About us

Welcome to Modern Languages and Cultures at Exeter. You are now part of a large and welcoming community.
Our innovative teaching will challenge and stimulate you across a range of languages and disciplinary areas, including literary studies, film and screen, translation studies, gender and identity, museum studies and art history and visual culture. Staff in Modern Languages research and teach languages and cultures from across the globe, from Europe to Asia, Africa and Latin America.
As undergraduates your learning and development as students of languages will be intertwined with your growing knowledge and understanding of the cultures and societies where those languages are spoken. You will develop skills as communicators, as critical thinkers and as engaged citizens of our modern world.
Professor Fiona Cox, Head of the Department
One of the UK’s leading centres for research and teaching in French, German, Hispanic Studies, Italian, and Russian, with recent pathways in Chinese and Portuguese, we produce world leading research and have high rates of student satisfaction.
For the the BA Modern Languages you can study French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish, and you can also study Chinese or Portuguese as a Combined Honours option. Specialise in up to three languages or choose from a wide range of combined honours. Add to your CV with a year abroad teaching, studying or working. You can also take extra credits at our Language Centre.
We have a very successful MA in Translation Studies which offers both theoretical and practical preparation for entering the translation profession.
View our postgraduate taught and postgraduate research pages to see our innovative MA, MPhil and PhD programmes in a range of disciplines, including European and other global languages and cultures (French, German, Hispanic, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian), film, medieval studies and gender studies.
Our academic staff produce excellent research across a wide variety of disciplines including European and other global literatures and cultures, across a wide range of periods, as well as in Film, Linguistics, Medieval studies, Gender studies, and Translation.
Modern Languages and Cultures at Exeter is one of the most dynamic language departments in the UK (and indeed is ranked in the top 200 worldwide1). Committed to providing outstanding, research-led teaching, the department maintained its momentum in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) with 100% of our Modern Languages and Linguistics research rated as having internationally excellent impact2 and 83% of our research rated as internationally excellent3.
Read more about our research centres, projects and groups.
1 QS World University Subject Rankings 2022
2 Research Excellence Framework 2021 based on research impact rated 3* + 4*
3 Research Excellence Framework 2021 based on research rated 3* + 4*