MA English Language/French
About this course
English language and French is a pairing that develops two complementary sets of skills: a rigorous scientific understanding of how English works as a linguistic system, and a high level of practical proficiency in French alongside its literary and cultural traditions. English linguistics asks fundamental questions about the structure, meaning, and history of language, exploring how we communicate, how languages change over time, and what language reveals about culture and society. French, one of the world's most widely spoken languages and a dominant force in diplomacy, law, and culture, opens access to a rich literary tradition and to professional opportunities across Europe and beyond. At the University of Glasgow, this five-year full-time programme gives you the time and depth to develop genuine expertise in both areas. Your English language studies will take you through phonetics and phonology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and the history of English, giving you the tools to analyse language with scientific precision. Alongside this, you will develop your French proficiency to an advanced level, reading texts in the original, studying French and Francophone literature, and engaging with contemporary French society and politics. The course places the study of language itself at the centre, asking you to think carefully about what it means to communicate and how linguistic structures shape meaning. The programme includes a sandwich year and work placement opportunities, giving you significant professional experience before you graduate. This may be through a period in a French-speaking country or organisation, or through another employer context where your language and analytical skills are directly applied. The five-year duration reflects both the ambition of the combined programme and the Scottish degree structure. Graduates of English language and French go on to careers in translation and interpreting, teaching, journalism, communications, publishing, international business, the civil service, and academia. The combination of rigorous linguistic training and French fluency is distinctive and valued by employers across many sectors. Postgraduate study in linguistics, translation studies, or French literature is a natural continuation.
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