Teaching
Teaching is made up of lectures, seminars, language classes, intensive oral work in small groups, and small-group supervisions.
For your language classes, you’ll get individual feedback from your teachers, outlining how you can improve further.
For your supervisions, you prepare written work which you then discuss with a specialist in the field. In your first year, you can generally expect around 12 to 14 hours of teaching each week.
Assessment
You’re assessed at the end of each year, primarily through written and oral examinations, and the submission of an extended translation or research project at the end of the third year.
You can complete a dissertation instead of a written exam, in the fourth year.
You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.
Year 1 (Part IA)
You study 2 languages, at least one at post A level or IB Higher Level standard.
The main emphasis is on developing your language skills by studying a wide variety of authentic texts, radio programmes and video clips.
You’ll experience a variety of teaching methods, including faculty classes of up to 15 students, and supervisions in groups of 2 or 3.
You also take an introductory paper in which you explore 3 or more of the following topics:
- literature
- linguistics
- history
- thought
- film
- art
Year 2 (Part IB)
You take 5 papers in total. You continue intensive language study with the aim of acquiring native or near-native fluency in both languages.
You can choose from a wide range of papers covering topics such as:
- literature
- history
- linguistics
- film
- thought
- art
- an introduction to a language and culture you haven’t studied before
You have the option to replace one exam with coursework.
Years 3 and 4 (Part II)
Year 3
You spend at least 8 months abroad, during which time you prepare a project that counts as one sixth of your final mark.
This can be a dissertation (extended research project), a translation project or a linguistics project.
Just before the fourth year starts, you take an oral examination when you’re back in Cambridge.
Year 4
You take 5 further papers and you’re free to:
- specialise in one language
- combine options from two or more languages
- take comparative options
- take up to two options from other courses, such as English or History
You do advanced language work and focus on topics in one or 2 of your languages, such as:
- literature
- linguistics
- thought
- history
- politics
- film
There are also a number of papers you can choose to combine study of both of your languages.
These currently include papers on:
- European film
- linguistics of the German, Romance, and Slavonic language families
You can replace one written paper with a dissertation of 8,000 to 10,000 words.
For further information about this course and the papers you can take see the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics website.
Changing course
It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply.
In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.
You might also have to:
- take part in an interview
- complete an admissions test
- produce some written work
- achieve a particular grade in your current studies
- do some catch-up work
- start your new course from the beginning
For more information visit the Faculty website.
You can also apply to change to:
You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed one year or more of your original Cambridge course.
You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.
