Course summary

German and Language & Linguistics at Aberdeen is a great combination that adds value to highly-developed language skills and cultural knowledge in a major European language. The programme offers a fascinating exploration of how human language evolved, how we learn languages and how they differ and change over time. You will gain both a language and the all-round knowledge and transferable skills to open up a wide variety of career option, both international and specialist. You will gain a solid grounding in the German language whatever your level, in a programme with the highest possible rating of ‘Excellent’ in the last national Teaching Quality Assessment. You will also develop a broad understanding of culture in the German-speaking world, with courses in social, historical and cultural aspects of these countries and encounter the world of German artistic expression in the form of literature, film and art, together with a deeper understanding of Germany’s complex history. Language & Linguistics probes deeply into language and speech – analysing and modelling this fascinating human attribute so that we understand ourselves and human societies more fully. You will explore how the brain processes speech and language, how languages evolve over time, and how we learn second languages. This is an exciting and fast-moving field. Our understanding of language grows all the time with new discoveries in neuroscience, animal behaviour, archaeology, sociology and psychology and new ways to use linguistics theory in industry, medicine, and forensic science emerge year on year. As an integral part of your 5-year programme, you will spend the whole of year three taking your language and cultural skills to a very high level as a teaching assistant or visiting student in Germany or Austria. You will graduate with a combination of skills to make you very attractive to employers, both in an international setting and in careers such as media, advertising and marketing, information and communication technology, publishing, language teaching and health-related professions such as speech and language therapy.