About this course
This course starts in September 2024.
Develop your French or German and your analytical and critical thinking skills with this modern language and philosophy degree.
Spend a year of this 4 year degree abroad on a workplace, teaching or university placement. Develop your language skills while learning about the French or German speaking world's history and thought.
Engage with fundamental issues in ethics, metaphysics and political philosophy and apply philosophical thought to practical questions.
You can choose a language you have not studied. You'll get extra hours of teaching and funding for a language course abroad at the end of year 1 to make fast progress.
Whichever language you choose, you'll:
- develop your analytical abilities as you engage with philosophical questions
- become immersed in the language and familiar with how it is spoken
- gain the skills to understand ways of thinking and engage in debates
- study a society or cultures that the language is spoken in
Choose topics and gain expertise in areas that interest you most, including:
- contemporary society
- literature and film
- anthropology
- history
Language study paths
These are the languages you can choose from:
- BA Modern Languages (French) and Philosophy
- BA Modern Languages (German) and Philosophy
We regularly review our courses to ensure and improve quality. This course may be revised as a result of this. Any revision will be balanced against the requirement that the student should receive the educational service expected. Find out why, when, and how we might make changes.
Our courses are regulated in England by the Office for Students (OfS).
Learn more about these subject areas
Course location
This course is based at Avenue.
Awarding body
This qualification is awarded by the University of Southampton.
Download the Course Description Document
The Course Description Document details your course overview, your course structure and how your course is taught and assessed.
Entry requirements
For Academic year 202526
A-levels
ABB
A-levels additional information
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking.
A-levels with Extended Project Qualification
If you are taking an EPQ in addition to 3 A levels, you will receive the following offer in addition to the standard A level offer: BBB and grade A in the EPQ
A-levels contextual offer
We are committed to ensuring that all applicants with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise an applicant's potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
International Baccalaureate Diploma
Pass, with 32 points overall with 16 points at Higher Level
International Baccalaureate contextual offer
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
International Baccalaureate Career Programme (IBCP) statement
Offers will be made on the individual Diploma Course subject(s) and the career-related study qualification. The CP core will not form part of the offer. Where there is a subject pre-requisite(s), applicants will be required to study the subject(s) at Higher Level in the Diploma course subject and/or take a specified unit in the career-related study qualification. Applicants may also be asked to achieve a specific grade in those elements. Please see the University of Southampton International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme (IBCP) Statement for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
BTEC
Distinction, Distinction, Merit in the BTEC National Extended Diploma Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC National Diploma plus B at A level Distinction in the BTEC National Extended Certificate plus AB at A level
RQF BTEC
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Additional information
The University aims to recruit students from a wide range of backgrounds who we believe have the potential and motivation to succeed on our challenging programmes. We are committed to fair admissions and strive to ensure we give equal consideration to all applicants who possess the necessary knowledge and skills.
QCF BTEC
Distinction, Distinction, Merit in the BTEC Extended Diploma Distinction, Distinction in the BTEC Diploma plus B at A level Distinction in the BTEC Subsidiary Diploma plus AB at A level
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
Access to HE Diploma
60 credits with a minimum of 45 credits at Level 3, of which 30 must be at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit
Irish Leaving Certificate
Irish Leaving Certificate (first awarded 2017)
H1 H2 H2 H2 H3 H3
Irish Leaving Certificate (first awarded 2016)
A2 A2 B1 B1 B2 B2
Scottish Qualification
Offers will be based on exams being taken at the end of S6. Subjects taken and qualifications achieved in S5 will be reviewed. Careful consideration will be given to an individual’s academic achievement, taking in to account the context and circumstances of their pre-university education.
Please see the University of Southampton’s Curriculum for Excellence Scotland Statement (PDF) for further information. Applicants are advised to contact their Faculty Admissions Office for more information.
Cambridge Pre-U
D3 M2 M2 in three principal subjects
Welsh Baccalaureate
ABB from 3 A levels or AB from two A levels and B from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Skills Challenge Certificate
Welsh Baccalaureate additional information
Offers typically exclude General Studies and Critical Thinking.
Welsh Baccalaureate contextual offer
We are committed to ensuring that all learners with the potential to succeed, regardless of their background, are encouraged to apply to study with us. The additional information gained through contextual data allows us to recognise a learner’s potential to succeed in the context of their background and experience. Applicants who are highlighted in this way will be made an offer which is lower than the typical offer for that programme.
T-Level
Not accepted for this course.
Other requirements
GCSE requirements
Applicants must hold GCSE English language (or GCSE English) (minimum grade 4/C) and mathematics (minimum grade 4/C)
Find the equivalent international qualifications for our entry requirements.
