Language Learning

The development of language proficiency - whether learning a new language or improving upon existing skills - is an important part of the historian's skillset. Students are encouraged to study languages while they are studying, and there are a variety of grants and bursaries available through colleges and the Faculty of History to support the study of languages.

There is a broad range of options available for studying languages, whether for the purposes of study or personal development, and many of these are detailed in the sections below.

If you have any questions about language tuition, please contact the Teaching Officer, Dr. Callum Kelly, at teachingofficer@history.ox.ac.uk.

If you have queries about the application process for a Language Centre course, or are enquiring about the status of an ongoing application, please contact the Language Centre at admin@lang.ox.ac.uk.

 

Languages for Historians (Tailored Courses)

These courses aim to equip Undergraduate and Postgraduate students of the History Faculty with the necessary language skills to be able to study and research using the target language.

The primary focus of the courses will be to develop the students’ core knowledge of lexis, morphology, grammar and syntax in order to acquire academic reading skills and sound language learning strategies. Training will be provided in reading, listening, and speaking skills, and will equip students with strategies for further developing language-learning.

Courses are currently provided in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic, and are offered free of charge to students, with course fees covered by the Faculty.

For each course, there is one class per week, starting in Week 2 of Michaelmas Term and running through to the end of Hilary Term. Places on these courses are limited and are offered first to students who have an academic need to learn the language. Students must make a serious commitment to this course if they submit their names for participation in it. 

Please see the sections below for further information about the specific courses on offer. More information can also be found on the Language Centre website.

The following courses are on offer this year:

Course Title Intended Learners Intended Outcome
French for Historians Stage 1 UG/PG students of History with no or very little prior knowledge of the language

Reading: CEFR B1

Listening: CEFR A1

Speaking: CEFR Pre-A1
French for Historians Stage 2 UG/PG students of History with GCSE or equivalent knowledge of the language

Reading: CEFR B2

Listening: CEFR B1

Speaking: CEFR B1
French for Historians Stage 3 UG/PG students of History with A-Level or equivalent knowledge of the language

Reading: CEFR C1

Listening: CEFR B2

Speaking: CEFR B2

 

                                                                                                                                                                           

Course Title Intended Learners Intended Outcome
German for Historians Stage 1 UG/PG students of History with no or very little prior knowledge of the language

Reading: CEFR B1

Listening: CEFR A1

Speaking: CEFR Pre-A1
German for Historians Stage 2 UG/PG students of History with GCSE or equivalent knowledge of the language

Reading: CEFR B2

Listening: CEFR B1

Speaking: CEFR B1
Course Title Intended Learners Intended Outcome
Italian for Historians Stage 1 UG/PG students of History with no or very little prior knowledge of the language

Reading: CEFR B1

Listening: CEFR A1

Speaking: CEFR Pre-A1
Course Title Intended Learners Intended Outcome
Spanish for Historians Stage 2 UG/PG students of History with GCSE or equivalent knowledge of the language

Reading: CEFR B2

Listening: CEFR B1

Speaking: CEFR B1
Course Title Intended Learners Intended Outcome
Arabic for Historians Stage 1

UG/PG students of History with no or very little prior knowledge of the language

Priority for this year is given to BA History year 1 students.

Reading: CEFR B1

Listening: CEFR A1

Speaking: CEFR Pre-A1

 

This course supports the acquisition of Arabic reading skills for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Historians focusing on the history of the Arab world. Students will receive two hours per week of contact time with an Arabic language tutor at the Language Centre. An additional hour of reading practice is provided by Dr Fanny Bessard.

Information about enrolling on the tailored courses, including details about the application test, can be found on the Language Centre website.

If you have any queries about the application process or the status of your application, please contact admin@lang.ox.ac.uk.

The tailored courses have been designed in partnership with the Faculty of History and seek to equip you with both academic literacy in the target language and oral communication skills. These courses are designed to help you in your need to work with target language primary or secondary sources, whether written or spoken.

