Chinese and Russian B BA

A joint honours degree allows you to study the same core topics as students on each single honours course, but you’ll take fewer options and discovery modules so you can fit in both subjects. You’ll study one of our cornerstone modules in Year 1 to draw your two subjects together, and apply your knowledge and skills to a major research project in either subject in your final year.

Chinese

In your first year core modules will develop your Chinese language skills. You’ll also choose from optional modules introducing Chinese history, culture and religious traditions. Then you’ll spend a year studying in China to improve your language skills and experience the local culture, and return to advanced language classes over the next two years. You’ll also choose from optional modules from Cantonese to Sino-Japanese relations.

Russian B

Core modules in your first year will develop your language skills and introduce you to Russian literature and culture. This will prepare you for the following year, when you’ll study in Russia to improve your language skills and cultural awareness. When you return, you’ll spend the next two years taking advanced language classes, and choose from optional modules on topics such as 19th century literature, new media in Russia and translation.

Modules

Year 1

Compulsory modules

• Basic Chinese Language 1
• Basic Chinese Language 2
• Beginning Russian 1
• Beginning Russian 2

Optional modules

• History and Culture of Imperial China
• History and Culture of Early Imperial China
• History and Culture of Late Imperial China
• Modern China
• Introduction to Religious and Philosophical Texts of East Asia
• Introduction to East Asian Religions
• LCS Academic Essentials
• Text and Context: Introduction to Russian Literature
• From Icons to iPods: Approaches to Russian Culture

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• Year Abroad

Year 3

Compulsory modules

• Russian Year Abroad

Year 4

Compulsory modules

• Chinese 2A
• Chinese 2B
• Core Russian Language 2

Optional modules

• China Since 1979
• Japan's International Relations
• The Making of Modern Thailand
• Classics of Chinese Literature and Thought
• An Introduction to Cantonese (1)
• Japanese Cinema in the World
• Sino-Japanese Relations: Past and Present
• Research Placement
• Applied Russian Language 2
• Ideology and Imagination: Prose Literature in 19th Century Russia
• Not by Bread Alone: Everyday Culture under the Soviet Regime
• Postcommunist / Postmodernist Identities
• The Sounds of Russian

Year 5
Compulsory modules

• You will study 20 credits as a Final Year Project module.

• Chinese 3: Advanced Skills
• Core Russian Language 3

Optional modules

• Classics of Chinese Literature and Thought
• Chinese Oral and Performance Traditions
• Religion in China
• Civil Society and the Non-Profit Sector in Contemporary China
• Chinese Linguistics: Theory and Practice
• Pre-Modern Chinese Fiction and Drama
• Chinese Society
• Japanese Cinema in the World
• Sino-Japanese Relations: Past and Present
• Practical Chinese-English Translation
• Final Year Project: Extended Translation
• Final Year Project: Digital Documentary
• Linguists into Schools
• Russian Advanced Translation
• Imagining the Post-Soviet Realm: Popular Culture and Representation of Russia and the Newly Independent States since 1991
• The Sounds of Russian