English language requirements
If English isn't your first language, you'll need to complete an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to demonstrate your competence in English. You'll need all of the following scores as a minimum:
IELTS score requirements
- overall score
- 6.5
- reading
- 6.0
- writing
- 6.0
- speaking
- 6.0
- listening
- 6.0
We accept other English language tests. Find out which English language tests we accept.
If you don’t meet the English language requirements, you can achieve the level you need by completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.
You might meet our criteria in other ways if you do not have the qualifications we need. Find out more about:
- our Ignite your Journey scheme for students living permanently in the UK (including residential summer school, application support and scholarship)
- skills you might have gained through work or other life experiences (otherwise known as recognition of prior learning)
Find out more about our Admissions Policy.
Got a question?
Please contact our enquiries team if you're not sure that you have the right experience or qualifications to get onto this course.
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44(0)23 8059 5000
Course structure
You study both philosophy and your chosen language of French, German or Spanish throughout your degree.
You choose what to focus on for both parts of your degree.
Year 1 overview
You study both your language and the society or culture where it is spoken.
We work out which language level you are at to give you the best possible start to develop your skills.
You also get an introduction to major themes and approaches in philosophy.
At the end of year 1 you can choose to take a summer course abroad in your language if you did not study it before the degree.
Year 2 overview
You study how we attain knowledge and understand reality in one philosophy module.
Choose to study other philosophy modules which may include:
- moral philosophy
- the ethics of poverty
- knowledge and evidence
Continue your study of French or German. You choose modules that equip you with different ways to study cultures and languages.
These include:
- socio-historical studies
- cultural studies
- linguistics
- ethnography
- politics
Year 3 overview
You'll carry out your period abroad and get to know a foreign culture either as a student or in a work placement.
You work independently on tasks as you build knowledge of your chosen language, culture and society. You also complete a portfolio of work in both English and either French or German.
We support you with frequent online meetings and through contact by email.
Year 4 overview
You choose modules in cultural studies, linguistics, ethnographic, socio-historical and politics.
You combine these with philosophy modules of your choice.
These may include:
- scepticism
- advanced aesthetics
- the ethics of climate change
- works of Heidegger, Nietzsche or Schopenhauer
You can carry out research for a dissertation using the intellectual skills you've gained throughout your degree.
Want more detail? See all the modules in the course.
Modules
The modules outlined provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. As a research-led University, we undertake a continuous review of our course to ensure quality enhancement and to manage our resources. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand. Find out why, when and how we might make changes.
Choose from the study paths below to display modules on this page.
Your modules
Modules will display here
For entry in academic year 2025 to 2026
Year 1 modules
You must study the following modules in year 1:
Academic Skills for Modern languages and Linguistics students
This module is designed to ease the transition from A-level to the first year of a single or combined honours degree programme by setting out clearly what we expect of you at undergraduate level and equipping you with the resources to be able to operate a...
Ethics
We all make moral judgements every day. Today you might have decided not to push into a queue because it would be unfair. You might think that murder is wrong but that it is still not permissible for the state to take an innocent life in retribution. You ...
Introduction to French and Francophone Studies
This module is designed to provide you with a broad introduction to the culture, history and language of France and Francophone countries. By studying various types of primary and secondary sources, you will become familiar with a wide range of themes, e...
Introduction to German Studies
This module is designed to provide you with a broad introduction to the culture, history and language of Germany and other German-speaking countries. By studying various types of primary and secondary sources, you will become familiar with a wide range o...
Reason and Argument
One of the main reasons the study of Philosophy is valued by employers is that it develops an ability that is invaluable in all sorts of contexts: the ability to reason rigorously and correctly. All Philosophy modules aim indirectly to develop this skill,...
Truth, Knowledge, and Objectivity
The central goals of enquiry are to discover what the world is like and how we ought to live. A simple and initially attractive picture is that there is a world independent of us that we can learn about via experience, and via reasoning. But both parts of...
You must also choose from the following modules in year 1:
Applications of Linguistics
This unit will introduce you to the main areas relevant to applied language studies.
Applied Ethics
In both public and private life, we face difficult and pressing ethical questions every day. Should we give a proportion of our wealth to those in developing countries? Should we allow doctors to perform abortions or euthanasia and, if so, under what circ...
Elements of Linguistics - Sound, Structure and Meaning
This module provides an introduction to linguistic approaches to sound, structure and meaning in the branches of linguistics known as phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics.
Faith and Reason
Debates between believers and non-believers are often fierce and can appear intractable, while the differences between them leads to social tension, conflict, and even war. Non-believers frequently charge believers with irrationality; in response, believe...
Freedom and Responsibility
Human beings have free will, and that is why they are responsible for their actions and choices. Or so we tend to think. But is it really so? Are our choices and actions not determined by factors outside our control—are they not the inevitable upshot of c...
