Modern Languages 2024/25
The School of Modern Languages (SML) is an interdisciplinary school, meaning you can study so much more than languages here.
You can find units on:
- literature and poetry
- cinema and visual culture
- history and politics
- linguistics
- cultural studies (e.g. gender, sexuality, postcolonialism)
- and European & Asian languages
Many of the units are comparative (MODL units), enabling you to study more than one culture at a time. While we focus largely on Continental Europe and Latin America, we also have units engaging with the Caribbean, Africa, North America, and Britain.
As an SML Subject Pathway student, you will choose a minimum of 40 credits per semester from this study guide. Most of the units are available in English, but some require knowledge of another language, as indicated below.
Pre-requisites
- Year 1 – units are suitable for all students.
- Year 2 – for students with some university study in a relevant discipline, for example literature, cinema, history, linguistics.
- Year 3 – for students with a strong background of study in a relevant discipline and some familiarity with the region, for example France, Russia, Latin America.
Units taught in English:
Cinema Literature and Culture Languages Linguistics
Units requiring another language:
Feature units
-
Contemporary European Cinema (TB1) MODL10009
Comparative British & Continental European cinema, exploring diverse topics from the low-budget Cornish thriller, to Asian-British comedy and the James Bond blockbuster in IMAX.
-
Introduction to Visual Cultures: from Bristol to the World (TB2) MODL10019
Get to know the city of Bristol through weekly guided and self-guided field trips around the city to see visual culture and theory in action.
-
City Futures: Migration, Citizenship, and Planetary Change (TB2) – UNIV10005
What does it mean to be a Global Citizen? To be part of a global community? These are the kinds of questions you’ll explore in this unit.
Cinema
Year 1
Pre-requisites: suitable for all students.
Teaching Block 1
- Contemporary European Cinema – MODL10009
- German Literature and Film: Genres, Texts, Contexts – GERM10035
- Understanding Russia: Literature & Visual Culture – RUSS10042
Teaching Block 2
- Classics of European Cinema – MODL10010
- Introduction to Visual Cultures: from Bristol to the World – MODL10019
Year 2
Pre-requisites: suitable for all students.
Teaching Block 1
Teaching Block 2
Year 3
Pre-requisites: requires some background of study in film/cinema.
Teaching Block 1
Teaching Block 2
Literature and Culture
Year 1
Pre-requisites: suitable for all students.
Teaching Block 1
- Approaches to Poetry - ENGL10026
- Comparative Literature: What is it and how can we practise it? – MODL10016
- Critical Issues (for English Literature) - ENGL10017
- French Cultures in Context – FREN10030
- German Literature and Film: Genres, Texts, Contexts – GERM10035
- Key Moments in Lusophone History and Culture – HISP10015
- Medieval and Renaissance Italy – ITAL10034
- The Making of the Hispanic World – HISP10014
- Understanding Russia: Literature & Visual Culture – RUSS10042
Teaching Block 2
- City Futures: Migration, Citizenship, and Planetary Change – UNIV10005
- Introduction to Visual Cultures: from Bristol to the World – MODL10019
- Representations of Francophone Cultures – FREN10013
- Understanding Russia: History & Identity – RUSS10041
Year 2
Pre-requisites: some university study in a relevant discipline (including History, Literature etc).
Teaching Block 1
- Dante’s Inferno - ITAL20047
- Italian Fascism – ITAL20045
- Migrations of Culture - MODL20024
- Race, Gender, and Intersectionality in Twenty-First Century France: Cultural Production, Politics, and Identity - FREN20072
- The Nineteenth-Century Russian Novel – RUSS20069
- Women and Nation – MODL23017
Teaching Block 2
- Burning Books: Radicalism Before the Revolution - FREN20065
- Colonial Worlds: Latin America and the Caribbean, 1400-1900 - HISP20122
- Contemporary Latin(x) American Poetry - HISP20115
- Destination Italy: Cultural Responses to Migration - ITAL20032
- Fairy Tales Across Borders – MODL20029
- Germany and Austria in Motion: Film, Society, and Identity – GERM20054
- Popular Representation and Institutions of Culture - MODL20026
- Renaissance Italy – ITAL20046
- Revolutionary Russia, 1881-1917 – RUSS20066
- Russian Orthodox Culture – RUSS20044
- The Essay: History, Genre, Media - MODL20030
Year 3
Pre-requisites: strong background of study in a relevant discipline and familiarity with the region for non-MODL units (e.g. France, Italy, Russia etc).
Teaching Block 1
- Indigenous Histories in Latin America - HISP30106
- Les Misérables: Readings and Receptions - FREN30030
- Me, Myself, and I: The Essais of Michel de Montaigne - FREN30114
- Russia and the World, 1991–present - RUSS30083
- Theatre and Theatricality in Russian Society – RUSS30085
- Visibility Matters: Identity, Diversity, and Power in the Cultural Marketplace – GERM30081
Teaching Block 2
- Communism in Europe – MODL30001
- Dante: Purgatorio and Paradiso – ITAL30059
- Decadence, Decay and Rebirth: Russian & Czech Literature, 1870-1914 – RUSS30084
- Dress and Identity in Russia through the Ages – RUSS30086
- Institutions and Anti-Institutions in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s - ITAL30055
- Intermedia Encounters in Poetry – HISP30104
- Studying and Making Early Printed Books – MODL30040
- Surrealism: Pleasure and Provocation in 1920s Textual and Visual Culture - FREN30040
- Transnational Narrative in pre-modern cultures – MODL30041
MA-Level units
Pre-requisites: 3 years of undergraduate study in a relevant discipline and approval from the School of Modern Languages. Students may take only one per TB.
