Undergraduate degrees

Develop your language skills, work or study overseas, discover cultures and societies around the globe

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Degree programmes

Selected entry year

Discover Languages at Lancaster University

Lancaster's distinctive approach to undergraduate language degrees gives you the opportunity to acquire both high-level language skills and a thorough understanding of languages, cultures and societies within a global context.

International Placement Year (Engaging Globally)

Spending up to a year abroad is an integral and assessed part of our language degrees. Engaging globally gives you the opportunity to improve your language proficiency, broaden your cultural knowledge and gain transferable skills that are much valued by employers

The International Placement Year is compulsory for students taking Chinese, French, German, Italian or Spanish as a core language. Please note that we have a flexible approach to supporting students with specific educational needs with this year.

Your International Placement Year

Careers and Employability

When you arrive in Lancaster, you might not have a plan for after you graduate, but when you're ready to take the next step, we're here to help you. Studying a language strengthens your written and oral communication competence, your organisational skills, your aptitude in analysing and synthesising information, your ability to contribute to discussions and suggest ideas, and your understanding of other countries and cultures in a global world.

Careers and employability

Languages blog

Two statuesque figures (one blue, one red) shaking hands.

The power of transcultural friendly agreement

As we celebrate the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale between France and the United Kingdom, we are reminded of the importance of transcultural understanding.
A square surrounded by opulent baroque buildings and people wandering around.

An Insight into Conference Interpreting - A Day at the European Commission

Final Year Student Emily Lock had the fantastic opportunity to visit the European Commission in Brussels recently. In this blog post, she shares her experience of the day and reflect on the insights she gained into the work of interpreters.
Person standing in front of a sign that says 'Queer Medical Humanities Network Seed Meeting'.

How can languages and cultures research help improve LGBTQIA+ healthcare?: Building a Queer Medical Humanities Network

Lecturer in French Studies Benjamin Dalton discusses how his own languages and cultures research engages with the Medical Humanities and how, after realising the strong dialogue between Queer Theory and the Medical Humanities, this inspired him to create the Queer Medical Humanities Network.

The title of the conference on a blue coloured background

Report from the international colloquium 'Los territories de la poesía hispanoamericana' / 'Territories of Hispanoamerican poetry'

As a long-term member of the research project POEPOLIT II, Cornelia Gräbner attended the colloquium Los territories de la poesía en el mundo ibérico y latinoaméricano (1990-2023) at the Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. In this blog, she reports on three excellent days of discussions and readings, which were held in Spanish, Portuguese and Galician – a counterpoint to the dominance of English in academia.

A man standing outside on some steps with the background of a brick building.

My Experience of a PhD Internship: Exploring Cultural Studies at Lancaster University

Francisco Welligton Barbosa Jr, a PhD student at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, recently completed a three month PhD internship with the Department of Languages and Cultures. In this blog post, he reports on his time at Lancaster University and how this experience benefitted him.
Looking up at the abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel.

“Hep Brezhoneg Breizh Ebet!”: Three Facts You Didn’t Know About Breton

In this blog post, Modern Languages Student Jack Shiers discusses how his fascination with the coexistence of both national and regional language during his International Placement Year in Britanny led him to contribute an article to the The Linguist about the Breton language.

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