Language Acquisition
You may have asked yourself how children learn their first language or whether some animals can speak just like humans do. People often wonder whether there are any lifelong benefits of bilingualism as well. This module introduces you to the field of lang...
Political Philosophy
States impose many demands upon their citizens through the law and the magistrates and police who enforce it. But are there good reasons why citizens should comply with these demands, or do they act merely out of a fear of punishment? Some states we seem ...
Puzzles about Art and Literature
Both individuals and society attach great importance and value to certain works of art, including poems, novels, films, plays, symphonies, and paintings. Most of us spend a considerable amount of our limited time and resources acquiring, creating, experie...
Understanding Culture
This introductory course will give you an overview of some approaches to, and topics within, cultural and literary studies. You will spend time on close textual reading, as well as on broader cultural analysis. It aims to encourage you to experiment in c...
Understanding History and Society
This module will introduce you to studying questions of history, society and culture through the prism of Southampton in order that you can apply those approaches to the study of cities in the French, Spanish and German-speaking world.
Year 2 modules
You must study the following modules in year 2:
Appearance and Reality
The 17th and 18th centuries, a period of great intellectual and social upheaval, saw the rise of Modern Philosophy. In continental Europe, the 'Rationalism' of Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz argued for the capacity of reason to arrive at knowledge and und...
Managing Research and Learning
The module will prepare participants for a period of residence abroad, and clarify the links between the Residence Abroad Portfolio (RAP) and specific teaching and learning experiences taking place in years two and four.
You must also choose from the following modules in year 2:
Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art
You might watch a stunning film, hear a delightful song, enjoy a beautiful sunset, read a dreadful poem, attend an elegant dance, or see a garish building. Experiences like this can stimulate thoughts and feelings of great depth, and provide pleasure or d...
Corpus Linguistics: Working with large-scale text data
In this module, we introduce corpus linguistics as an approach to and method for analysing large-scale text data. We will develop an understanding of building and curating datasets, annotating data, and using quantitative and statistical measures for lang...
Discourse Analysis
This module highlights and analyses the link between language structure and its situation of occurrence.
Epistemology: Knowledge and Evidence
Epistemology is dedicated to questions about the nature and structure of knowledge and justified belief. Some central questions in epistemology include: - What is knowledge? Why is it valuable? - To gain knowledge from a reliable source, does one n...
Ethics of Global Poverty
Ethics of Global Poverty examines the duties of affluent people towards those living in poverty around the world. Among the questions we will examine are: What obligations do we have to help strangers in need? What bases might such obligations have? Are s...
Exploring French Linguistics
This module explores various aspects of the French language from the perspective of modern linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and lexis
Ghosts on Screen
How do filmakers grapple with the difficulties of remembering events that many would rather forget? How are we haunted by the past? How do they seek to represent events that seem to defy representation? In tackling these questions, this module provides yo...
Globalisation: Culture, Language and The Nation State
This module will problematize the concept of globalisation and explore and develop an understanding of its meaning in economic, political and cultural terms. Furthermore, we will examine the ideological struggle between competing forces over the nature an...
Health, Culture, and Discrimination
Deadly illnesses have frequently been invested with a great deal of symbolic and cultural significance. This interdisciplinary module will introduce you to how various diseases and conditions (AIDS, cancers, obesity, Covid-19, and mental health issues and...
Immigration, Race and Ethnicity in France
What developments led to the headscarf and the so-called ‘burka ban’ in France? Why has ‘multiculturalism’ been a taboo subject? To what extent have anti-racism associations been a success in combating racism? This module offers you the opportunity to gai...
Kant’s Copernican Revolution in Philosophy
Among philosophers in the modern era, Immanuel Kant is widely acknowledged as the most important, original and influential. His challenging book, Critique of Pure Reason, asks what we can know about the nature of reality at the most fundamental level. Can...
Language and Society in German-Speaking World
The main aim of this course is to explore and assess the contemporary importance of the German language, both within the so-called German-speaking countries and in the wider world. We shall identify key sociolinguistic issues as they relate to German-spea...
Language, Power and Institutions: how linguistic practices can shape our lives
This module will introduce you to the making of institutions through language. We will investigate the links between language, institutions, and power to understand, how institutions are not only shaping the language used by members and users of instituti...
Learning about Culture: Introduction to Ethnography
Logic
Ever since Aristotle, philosophers have been interested in developing formal systems of logic to refine our ability to distinguish valid from invalid arguments and to further our understanding of the nature of logic and validity. The aim of this module is...
Metaethics: Facts and Feelings in Ethics
We all make moral judgments and think about moral questions. For instance, you might think that torture is typically wrong but wonder whether it may sometimes be right. Whereas normative ethics tries to answer these questions, metaethics is concerned with...
