Modern Languages
| Degrees |
|
|---|---|
| Degree types | Types of research degrees explained |
| Duration | Degree duration details |
| Location |  Exeter (Streatham) |
| Study modes | Full time and part time Study mode details |
| Start date | September |
Research overview
Modern Languages incorporates a number of established subject areas, including literature, history, art history, translation studies and cultural studies.
Our MPhil/PhD programmes in Modern Languages draw on expertise of core members of Modern Languages staff and also of colleagues from across the Humanities disciplines, so our students have opportunities for cross-disciplinary research in collaboration with other relevant fields of study. Our diverse research specialisms include art and architectural theory, history, political sciences, performance, and visual cultures.
In addition to co-operation with departments and research centres in the College of Humanities (including the ‘Centre for Translating Cultures’, based in Modern Languages), we share research interests with colleagues working across the University.
Beyond the University we have good relations with UK museums and galleries, as well as academic and research institutions internationally, attracting research students from all over the world and many cultural backgrounds.
There are frequent public seminars and lecture series which feature distinguished scholars and public figures in related fields from the UK, Europe and throughout the world.
Chinese Studies
- Chinese art and culture, 17th-18th centuries
- Chinese-European cultural exchanges, 17th-18th centuries
- History of the senses in China
- Translation and China’s modernization
- Chinese literature in translation
- Sex and desire in Chinese medicine and literature
- Translation and Representation in Chinese cinema
- Chinese modern intellectual history
- Chinese literary history
- 19th-20th century history of international relations
- Contemporary Sino-Middle Eastern relations
Visit our Chinese staff profiles for more information about individual research interests.
French Studies
- Literature and culture – Middle Ages to the present day
- French thought and critical theory
- History of ideas, medicine and discourses
- Sexuality and gender studies in a French context
- French cinema
- French linguistics
Visit our French staff profiles for more information about individual research interests.
German Studies
- Culture of the Reformation and Baroque
- 18th- and 19th-century cultural and literary studies
- Culture of the Weimar Republic
- Post-Wende literature and culture
- Museum studies and memory studies
Visit our German staff profiles for more information about individual research interests.
Hispanic Studies
- Iberian and Latin American literature and history of ideas (19th-21st centuries)
- Spanish and Latin American cinema and visual culture
- Gender studies and women's studies
- Catalan and Galician studies
- The Spanish avant-garde
- Comparative and historical linguistics of the romance languages and Portuguese linguistics
Visit our Hispanic Studies staff profiles for more information about individual research interests.
Italian Studies
- Italian literature - Dante to the present day
- Manzoni and the Manzonian tradition
- Medieval and contemporary philosophy
- Italian linguistics
- Multilingualism in immigrant communities
- Gender studies
- Italian cinema
Visit our Italian staff profiles for more information about individual research interests.
Lusophone Studies
- Postcolonial, feminist and cultural studies in Portuguese-speaking contexts.
- Portuguese linguistics: language contact, variation and change; cognitive linguistics and construction grammar.
Visit our Portuguese staff profiles for more information about individual research interests.
Russian Studies
- Literature and culture of the 20th century
- 19th and 20th century poetry
- Comparative literature
- British-Soviet cultural relations
Visit our Russian staff profiles for more information about individual research interests.
Interdisciplinary Studies
- Comparative literature, thought and culture
- Film studies
- Philosophy of culture
- Translation studies
Translation Studies
Translation Studies incorporates and bridges a number of disciplines, including linguistics,literary criticism and semiotics, cultural studies, postcolonial studies and gender studies, media studies and multimodality, history, sociology, ethics, philosophy and rhetoric…and more.
Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural by nature, Translation Studies appeals particularly to students with an interest in how language mediates between cultures and disciplines, and with an aim of learning about the professional aspects of the field.
Current areas of enquiry include (but are not limited to):
- Autobiographies in translation
- Cities in translation
- Contemporary Chinese cinema
- The market for translated literature
- Translators as activists
- Medieval culture of translation
- Translation and gender
- Translation and history
- Translation and the history of ideas
- Knowledge and translation
- Science and translation
- Self-translation
- Translation and mobility and migration
- Translation and multimodal practice
- Translation and publishing practices
- Translation and rhetoric
- Translation and visual culture
- Translation and word cities
- The 3% problem for translated literature
Our research is often interdisciplinary, therefore we recommend you also visit, in addition to the research pages of related subjects, the description of the affiliated researchers in Translation Studies.
The Centre for Translating Cultures is a home for much of the research we do in Translation Studies, and invited scholars regularly present cutting-edge research as a part of the Centre’s events, conferences, and seminar series. Postgraduates also enjoy their own regular research seminars.
