BA Arabic and Spanish
About this course
Arabic and Spanish together cover two of the world's most geographically extensive and culturally rich language families. Arabic is the liturgical language of Islam, the official language of more than twenty countries across the Middle East and North Africa, and a language with one of the world's great literary and scholarly traditions stretching back more than fifteen centuries. Spanish is the official language of twenty countries across the Americas and Europe, spoken natively by more than four hundred million people, with an equally impressive literary and cultural heritage. Studying both together gives you an unusually wide international reach and a depth of cross-cultural understanding that few language combinations can match. At the University of Manchester, this four-year programme develops genuine linguistic proficiency in both Modern Standard Arabic and Spanish, alongside a thorough engagement with the cultures, histories, and contemporary politics of the Arab world and the Spanish-speaking world respectively. You will study Arabic script and grammar from the ground up, reading literary and contemporary texts in the original language, while developing your Spanish to an advanced level of fluency. The four-year structure gives sufficient time to develop real competence in both. The programme includes a sandwich year, providing an extended period of professional or academic experience in a relevant context, alongside work placement opportunities throughout. Manchester's strong traditions in Middle Eastern studies and Hispanic studies give both strands of the programme strong academic grounding. Graduates with Arabic and Spanish are in strong demand across a wide range of professional contexts. Diplomacy, the foreign office, and international organisations draw graduates whose combination of languages covers so much of the world's geopolitics. Translation and interpreting, particularly in legal, medical, and government contexts, are natural pathways. International business roles with companies operating across the Middle East, North Africa, or Latin America benefit from this linguistic range. Journalism covering global affairs, humanitarian and development work, and roles in intelligence and security are further possibilities. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in Arabic, Hispanic, or Middle Eastern studies, or in international relations and policy.
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