Metaphysics: The Nature of Reality
Metaphysics is the study of what kinds of things there and what they are like in the most general terms. We have both a common sense picture of the world and a scientific picture of the world, and sometimes these two appear to conflict. Part of the job of...
Moral Philosophy
Moral philosophy is concerned with questions of right and wrong, good and bad, virtue and vice. Such questions are familiar: can it be right to lie to someone to avoid hurting their feelings? Is it okay to favour my friends and family, or should I be impa...
Multilingualism
This module will introduce you to the notion of ‘Multilingualism’, how this is understood and represented in different ways, and why it matters to you. You will explore how people become multilingual, and whether it makes a difference if multilinguals are...
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of language explores the nature of meaning, language, and communication. What is it for a word or sentence – things which in and of themselves are simply noises or marks on a page – to mean something? What is it for a word to refer to something...
Philosophy of Religion
Can there be a proof that God exists? Or might phenomena such as suffering serve to show that an omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent being cannot exist? Such questions are central to the philosophy of religion; attempting to answer them leads us to ...
Philosophy of Science
We build our world on scientific knowledge, in fact we stake our lives on it. Every time we board a train, send an email or take a medical drug we reaffirm our trust in the products of science. But what, if anything, gives science the authority it seems t...
Post-War French Thought and Culture
This module is designed to explore in detail the key areas of feminism, postcolonial theory, and cultural semiotics i.e. the analysis of cultural signs, whether in visual culture, such as advertising, political culture, or based in cultural practices. Th...
Psycholinguistics
This module examines different sub-topics in psycholinguistics which help to understand what the relationship between language and the human mind might be.
Sound and Voice
This module builds on the basic concepts of articulatory phonetics introduced in the first year, and introduces theory and methodology of acoustic science for the study of the production and perception of speech sounds.
Syntax: Studying Language Structure
This module will provide introduce you to the study of syntax within current linguistic theory.
Teaching English as a Foreign Language
This module will introduce you to key issues, concepts and methods in teaching English as a second/foreign language.
The EU and European Identity
The course seeks to provide an overview of the evolution of the European Union (EU) from its early stages to the present. In so doing, it examines the ideas and history of the EU, the institutions of the EU, examples of specific issue areas and the presen...
The Mind, The Brain, and Consciousness
Philosophy of mind explores questions about the nature of the mind and mental states – states such as perceptual experiences, beliefs, desires, and emotions. What is the mind? Is it an immaterial substance? Is it the brain? Is it something like a computer...
Variation and Change in English
This module takes an empirical approach to questions such as: - Are there patterns of speech and language associated with males and females in varieties of English? - What is the role of teenagers in the propagation of change in English? - After a...
Vienna and Berlin: Society, Politics and Culture from 1890 to the Present
This module will introduce you to the social, political and cultural history of Vienna and Berlin in the 20th century, German using a wide range of sources which will include literature, film and architecture. Topics covered may include the following:...
Year 3 modules
You must study the following module in year 3:
Year 4 modules
You must study the following module in year 4:
You must also choose from the following modules in year 4:
English as a Global Language
This module explores the rise of English as a global language focusing on the factors that have led to, and the issues that have arisen from, its dominant status. You will learn about the interrelation between globalisation, standardisation and variabilit...
Advanced Aesthetics: Aesthetic Creativity
W.B. Yeats writes 'The Second Coming'. Jean Sibelius composes his seventh symphony. Paul Cezanne paints his tenth picture of Mont Sainte-Victoire. All three are clearly acting in artistically creative ways; but how should we understand what they do, wh...
An ambivalent asylum: the histories and memories of refugees in early twentieth-century France
Where does the idea of a stateless person come from? Why did France become one of the foremost nations for refugee reception? How were refugees fleeing from persecution in other parts of Europe treated in France? Why did France establish a system of ‘conc...
Audiovisual Translation
This module will introduce you to the different types of audiovisual translation and the various kinds of subtitles produced nowadays. You will learn about the interaction between text and image and the technical issues and constraints involved in creatin...
Classical Indian Philosophy: Self, Knowledge, and Liberation
Philosophy flourished in classical India for well over a millennium, with figures in this tradition producing works that are on a par with those of figures in ancient Greece and late antique and medieval Europe. In fact, figures in classical India contri...
Contemporary Theories of Justice
The aim of this module is to familiarise you with several important, but competing, theories of justice. Such theories give guidance on important questions of distributive justice (who ought to get what, when and why?), and provide, to varying degrees, gr...
Fiction and Fictionalism
We are all familiar with fictions from Romeo and Juliet to Jaws, from The Hobbit to Harry Potter. Despite this familiarity, the nature of fiction and of our engagement with it appears puzzling. On the one hand, fictional characters do not exist. On the ot...
