Russian Studies and English Language

Around 150 million people in the world speak Russian, which is widely used in global cultural and political contexts. It is the official language of four countries, is commonly understood throughout Eastern Europe, and in the last thirty years has seen transnational mobility on an unprecedented scale. For example, there are large communities of Russian-speakers in China, Central Asia, the United States, and Western Europe.

This flexible joint honours programme gives you the opportunity to study Russian in its cultural context while exploring how the English language has changed over time. These changes can be traced through written materials ranging from medieval manuscripts to text messages, and more recently, through recordings of spoken English.

Combining the linguistic and cultural study of languages demonstrates that you are a good communicator, a resilient problem solver, and someone open to other cultures and new ideas.

When you graduate, you will have the combination of broad cultural education and specialist knowledge valued by employers worldwide.

Russian Studies

Study Russian with us, and you will learn the language alongside Russian literature and culture, as well as developing an awareness of Russia's political and historical contexts.

Through intensive language study, you will have the opportunity to develop advanced speaking, writing, reading, listening and translating skills in Russian.

Our Year 1 courses are streamed according to how much Russian you already know, so it does not matter if you are a complete beginner.

English Language

Your studies will develop your knowledge and understanding of:

* the principles of theoretical linguistics

* the way we learn language

* the regional and social variations of language, particularly the English language

* methods of communication

As part of the programme, you can opt to study the Scots language, which has its own rich linguistic and literary tradition.

English Language courses of particular interest to students of Russian cover:

* the speech sounds of the world's languages

* variation in the languages of the world