Facilities
We provide access to excellent computing facilities and training is provided in a broad range of academic and general professional skills, such as compiling a CV, interview skills and time management.
Based in the Queen’s Building, you will benefit from a dedicated postgraduate IT suite and lounge, as well as a postgraduate and staff common room. There is also a study room containing a number of private study carrels for research students.
Computing facilities include a state-of-the art suite dedicated to Translation Studies with the latest in CAT tools, and a bespoke lounge for postgraduate students in Translation Studies.
Careers
We are committed to ensuring you receive high quality research supervision to maximise your potential and prepare you for a rewarding career. You will develop skills which will be useful to you whether or not you stay in academia including highly developed research methods skills. Possible careers include academic research and teaching, and potentially, usually with further professional training, employment in research and policy organisations and charities in the UK and beyond.
Postgraduate students have access to the wide range of support offered by our Career Zone. In addition, postgraduate research students can access our Researcher Development Programme, which covers a range of topics to help you to succeed during your research degree and to act as a springboard for your research career.
Graduate destinations
Below are some examples of initial jobs undertaken by Modern Languages postgraduates who studied with us in recent years.
Please note that due to data protection, the job titles and organisations are listed independently and do not necessarily correspond.
| Job title | Organisation |
|---|---|
| Analyst Departmental Portfolio Manager English and French Tutor Modern Foreign Languages Supply Teacher Paralegal Assistant Project Manager and Translator Project Officer Sustainability Projects Officer Translation Internship Translator Translator/English Trainer Visiting Lecturer |
Aktuel Translations Co-operative Group DSTL MBE Training and Translation Middlesex University Swansea University University of Exeter Walber International WikiTranslate.org |
Entry requirements 2018
MA by Research Modern Languages
Students applying to enter directly into the MA by Research programme would normally be expected to have a BA degree with 2.1 or equivalent in Modern Languages or related subject or other relevant qualifications such as a doctorate in another subject.
MPhil/PhD
Chinese Studies
Normally students will have proficiency in Chinese (good command of written and spoken Chinese), a good UK Honours degree (2:1 Honours or international equivalent) and a Master’s degree with Merit or international equivalent in a related subject.
French Studies
Students applying to enter directly into the MPhil/PhD programme would normally be expected to have a Masters degree with Merit or equivalent in French Studies, or other relevant qualifications such as a doctorate in another subject.
German Studies
Students applying to enter directly into the MPhil/PhD programme would normally be expected to have a Masters degree with Merit or equivalent in German Studies, or other relevant qualifications such as a doctorate in another subject.
Hispanic Studies
Students applying to enter directly into the MPhil/PhD programme would normally be expected to have a Masters degree with Merit or equivalent in Hispanic Studies, or other relevant qualifications such as a doctorate in another subject.
Italian Studies
Students applying to enter directly into the MPhil/PhD programme would normally be expected to have a Masters degree with Merit or equivalent in Italian Studies, or other relevant qualifications such as a doctorate in another subject.
Lusophone Studies
Normally students have proficiency in Portuguese (good command of written and spoken Portuguese), a good UK Honours degree (2:1 Honours or international equivalent) and a Master’s degree with Merit or international equivalent in a related subject.
Russian Studies
Students applying to enter directly into the MPhil/PhD programme would normally be expected to have a Masters degree with Merit or equivalent in Russian Studies, or other relevant qualifications such as a doctorate in another subject.
Interdisciplinary Studies/Translation Studies
Students applying to enter directly into the MPhil/PhD programme would normally be expected to have a Masters degree with Merit or equivalent in Modern Languages (in particular French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish) or Translation studies, or other relevant qualifications such as a doctorate in another subject.
Requirements for international students
If you are an international student, please visit our international equivalency pages to enable you to see if your existing academic qualifications meet our entry requirements.
English language requirements
IELTS (Academic)
Overall score 7.0 with a minimum score of 6.5 in the writing component and all other sections no less than 6.0.
TOEFL IBT*
Overall score 100 with minimum scores of 25 for writing, 21 for listening, 22 for reading and 23 for speaking.
Pearson Test of English (Academic)
65 with no less than 58 in all communicative skills.
Other accepted tests
Information about other acceptable tests of linguistic ability can be found on our English language requirements page.
Pre-sessional English
Applicants with lower English language test scores may be able to take pre-sessional English at INTO University of Exeter prior to commencing their programme. See our English language requirements page for more information.
Finance: fees and funding
Tuition fees per year 2018/19
- UK/EU: £4,400 full-time; £2,200 part-time
- International: £16,400 full-time
Current available funding
Contact us
College of Humanities
Postgraduate Administrator
Phone: +44 (0)1392 725306
Web: Enquire online