Fragmented France: Cultures and Identities in Transition
This option will examine the relationship between French identity and culture since 1981 with the elections of François Mitterrand by exploring the ways in which identities of different social groups are expressed within the economic, political and cultur...
French Sociolinguistics: Challenges to Francophonie
This module in French sociolinguistics aims to build on and re-evaluate your existing knowledge of the French language from a sociolinguistic perspective. The module has three major themes: language change, language variation and language identity in rela...
Happiness and Wellbeing
It seems clear that people’s lives can go well or badly. But what is it for one’s life to go well? Does it consist in feeling good more often than feeling bad? Or getting most of what you want? Or does it consist in achievement, friendship, knowledge and ...
Heidegger and the Philosophy of Being
This module aims to introduce and explain some central themes of Heidegger’s early masterpiece, Being and Time. It will explore central concepts such as Being-in-the-world and authenticity and how they relate to established philosophical issues, including...
Islamic Philosophy
There is a rich and often overlooked tradition of Islamic philosophy, or 'falsafa'. This module focuses on the classical period of the Islamic Golden Age, from Al-Kindi, via Ibn Sina (also known as Avicenna), to Ibn Rushd (also known as Averroes). The cla...
Language Teaching Theory and Practice
This module examines the theory and practice of language teaching and explores 'reflective practice' as a set of skills that can be applied to your future working life.
Language Testing and Assessment in Society
This module develops awareness of how language testing and assessment have developed in educational and wider social contexts. It focusses on both purposes and processes of language testing and assessment, and critically examines applications in policy ar...
Modern Languages Dissertation
This unit will allow students to undertake independent research to produce an in-depth study of a specific topic located in one of the fields within Modern Languages. You will also have the option of producing a professional project. In that case, your d...
Nietzsche
Reading the works of Friedrich Nietzsche is both exciting and troubling. He sets out to undermine the basis of many of our beliefs about values. Christianity, he believed, has had a powerfully negative effect on the potential of human beings. His method o...
Other Minds
For most of us, there is nothing more fundamental than our ability to interact with other people. We cooperate and compete in complex ways. Competing and cooperating in these complex ways requires that we understand and respond to many aspects of each oth...
Philosophical Logic
Philosophical logic provides tools for the rigorous study of some of the most central notions of philosophy and of ordinary thought - for instance, necessity and possibility (modal logic), time (temporal logic), moral obligation (deontic logic), and knowl...
Philosophy Dissertation
Students taking this module undertake research on a philosophical topic of their choice (subject to approval by the Department), and write a dissertation of 8,000 words on that topic.
Philosophy and Ethics in Psychology and AI
The science of psychology and the project of artificial intelligence raise profound philosophical issues as they attempt to understand, simulate and even go beyond human thought. Some concern the kind of explanation that these ventures seek: If we underst...
Philosophy of Sex, Sexuality, and Gender
In this module you will explore some major philosophical questions related to sex, sexuality and gender. We will consider general questions about the nature of sex, sexuality and gender: What makes an act sexual? What is a sexual orientation? What is gend...
Public Service Interpreting
This module will provide students with both a practical and theoretical insight into the role of a Public Service Interpreter. Beginning with a general introduction to interpreting, it will go on to focus more in depth on the wide range of issues and chal...
Puzzles and Paradoxes
Socrates wants to cross a river and comes to a bridge guarded by Plato, who says: “Socrates, if you say something true, I will permit you to cross. But if you speak falsely, I shall throw you into the water.” Socrates answers: “You will throw me into the ...
Rationality, Responsibility, and Ethics
This module will explore some central issues about rationality, responsibility, and ethics. Questions we shall consider may include: What is it to act? Are all actions motivated by desire? Do we act only in pursuit of what we deem good? What is involved i...
Schopenhauer
Schopenhauer is one of the great original writers of the nineteenth century, and a unique voice in the history of thought. His central concept of the will leads him to a pessimistic view of existence: he regards human beings as striving irrationally and ...
Second Language Acquisition
This module provides an insight into the cognitive processes involved in the acquisition of language. Different theories of first and second language acquisition will be examined and critically assessed in the light of empirical evidence. Various factors ...
Self-Knowledge
We seem to know our own minds - our beliefs, desires, intentions, thoughts, feelings and sensations - in a distinctively secure and immediate way, without having to rely on observation of our own behaviour. Such self-knowledge seems different from knowled...
Sex, Gender and Desire
Fuelled by the sexual revolution, the women’s movement and gay activism, the late twentieth century saw a flourishing of critical interest in questions of sex, gender and desire and their relation to literature and culture. This module will develop your u...
Sociophonetic Project Module
This final year module builds on the theoretical grounding students gain in LING 2011 Variation and Change in English and the instrumental analysis techniques from LING 2008 Sound and Voice. Through a series of computer, lab-based sessions, students test ...
