Modern Languages

The College currently admits 9 undergraduates a year to read Modern Languages and the associated Joint Schools with Classics, English, History, Philosophy, Linguistics and Middle Eastern Languages. Applicants are welcome in all languages, but for the Honour School of Modern Languages, one of the languages offered must be French or German; for European and Middle Eastern Languages, the European language must be French or German. For the other joint schools, any language may be offered. Beginners may be admitted to read Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Modern Greek, Czech or Russian.

Undergraduates reading French and/or German may expect to be taught for the greater part of their course by the College’s resident Fellows in those languages, but some options are taught by specialists outside the College. Language teaching in French and German is carried out within the College, in part by native speakers. The other languages are taught on an intercollegiate basis, but under the supervision of the College Lecturers. Dr Bullock’s (Russian) current research focuses on the relationship between words and music in Russian culture, with special reference to the song tradition.  He has also published on twentieth-century literature, particularly Soviet writer, Andrei Platonov. Dr Tandello’s (Italian) interests range from modern Italian poetry (Leopardi, Montale, Rosselli) to dialects in Italian literature, and modern drama (Pirandello in particular). Dr del Pilar Blanco (Spanish) is currently working on a project that explores the intersections of science and literature in the work of the Spanish American modernistas during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The facilities of the Taylor Institution, the centre for Modern Languages studies in Oxford and one of the major research centres for the subject in Britain, are very near to the College, as is the University Language Centre, which provides audio-visual language teaching.

The year abroad (between the second and final year of study in Oxford) is a key part of the course, and Worcester undergraduates have in the past spent their year in places as diverse as Martinique, French Guiana, Moscow and Mexico City, as well as in Western European countries.