Course summary

BA Arabic and Italian is a four-year degree with a year of study abroad divided between a Middle Eastern country and Italian-speaking country. The course combines compulsory language elements on both sides, delivered by native-speaker staff and with the possibility of pathways in business language, translation and interpreting. Alongside this, you will study the culture, politics, history, literature, popular culture, linguistics and religion of the areas in question.You will become proficient enough to live and work effectively in both environments. Arabic

• You have the opportunity to achieve near-native proficiency in modern Arabic while studying the language within its cultural and historical context.

• You will also look more widely at Arab culture and literature from the medieval period to the present day, and be introduced to social and cultural trends in the Arab Middle East and beyond.

• The range of culture units offered across all years of the programme combine the study of the history, politics, literary, and visual culture of the Arab world and are taught by a range of specialists within these fields.

• The course is carefully structured so you can measure your progress step by step. Learning modern Arabic also opens the door to the vast literature of classical Arabic, including religious and secular texts, and provides a perfect platform from which to learn one or more of the colloquial dialects.

• The course units offered combine the study of history, politics, and the literary, linguistic and visual culture of the peninsula, and are taught by specialists in the fields.

• We offer a linguistics pathway through the course for those interested in the history of the Italian language and its dialects.

• Language courses, taught by native speakers at post A-level or beginners' level, involve comprehension, translation, grammar and oral work.

• Our excellence in teaching and learning in Italian has been recognised internally and nationally: a colleague won a Teaching Excellence Award, and one has secured national funding to develop use of digital resources in teaching by bringing our libraries' special collections into the age of the app.

• You will benefit from extensive interaction with Italian cultural agencies in the North West.

• You will also benefit from the world-class Italian holdings of the John Rylands Library, including one of the largest collections of early Italian printed books in the UK.