The Ethics of Climate Change
The climate crisis is one of the most urgent issues facing humanity. Climate change is having an increasing impact on individual lives, and on social and political relations and institutions. This module examines the moral and political philosophical issu...
Travel and Identity in Francophone writing and film
The module examines selected written texts and films in the areas of travel, cultural encounter and identity. These will cover a variety of topics and cross-cultural encounters, within the broad area of Francophone film and non-fiction writing. Critical...
Truth, Opinion, and Ideology
It is commonplace to hear people say such things as, "You should believe that the climate is changing—that's what the evidence tells us", or "You ought not to believe that the earth is flat—that's just not true". These judgements concerning what people ou...
Wittgenstein
Wittgenstein is the most important philosopher of the twentieth century. He offers a sustained critique of many of the most common assumptions underlying much contemporary philosophy of mind and language. He explores, among other things, the questions of ...
Writing in a Second Language
The module will take you through the process, the product and the place of writing. Process will deal primarily with modelling cognitive operations, analysis of composing strategies, and individual differences and changes in processes over time. Product w...
Learning and assessment
The learning activities for this course include the following:
- lectures
- classes and tutorials
- coursework
- individual and group projects
- independent learning (studying on your own)
Academic support
You’ll be supported by a personal academic tutor and have access to a senior tutor.
Course leader
Michael Kranert is the course leader.
Careers
As a Modern Languages and Philosophy graduate, you can choose from a wide variety of careers. These will make the most of your skills in:
- gathering and interpreting information
- working with and leading teams
- understanding and adapting to different cultures
Previous graduates have gone on to have careers in areas including:
- translation
- law
- interpreting
- teaching
- marketing
- publishing
- international development
- advertising, film and television
Many of our graduates go on to further study. Subjects taken include interpreting and translating, law, accountancy, management and international relations.
We focus on developing your employment skills, including with a module covering these in year 1.
Careers services at Southampton
We are a top 20 UK university for employability (QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022). Our Careers, Employability and Student Enterprise team will support you. This support includes:
- work experience schemes
- CV and interview skills and workshops
- networking events
- careers fairs attended by top employers
- a wealth of volunteering opportunities
- study abroad and summer school opportunities
We have a vibrant entrepreneurship culture and our dedicated start-up supporter, Futureworlds, is open to every student.
Fees, costs and funding
Tuition fees
Fees for a year's study:
- UK students pay £9,250.
- EU and international students pay £23,400.
The Government has recently announced changes to UK tuition fees from September 2025 onwards. We will update our website to reflect this shortly.
What your fees pay for
Your tuition fees pay for the full cost of tuition and standard exams.
Find out how to:
Accommodation and living costs, such as travel and food, are not included in your tuition fees. There may also be extra costs for retake and professional exams.
Explore:
Bursaries, scholarships and other funding
If you're a UK or EU student and your household income is under £25,000 a year, you may be able to get a University of Southampton bursary to help with your living costs. Find out about bursaries and other funding we offer at Southampton.
If you're a care leaver or estranged from your parents, you may be able to get a specific bursary.
Get in touch for advice about student money matters.
Scholarships and grants
You may be able to get a scholarship or grant to help fund your studies.
We award scholarships and grants for travel, academic excellence, or to students from under-represented backgrounds.
Support during your course
The Student Hub offers support and advice on money to students. You may be able to access our Student Support fund and other sources of financial support during your course.
Funding for EU and international students
Find out about funding you could get as an international student.
How to apply
What happens after you apply?
We will assess your application on the strength of your:
- predicted grades
- academic achievements
- personal statement
- academic reference
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If we make you an offer which you accept, we’ll email you to confirm the language you want to study. We’ll be in touch no later than 2 months before the start of your course.
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Modern Languages and Philosophy (1 language: French or German) (BA) is a course in the Philosophy and Languages and linguistics subject areas. Here are some other courses within these subject areas:
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- A missing link between continental shelves and the deep sea: Have we underestimated the importance of land-detached canyons?
- A study of rolling contact fatigue in electric vehicles (EVs)
- Acoustic monitoring of forest exploitation to establish community perspectives of sustainable hunting
- Acoustic sensing and characterisation of soil organic matter
- Advancing intersectional geographies of diaspora-led development in times of multiple crises
- Aero engine fan wake turbulence – Simulation and wind tunnel experiments
- Against Climate Change (DACC): improving the estimates of forest fire smoke emissions
- All-in-one Mars in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) system and life-supporting using non-thermal plasma
- An electromagnetic study of the continent-ocean transition southwest of the UK
- An investigation of the relationship between health, home and law in the context of poor and precarious housing, and complex and advanced illness
- Antibiotic resistance genes in chalk streams
- Being autistic in care: Understanding differences in care experiences including breakdowns in placements for autistic and non-autistic children
- Biogeochemical cycling in the critical coastal zone: Developing novel methods to make reliable measurements of geochemical fluxes in permeable sediments
- Bloom and bust: seasonal cycles of phytoplankton and carbon flux
- British Black Lives Matter: The emergence of a modern civil rights movement
- Building physics for low carbon comfort using artificial intelligence
- Building-resolved large-eddy simulations of wind and dispersion over a city scale urban area
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- Carbon storage in reactive rock systems: determining the coupling of geo-chemo-mechanical processes in reactive transport
- Cascading hazards from the largest volcanic eruption in over a century: What happened when Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai erupted in January 2022?
