This Joint Honours course combines study of Latin with the opportunity to gain skills in French and knowledge of the culture of France and French speaking countries. Latin provided many of the building blocks of the French language, so studying these subjects together enhances both.

Whether you start at beginners’, advanced or native-speaker level, you will study the core French language components, gaining skills in writing, reading, speaking and listening. All our language teaching is led by native speakers.

The remainder of your modern languages study will give you an opportunity to explore literature, art, culture and history, from seventeenth-century French theatre to twentieth-centry cinema and photography. As a modern linguist, you will develop excellent communication and research skills, and combine lingusitic proficiency with cross-cultural perspectives.

In your third year you will have the opportunity to spend a year working, teaching or studying abroad in a French-speaking country, where you will immerse yourself in the language and culture, truly broadening your horizons in the process.

• On graduation you will have language and analytical skills in French, together with additional knowledge of culture, society, and history, that will give you a valuable competitive edge in an increasingly globalised world.
• Our research staff are engaged in research at the highest level internationally; we are in the top 10 of UK Modern Language departments for research quality and the top in London (Research Assessment Exercise 2014).

The Latin element of the course is designed to develop your language skills beyond advanced level. Over three years you’ll become a specialist in both the language and literature of the ancient Romans. Studying Latin at Royal Holloway will enable you to delve into a wide range of non-linguistic subjects too, including classical archaeology and ancient philosophy, as well as ancient history and classical literature in translation.

Latin is part of our Classics Department, where the combination of quality of research that informs our teaching, and the friendly, individual approach that shapes the way we guide our students, creates an unbeaten academic experience.

• A centre for excellence in both teaching and research, 98% of our research is recognized as world-leading, internationally excellent or internationally recognized (REF 2014).
• A thriving Classics Society that contributes to the friendly and sociable atmosphere of our department.

When you graduate with this intellectually demanding joint degree not only will you be a modern linguist, an analytical and critical thinker with impressive communication and leadership skills, you will also have a wide range of additional transferable skills which can be applied in almost any area of employment from consulting to the arts.

Having spent a year abroad you’ll also have developed the kind of sensitivity to different cultures that is highly prized in the workplace.

• Full time employment or further study achieved by 90% of Modern Language graduates within six months of graduation (Unistats 2015). 
• Graduates have entered a wide range of careers including many language-related fields, such as: international management, consultancy, sales and marketing, media and publishing, banking, the arts, politics, the Civil Service, teaching, travel and tourism, translating and interpreting.  Philosophy graduates have gone into areas, such as: law, public affairs, journalism, civil service, marketing and public relations, business analysis, museums/heritage, writing, accountancy and charity fundraising.  Other graduates have gone onto postgraduate study.