Modern Languages (French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish) with Foundation Year BA (Hons)

Would you love to develop your understanding of the cultures and values that lie at the heart of different countries and become a highly proficient linguist in the process? Our BA Modern Languages with Foundation Year allows you to raise your language skills to near-native standard in at least one of two languages studied, and learn related skills in translating, summary-writing, and written and oral presentations. At the same time, you can increase your cultural understanding through options in literature, film and society. Our students gain confidence in speaking and writing both the chosen languages for study and English.You will also have the opportunity to study a number of cross-cultural modules allowing you to explore specific themes across a variety of language-speaking areas.Before proceeding to the main degree, you will spend your Foundation Year preparing yourself for a degree in the arts by improving your study and research skills and gaining arts-related knowledge and understanding. You will also have the opportunity to take a language module as part of the Foundation Year.Upon successful completion of the Foundation Year, you can automatically progress on to our three-year, full-time, evening study BA Modern Languages.We also offer part-time Foundation Year degrees which allow you to spread out your Foundation Year studies over two years. As the 'Foundation Year' is made up of 120 credits, as a part-time student you can take 60 credits in each of your first and second years before starting the main four-year BA Modern Languages. This means that you can take six years to complete the part-time degree with Foundation Year.**Highlights**- Our Foundation Year programmes will fully prepare you for undergraduate study. They are ideal if you are returning to study after a gap, if you have not previously studied the relevant subjects, or if you did not achieve the grades you needed for a place on your chosen undergraduate degree.- Our Department of Cultures and Languages brings together research and teaching in French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, making it an outstanding multidisciplinary department.- In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), Modern Languages and Linguistics achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to producing research of the highest quality, while 73% of our research was recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent.- Ours is a community of scholars with shared interests in interdisciplinary topics and cross-cultural research. Our affiliated research centres, Birkbeck Research in Aesthetics of Kinship and Community (BRAKC) and the Centre for Iberian and Latin American Visual Studies (CILAVS), provide an important platform for this exchange.- The School of Arts is an official partner of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Opportunities for students have included a year’s free membership of the ICA, private views, discounts on all talks and events, free members' screenings and £3 cinema tickets on Tuesdays, up to 25% off ICA Artists' Editions and a monthly e-newsletter.