The Language Centre's other courses have different focuses:

  • The General Pathway and Fast Track courses are non-specialist language courses offering a strong focus on communication skills and with a lesser emphasis on academic purposes. If you are very keen to develop or maintain your spoken communication skills, these courses may be closer to your needs. The Fast Track course may be particularly useful if you are at a lower level and need to spend a period researching in a country where the target language is spoken.
    Please note: the Faculty does not provide financial support for Fast Track courses.
  • The Academic Pathway courses focus exclusively on reading for academic purposes, and welcome students of a wide range of disciplines. The content of these courses may not therefore be so closely related to the historical discipline as the Languages for Historians courses.

General Courses

In addition to the tailored language courses, the Language Centre offers a wide range of more general language courses across 11 modern languages (Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Modern Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish). All courses are calibrated on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages.

Students whose first language is not English may be interested in the Language Centre's Academic English courses, which help students improve their academic writing and communication.

Further information about the languages on offer, the types of course available, fees, and enrolment can be found on the Language Centre website.

Where there is an academic need to study one of these languages, students may apply for priority funding (see below):

Please Note: The Faculty is unable to support further applications for Priority Funding in 2023-24.

Students are advised to consult their Colleges if they require Priority Funding for languages.

 

Students who need to learn a language to support their studies may apply to their college (for undergraduates) or department/faculty (for postgraduates) to cover the cost of their course fees for the General or Academic language pathways. This system, called priority funding, also means that your application will take priority over other learners. The Faculty does not offer priority funding for the Fast Track courses.

Further information about the Priority Funding scheme, as well as the application form for the current year, can be found on the Language Centre website here: Priority Funding | Oxford University Language Centre

The Departmental Financial Signatory for the Faculty of History is the Education Manager, Vicky Anderton. The contact email should be teachingofficer@history.ox.ac.uk.

Please note: if you are applying for a course as a Priority applicant, you must complete the Priority Funding Application form before enrolling on the course.

We strongly recommend putting in your application well ahead of the deadline (12 noon Wednesday of Week 1 each term).

Ancient Languages

Historians with an interest in learning Ancient Greek and Latin are invited to join the language classes run by the Faculty of Classics.

Classes are offered at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, and run across Michaelmas and Hilary Terms.

For more information, please contact Juliane Kerkhecker at: juliane.kerkhecker@classics.ox.ac.uk

Languages for Undergraduates

During the course of your undergraduate studies, you will have the opportunity to take papers where a significant amount of the required reading is in a foreign language.

At Prelims, the Paper IV: Foreign Texts option requires sustained engagement with texts in a foreign language. These options are as follows:

Foreign Text Option Language
Herodotus Greek
Einhard and Asser Latin
Machiavelli Italian
Tocqueville French
Meinecke and Kehr German
Vicens Vives Spanish
Trotsky Russian

 

In the Final Honour School, several of the Special Subject options have set texts written in the original language. These papers include, but may not be limited to:

Special Subject Option Language
SS 20: Art and its Public in France, 1815-67 French
SS 23: The End of Empire: The Collapse of Soviet Order in Eurasia Russian
SS 24: Empire and Nation in Russia and the USSR, c.1890-1924 Russian
SS 26: Nazi Germany: A Racial Order, 1933-1945 German
SS 27: France from the Popular Front to the Liberation, 1936-1944 French

 

Every year the History Faculty runs a series of dedicated intensive Russian reading classes for second-year historians. These are designed for complete beginners in the language, and by the end of their second year students will have reached a level where they can undertake a Special Subject using Russian-language primary sources. The cost of the lessons will be covered by the student's college, and there is no obligation to ballot for this Special Subject after taking the course.

For further information about enrolment in these classes, please contact Dr. Alexander Morrison (alexander.morrison@new.ox.ac.uk)

Languages for Postgraduates

Where language skills are necessary for graduate research projects, and appropriate tuition is not available through the Language Centre, students may apply for funding to support alternative language provision.

Students may apply for a maximum of £1,000 to support their language study, but should be aware that the final award amount will be at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies.

Applicants should fill out the below form, providing a full breakdown of costs, and submit this to graduate.office@history.ox.ac.uk for consideration.

Note: This form should be used to detail a full programme of language study. Where students anticipate that they will require support for multiple language courses, they should provide details of each course using the same form.

Details TBC.