B.A. Applied Languages (German and French)

In Year 1, you study language modules, developing the full range of language skills in an academic, professional and international context.

If you have chosen ab initio Spanish, you study the language intensively, using modern multimedia techniques.

Depending on your programme choice, you also attend introductory modules covering relevant aspects of translation, culture and society, and history.

In addition to language and culture-specific modules, all students take the module Skills for Language Specialists, taught in English. This allows a deeper understanding of essential themes in language study and of your own foreign language acquisition.

Modules:

• Skills for Language Specialists
• Written and Spoken Language for Academic and Professional Contexts
• Cultures and Societies (of countries concerned)
• Intensive Language Learning (ab initio Spanish where relevant)
• Translation into English from one of your languages

In Year 2, you build on the language modules studied in Year 1. You can also choose from a range of options, including Politics and Economics of the relevant country and an Introduction to Sociolinguistics. There is also an optional non-language-specific module, Languages in Education, which offers an insight into the teaching profession while allowing you to participate in the National Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme.

Modules:

• Advanced Written and Spoken Language for Academic and Professional Contexts
• Politics and Economics (of relevant countries)
• Introduction to Sociolinguistics
• Languages in Education
• Introduction to TEFL
• Translation from target language into English
• Translation from English into target language
• Translation studies options

In your third year, you are given the opportunity to practise and develop your linguistic, intercultural and transferable skills while working and/or studying abroad. Our placement team will help you organise a placement that fits your needs. Where you go, and how many placements you do, depends on your degree programme. Whether you do a study or work placement depends on your interests and skills. The majority of our students spend their third year working abroad, gaining valuable international work experience. See below for more details.

In Year 3 (the fourth year of your degree), you combine the knowledge, skills and experience you have acquired during the previous levels and whilst on placement. In your final year, you specialise in a research topic of your choice and write a dissertation in your target language.

At this high level of linguistic competency, you are able to choose from a range of options, covering topics such as the arts, sociolinguistics, languages in business contexts and professional communication, as well as a range of translation modules. These modules are all designed to cover varied academic and professional interests and to prepare you for your future career.

Modules:

• Dissertation
• Advanced writing and oral skills
• The Arts and culture in target language world
• Professional Communication
• Languages in Business Contexts
• Translation into English and into target language
• Introduction to interpreting
• Critical concepts and theories in translation studies

We believe that the acquisition of academic knowledge should be coupled with a strong and continuous professional training so that our students graduate with a wider range of skills that will make them more employable. The Professional Training placement year is one of the reasons for our very high employment rates in the School of English and Languages (100% in the last cohort that graduated in 2013).

The Professional Training placement year is compulsory, be it in the form of a work placement or a study period abroad. We acknowledge its essential role in our degrees by awarding 120 credits for it, which (while not counting towards your final degree classification) appear in the final university transcript alongside your academic module marks.

The Professional Training placement year cycle begins right from your first year, when you learn about the cultures and societies related to your chosen languages and practise CV-writing and presentation techniques.

In the second year, students take a module called "Preparation for the Professional Training Year". This includes one-to-one meetings with an experienced team of placement tutors (one for each language), who can advise you on a placement that suits your abilities, interests and future career plans. The preparation also includes sessions on CV and cover-letter writing, finances while on placement, health and safety in the workplace, insurance, accommodation, and so on, as well as talks by current placement providers, employers or experts in a particular industry. In the past, guest speakers have included representatives from Microsoft UK, Hilton Spain and Vifor Pharma Switzerland.

The Professional Training placement year starts when you have secured a work placement or a study exchange. Our students make excellent candidates for placements in areas such as marketing, international relations, sales, PR, translation and even finance. We have a wide range of links with internationally-renowned companies such as EDF, Ernst & Young, Volkswagen and Hilton Hotels, who send their competitive placement offers for distribution among our students.

If you opt for a study exchange, you can choose from a number of partner universities in Europe with which we have Erasmus bilateral agreements. These include universities in:

• Lyon
• Heidelberg
• Freiburg
• Castellón
• Madrid

During your year abroad, you will receive at least two visits by your placement tutors. The purpose of this unique approach to placements is to support you in your transition to a new language, a new country and a new work environment. They also serve the purpose of assessing your performance at work and mediating between you and your placement organisation, as well as preparing you for your final year back at university.

At the end of your Professional Training placement year our goal is for you to be able to reflect upon and articulate your experience so that you can discuss it in a future job interview upon graduation. To this end, we ask you to update your CV, write a placement report and give a presentation to first- and second-year students about your experience.