BA Russian and Spanish / Course details

You will study 60 credits from each discipline.

Topics and themes introduced in first-year content courses are explored in depth in optional content courses in the second and final years.

As a result, these courses also help you to make informed choices for subsequent years of study based on your own interests.

Russian

• During the first year of study, you develop crucial Russian language skills through dedicated grammar classes, oral practice with native-speaker lectors, language laboratory work, and a range of independent learning activities. Separate language pathways are offered for beginners, post A-level and more advanced students.
• Our first-year content courses provide a solid base for your further studies, helping you to acquire and improve on important study skills and giving you a thorough grounding in concepts and debates crucial to an understanding of Russian society and culture.

Spanish

• In the first year of your course, you are trained in the modern spoken and written Spanish language through compulsory core courses. You will also be provided with an introduction to the cultural and historical development of the Hispanic world and develop the skills required to be successful in your further study of Spain and Latin America.

You will take only the language units relevant to your level of language in each year of study.

You may choose to study up to two thirds from either discipline or maintain equal weighting.

Russian

• During the second year, you continue with your intensive study of Russian language.
• You also choose from optional courses in a range of areas (such as Russian culture and thought, literature, Central European and Balkan history and culture, and Polish language).
• In addition, you begin to prepare for the compulsory year abroad, through meetings and consultations with our Residence Abroad Tutor and with final-year students who have recently returned from the year abroad.

Spanish

• You follow a compulsory Spanish language course unit and take optional units in the cultures and histories of the Spanish-speaking world. The list which includes options such as the study of Latin American History, writing women in the Spanish Golden Age, the Cold War in Latin America, and visual cultures in Modern Spain.

Your third year of study is  spent abroad  under approved conditions.

You may choose to study up to two thirds from either discipline or maintain equal weighting.

Russian

• The compulsory element of your studies consists of an advanced Russian language course, which focuses on oral proficiency, translation from Russian and composition in Russian.
• Optional courses such as Business Russian, translation studies, Soviet and post-Soviet popular culture and cinema, and politics and society in Russia, the Soviet Union and post-Soviet countries round out your studies.

Spanish

• Continue your studies of the Spanish language and perfect your writing and oral skills.
• Choose from a wide range of options, including the study of the supernatural in Latin American literature and film, the multi-ethnic condition of Latin American societies, and visual culture from the early modern Hispanic world.
• You may also choose to complete a dissertation, which is supervised by an appropriate member of staff. In researching and writing your dissertation, you explore in depth a subject of particular interest to you. The topic of your dissertation may be related to one of the final-year optional courses, but this is not obligatory.

Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service. Email: dass@manchester.ac.uk