One of the most attractive characteristics of this four-year programme is its flexibility.
In Years 1 and 2 your pre-honours years you will choose option courses from a wide range of disciplines in addition to your core subjects of Russian Studies and Spanish.
As well as broadening your education and skill set this may enable you to change the focus of your programme in Years 3 and 4 your honours years.
Year 1
Russian
If you have no previous knowledge of Russian you will take Russian Studies 1A an intensive beginners Russian course.
If you have studied the language before you will take the Russian Studies 1B course which provides advanced Russian language study.
Both of these courses include a unit on Russian culture.
Spanish
You will study either Spanish 1A or 1B depending on your language skills and a selection of literary texts and films from the Spanish-speaking world.
Option courses
You will complete your Year 1 studies with option courses chosen from a wide range offered by the University of Edinburgh.
You can for example opt to study another language such as Portuguese which you can start as a complete beginner.
Other options include but are not limited to courses in:
linguistics and language sciences
business economics and informatics
politics social policy and social anthropology
art and architectural history
history classics and archaeology
Celtic and Scottish ethnology
philosophy divinity and law
Year 2
Russian
You will continue to study Russian language and will choose one of the following three courses:
Transnational Russian Culture
19th century Russian literature
20th century Russian literature
Spanish
You will continue to develop your Spanish language skills and deepen your knowledge of the literatures and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world.
Option courses
As in Year 1 you will also choose from a wide range of other option courses offered by the University.
These include a great selection in European languages and cultures allowing you to study literature film and theatre in themed and comparative contexts.
You can also opt to study Catalan or different aspects of linguistics.
Year 3
If international travel restrictions allow you will spend Year 3 abroad dividing your 30 weeks between a country in which Russian is spoken and one in which Spanish is spoken.
You will typically spend at least eight weeks in each country.
For Russian you will study at a university or language centre.
For Spanish the University has exchange places across Europe and Latin America. Alternatively you may be eligible to do a teaching assistant placement with an organisation such as the British Council – or other work placement – instead.
Whether studying or combining study with a work placement our graduates have told us how much the year abroad has benefited their broader life experience and skills as well as their understanding of Russophone and Hispanic cultures.
During your year abroad we will aim to ensure your experience is as beneficial as possible to your final year as well as to your wider language learning cultural awareness and skills development.
For example you will take e-learning courses which will count as part of your Year 3 mark and prepare you for your Year 4 language courses.
If international travel is not possible either in full or in part you will be offered an alternative means of engaging with your subjects enabling you to meet your learning outcomes and preparing you for your final year.
Year 4
You will develop your advanced language skills in Russian and Spanish.
You will also choose from a wide range of specialist honours-level courses many taught by research-active experts.
These courses cover topics such as:
film
literature
history
language
politics
culture
You will also complete a dissertation or long essay in either Russian or Spanish.
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