- Characterisation of cast austenitic stainless steels using ultrasonic backscatter and artificial intelligence
- Climate Change effects on the developmental physiology of the small-spotted catshark
- Climate at the time of the Human settlement of the Eastern Pacific
- Collaborative privacy in data marketplaces
- Compatibility of climate and biodiversity targets under future land use change
- Cost of living in modern and fossil animals
- Creative clusters in rural, coastal and post-industrial towns
- Deep oceanic convection: the outsized role of small-scale processes
- Defect categories and their realisation in supersymmetric gauge theory
- Defining the Marine Fisheries-Energy-Environment Nexus: Learning from shocks to enhance natural resource resilience
- Design and fabrication of next generation optical fibres
- Developing a practical application of unmanned aerial vehicle technologies for conservation research and monitoring of endangered wildlife
- Development and evolution of animal biomineral skeletons
- Development of all-in-one in-situ resource utilisation system for crewed Mars exploration missions
- Ecological role of offshore artificial structures
- Effect of embankment and subgrade weathering on railway track performance
- Efficient ‘whole-life’ anchoring systems for offshore floating renewables
- Electrochemical sensing of the sea surface microlayer
- Engagement with nature among children from minority ethnic backgrounds
- Enhancing UAV manoeuvres and control using distributed sensor arrays
- Ensuring the Safety and Security of Autonomous Cyber-Physical Systems
- Environmental and genetic determinants of Brassica crop damage by the agricultural pest Diamondback moth
- Estimating marine mammal abundance and distribution from passive acoustic and biotelemetry data
- Evolution of symbiosis in a warmer world
- Examining evolutionary loss of calcification in coccolithophores
- Explainable AI (XAI) for health
- Explaining process, pattern and dynamics of marine predator hotspots in the Southern Ocean
- Exploring dynamics of natural capital in coastal barrier systems
- Exploring the mechanisms of microplastics incorporation and their influence on the functioning of coral holobionts
- Exploring the potential electrical activity of gut for healthcare and wellbeing
- Exploring the trans-local nature of cultural scene
- Facilitating forest restoration sustainability of tropical swidden agriculture
- Faulting, fluids and geohazards within subduction zone forearcs
- Faulting, magmatism and fluid flow during volcanic rifting in East Africa
- Fingerprinting environmental releases from nuclear facilities
- Flexible hybrid thermoelectric materials for wearable energy harvesting
- Floating hydrokinetic power converter
- Glacial sedimentology associated subglacial hydrology
- Green and sustainable Internet of Things
- How do antimicrobial peptides alter T cell cytokine production?
- How do calcifying marine organisms grow? Determining the role of non-classical precipitation processes in biogenic marine calcite formation
- How do neutrophils alter T cell metabolism?
- How well can we predict future changes in biodiversity using machine learning?
- Hydrant dynamics for acoustic leak detection in water pipes
- If ‘Black Lives Matter’, do ‘Asian Lives Matter’ too? Impact trajectories of organisation activism on wellbeing of ethnic minority communities
- Illuminating luciferin bioluminescence in dinoflagellates
- Imaging quantum materials with an XFEL
- Impact of neuromodulating drugs on gut microbiome homeostasis
- Impact of pharmaceuticals in the marine environment in a changing world
- Improving subsea navigation using environment observations for long term autonomy
- Information theoretic methods for sensor management
- Installation effect on the noise of small high speed fans
- Integrated earth observation mapping change land sea
- Interconnections of past greenhouse climates
- Investigating IgG cell depletion mechanisms
- Is ocean mixing upside down? How mixing processes drive upwelling in a deep-ocean basin
- Landing gear aerodynamics and aeroacoustics
- Lightweight gas storage: real-world strategies for the hydrogen economy
- Machine learning for multi-robot perception
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- Marine ecosystem responses to past climate change and its oceanographic impacts
- Mechanical effects in the surf zone - in situ electrochemical sensing
- Microfluidic cell isolation systems for sepsis
- Migrant entrepreneurship, gender and generation: context and family dynamics in small town Britain
- Miniaturisation in fishes: evolutionary and ecological perspectives
- Modelling high-power fibre laser and amplifier stability
- Modelling soil dewatering and recharge for cost-effective and climate resilient infrastructure
- Modelling the evolution of adaptive responses to climate change across spatial landscapes
- Nanomaterials sensors for biomedicine and/or the environment
- New high-resolution observations of ocean surface current and winds from innovative airborne and satellite measurements
- New perspectives on ocean photosynthesis
- Novel methods of detecting carbon cycling pathways in lakes and their impact on ecosystem change
- Novel technologies for cyber-physical security
- Novel transparent conducting films with unusual optoelectronic properties
- Novel wavelength fibre lasers for industrial applications
- Ocean circulation and the Southern Ocean carbon sink
- Ocean influence on recent climate extremes
- Ocean methane sensing using novel surface plasmon resonance technology
- Ocean physics and ecology: can robots disentangle the mix?