Teaching Block 1
- Institutions of Culture – MODLM0022
- The Rise of the Novel in Nineteenth-Century Europe – MODLM2035
- Theorizing Violence: Colonial Encounters and Anti Colonial Reactions – MODLM0025
Teaching Block 2
Linguistics
Teaching Block 1
Teaching Block 2
Linguistics units requiring knowledge of the relevant modern language (A2 for 10000-level units, B2 for 20000-level units, and C1/C2 for 30000-level units):
- Language and Power: Introductions to German History - GERM10039
- Structures and Varieties of Spanish - HISP20123
For students at an Advanced Level (C1 or C2), who are on a language programme:
Languages
Teaching Block 4 (full year)
If you will be with us for a full year starting in September then you can begin a new language from scratch, or continue on to intermediate or advanced level if you’ve already begun.
Beginners:
- Arabic – Beginners Modern Standard - UWLP10008
- Catalan – for beginners - MODL23014
- Chinese – Beginners Mandarin - UWLP10013
- Czech – for Beginners - MODL23015
- French – Beginners - UWLP10001
- German – Beginners - UWLP10004
- Italian – Beginners - UWLP10014
- Japanese – Beginners - UWLP10012
- Korean - Beginners - UWLP10018
- Portuguese - Beginners - UWLP10026
- Russian - Beginners - UWLP10016
- Spanish - Beginners - UWLP10009
Pre-Intermediate or Follow-on:
- Arabic - Follow-on Modern Standard - UWLP20018
- Catalan Language follow-on - MODL30011
- Chinese - Pre-intermediate Mandarin - UWLP20009
- Czech – Follow-on - MODL30012
- French – Post-Beginners - UWLP10002
- German - Post-Beginners - UWLP10005
- Italian - Post-Beginners - UWLP10015
- Japanese - Pre-intermediate - UWLP20008
- Korean - Follow-on - UWLP20017
- Portuguese - Follow-on - UWLP20016
- Russian - Post-Beginners - UWLP20011
- Spanish - Post-Beginners - UWLP10010
Intermediate:
- Chinese - Intermediate Mandarin - UWLP30002
- French - Intermediate - UWLP20013
- German - Intermediate - UWLP20015
- Japanese - Intermediate - UWLP30001
- Spanish - Intermediate - UWLP20014
Advanced:
- French - Advanced - UWLP20002
- German - Advanced - UWLP20004
- Japanese - Advanced - UWLP30003
- Spanish - Advanced - UWLP20006
*Students with a background in any of the European languages may be eligible for more advanced units. Please contact cfsa-inbound@bristol.ac.uk to enquire.
French
Year 1
Pre-requisites: A2 level French.
Teaching Block 2
Year 2
Pre-requisites: B2 level French.
Teaching Block 2
- French Fiction: from Realism to the 21st Century - FREN20048
- France during the Second World War: culture, politics and society - FREN20070
- French Thought - FREN20068
Year 3
Pre-requisites: C1 level French.
Teaching Block 1
Teaching Block 2
German
Year 1
Pre-requisites: A2 level German.
Teaching Block 2
Year 2
Pre-requisites: B2 level German.
Teaching Block 1
Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American
Year 1
Pre-requisites: A2 level Spanish.
Teaching Block 2
Year 2
Pre-requisites: B2 level Spanish.
Teaching Block 1
- Latin America in the Twentieth Century: A People’s History - HISP20119
- Republic, War and Dictatorship in Spain, 1931- 1975 - HISP20076
- Women’s Writing in Post War Spain - HISP21309
Teaching Block 2
- Barcelona: Culture and Representations - HISP20117
- Introduction to Latin American Cinema – HISP20114
- Introduction to Spanish Peninsula Literature since 1850 - HISP20121
- Queer Writing and Film in The Hispanic World - HISP20118
Year 3
Pre-requisites: C1 level Spanish.
Teaching Block 1
- Black and Indigenous Religions in the Early Modern Iberian World - HISP30098
- Dictatorships, prisons, and writing(s) in the Portuguese and Spanish-speaking worlds - HISP30070
- The Novels of Carmen Laforet - HISP31026
- The Theatre of Federico García Lorca - HISP30029
Teaching Block 2
- Contemporary Latin American History - HISP30069
- Image and Text: Hybrid Media and Power in Latin America - HISP30086
- Nation and Empire in Writing and Visual Culture in Spain (1874-Present) - HISP30100
- Oceanic Images in Modern Chilean Culture - HISP30084
- The Politics of Photography in Latin America - HISP30107
- The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 - HISP30076