, or Portuguese), alongside English is highly complementary and an exciting way to contextualise your knowledge in each discipline. At Birmingham, undergraduate language is taught through the lens of the target culture's literature, history, politics and society, and through total immersion on the Year Abroad. Please note that not all combinations are available due to timetable restrictions.

By studying Modern Languages as a Joint Honours degree with English Literature, the programme allows you to study the ways in which literary culture has engaged with and shaped society and how it continues to do so today. You will also have the opportunity to take our specialist second-year undergraduate Shakespeare module and the possibility of participating in our residential trip in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Why study this course?

Study differently - with our CLIL (Content Language Integrated Learning) teaching method. CLIL is a blended approach to language learning, based on a fusion of language and culture: study language, grammar and vocabulary in direct relation to topics of real cultural significance in your chosen language.

Join the Modern Languages community - enhance your skills with a wide range of exciting extracurricular activities, including cultural trips organised by the Modern Languages Society, our multilingual Linguist Magazine, specialist talks, research seminars and additional free languages classes at Languages for All.

Go beyond the printed book – Take advantage of the wide-ranging expertise within our academic community and explore the study of art, comics, film, marketing, music, social media, textual production, theatre, TV and video games.

A city that values literature as much as you do – explore our exceptional resources, including our Cadbury Research Library, consisting of over 200,000 rare books dating from 1471, as well as the Library of Birmingham, Europe’s largest regional library. Get involved with the numerous on-campus writer’s groups, including our very own newspaper, radio and TV stations and delve into the various citywide literature festivals.

35th for Modern Languages in the Guardian University Guide 2024

Top 30 for English in the QS World University Subject Rankings 2024