- Ocean-based Carbon Dioxide Removal: Assessing the utility of coastal enhanced weathering
- Offshore renewable energy (ORE) foundations on rock seabeds: advancing design through analogue testing and modelling
- Optical fibre sensing for acoustic leak detection in buried pipelines
- Optimal energy transfer in nonlinear systems
- Optimal energy transfer in nonlinear systems
- Optimizing machine learning for embedded systems
- Oxidation of fossil organic matter as a source of atmospheric CO2
- Partnership dissolution and re-formation in later life among individuals from minority ethnic communities in the UK
- Personalized multimodal human-robot interactions
- Preventing disease by enhancing the cleaning power of domestic water taps using sound
- Quantifying riparian vegetation dynamics and flow interactions for Nature Based Solutions using novel environmental sensing techniques
- Quantifying the response and sensitivity of tropical forest carbon sinks to various drivers
- Quantifying variability in phytoplankton electron requirements for carbon fixation
- Resilient and sustainable steel-framed building structures
- Resolving Antarctic meltwater events in Southern Ocean marine sediments and exploring their significance using climate models
- Robust acoustic leak detection in water pipes using contact sound guides
- Silicon synapses for artificial intelligence hardware
- Smart photon delivery via reconfigurable optical fibres
- The Gulf Stream control of the North Atlantic carbon sink
- The Mayflower Studentship: a prestigious fully funded PhD studentship in bioscience
- The calming effect of group living in social fishes
- The duration of ridge flank hydrothermal exchange and its role in global biogeochemical cycles
- The evolution of symmetry in echinoderms
- The impact of early life stress on neuronal enhancer function
- The oceanic fingerprints on changing monsoons over South and Southeast Asia
- The role of iron in nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis in changing polar oceans
- The role of singlet oxygen signaling in plant responses to heat and drought stress
- Time variability on turbulent mixing of heat around melting ice in the West Antarctic
- Triggers and Feedbacks of Climate Tipping Points
- Uncovering the drivers of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease progression using patient derived organoids
- Understanding recent land-use change in Snowdonia to plan a sustainable future for uplands: integrating palaeoecology and conservation practice
- Understanding the role of cell motility in resource acquisition by marine phytoplankton
- Understanding the structure and engagement of personal networks that support older people with complex care needs in marginalised communities and their ability to adapt to increasingly ‘digitalised’ health and social care
- Unpicking the Anthropocene in the Hawaiian Archipelago
- Unraveling oceanic multi-element cycles using single cell ionomics
- Unravelling southwest Indian Ocean biological productivity and physics: a machine learning approach
- Using acoustics to monitor how small cracks develop into bursts in pipelines
- Using machine learning to improve predictions of ocean carbon storage by marine life
- Vulnerability of low-lying coastal transportation networks to natural hazards
- X-ray imaging and property characterisation of porous materials
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English and Modern Languages
English Language and Linguistics
English Language and Linguistics with Year Abroad
History and Modern Languages
Language, Culture and Communication
Liberal Arts
Mathematics with French
Mathematics with German
Mathematics with Spanish
Modern Languages (1 language: French, German or Spanish)
Modern Languages (1 language: French, German or Spanish)
Modern Languages (2 languages: French, German or Spanish)
Modern Languages (2 languages: French, German, Portuguese or Spanish)
Modern Languages (3 languages: Chinese, French, German, Portuguese or Spanish)
Modern Languages (French and German) and Linguistics
Modern Languages (French and Spanish) and Linguistics
Modern Languages (French) and Philosophy
Modern Languages and Business Management (1 language: French, German or Spanish)
Modern Languages and Linguistics (1 Language: French, German or Spanish)
Modern Languages and Linguistics (1 language: French, German or Spanish)
Modern Languages and Linguistics (2 languages: French, German or Spanish)
Modern Languages and Linguistics (2 languages: French, German or Spanish)
Modern Languages and Politics (1 language: French, German or Spanish)
Philosophy
