Curious about studying Finnish and Portuguese - BA (Hons)at UCL (University College London)? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
UCL (University College London) - Bloomsbury Campus
Full Time
Sep 2027
4 Year
Our Finnish and Portuguese degree offers huge scope for developing in-depth, comparative and intercultural approaches to the humanities. You will be able to choose from a wide range of modules including literature, linguistic traditions, history, sociology, philosophy, art, film or other aspects of the cultures associated with the language(s) you'll be learning. In years one, two and your final year you will take language modules in your chosen languages, as well as cultural modules related to them. You may also take modules offered by the School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) and SSEES, focusing on literature, film, linguistics and history from an interdisciplinary perspective.You will spend your third year abroad, split between two countries where your chosen languages are spoken. You will achieve the same linguistic competence regardless of whether you start a language from scratch or have previous knowledge of it.
This is a Finnish language module. Students can choose 30 credits compulsory language courses either (when Finnish is ab initio): SEEF0001 - Finnish Language Level 1 Or (when Finnish is post A Level): SEEF0005 - Finnish Language Level 2a ? Comprehension; SEEF0007 - Finnish Language Level 2b - Production. 15/30 credits Compulsory Culture course either SCAN0011: History and Culture of the Nordic Regions (30 credits) Or: SCAN0012: History and Culture of the Nordic Regions (Term 1, 15 credits). Note: If their interdepartmental module is taken from the SSEES 60 credits then they take SCAN0012. Note: If their interdepartmental module is taken from the SSEES 60 credits then they take only SEE0013. Modules in the other language 60 credits (including 15 credit Interdepartmental course if not taken from SSEES side).
This is a Finnish language module.
This is a Finnish language module.
This is a Finnish language module.
This is a Finnish language module.
This is a Portuguese module. Taken over two terms, this is an intensive ab initio course designed for students who have had little or no exposure to Portuguese. It aims to take you from basic to pre-intermediate level, matching the linguistic ability of level A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), with some aspects of B1 also being explored. The general language class is designed to help you practise and gradually build up confidence in spoken and written Portuguese. Both the European and Brazilian varieties are explored. The intensive grammar classes establish the foundations for the reading and translation of more advanced texts. The translation classes equip you with the relevant competences to tackle translations of literary and non-fiction texts from Portuguese into English. They will also help you work towards accurate translations from English into Portuguese. Over the two terms, you will learn about some key Lusophone writers, artists, contemporary and historical personalities, watch carefully selected video materials, and familiarize yourself with some of the key media outlets of the Lusophone world. By the end of the module, you will be able to communicate fluently in a wide range of everyday situations, hold conversations on routine topics, write and translate simple texts into Portuguese, and read and translate more advanced Portuguese texts into English. You will be acquainted with key aspects of Lusophone cultures across the globe, and be able to establish connections between the language classes and the literary and intellectual worlds explored in the PORT* content modules. We will encourage you to work over the summer to ensure that you start Year 2 with confidence.
This is a Portuguese module. This module introduces students to Portuguese literature with an emphasis on canonical texts and their historical contexts. The first part is dedicated to the origins and first apogee of Portuguese as a literary idiom. From Galician-Portuguese poetry, the module proceeds to three sessions on the various facets of the sixteenth century, and concludes with the prophetic tradition that informed Ant?? Vieira?s writing in the seventeenth century. Thus the first part of the module collects references to an apparently perennial tension in Portuguese literature between imperial glory on the one hand, and loss on the other. This tension, it is argued, is to some extent constitutive of the Portuguese literary tradition. But it also calls for a critique, as the second part of the module demonstrates. In weeks 6-10 students will read modern authors who, whilst reflecting upon the decay of Empire, are most notable for personal narratives of fragmentation and loss. Materials will be available in English translation. All secondary readings for the classes will be in English.
This is a Portuguese module. This course aims to introduce students to both the Brazilian novel and its cultural, social, literary and historical contexts from the nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century. The module will explore different traditions of novel writing in Brazil, place the emergence of Brazilian novel in relation to the contemporary European novel, and introduce students to a range of important discussions about the novel as a genre, its cultural function, its audiences, and its relation to the social world.
This is a Finnish language module. Students can choose 30 credits compulsory language courses either (when Finnish is ab initio): SEEF0005 - Finnish Language Level 2a ? Comprehension; SEEF0007 - Finnish Language Level 2b - Production or (when Finnish is post A Level): SEEF0011 - Finnish Language Level 3a ? Comprehension; SEEF0013 - Finnish Language Level 3b - Production. 15/30 credits from core Culture course: SEEF0009: Finland Environment Society and Culture (30 credits) OR SEEF0029 Finland Environment Society and Culture A (15 credits). If their Interdepartmental module is included in the SSEES 60 credits you take SEEF0029. 15 credits from: SSEES Literature and Culture course or Interdepartmental course (see above). 60 credits from: Courses in the other language (including 15 credits Interdepartmental course if not taken from SSEES side).
This is a Finnish language module.
This is a Finnish language module. This is a course for students who have successfully completed Finnish Language Level 1, or who can demonstrate equivalent competence in Finnish. The course consists of two components, comprehension and production, each of which has the value of 0.5 of a course-unit. Both components are taught in conjunction.
This is a Finnish language module. By the end of the course students should be able: to understand a wide range of authentic spoken and written Finnish from predictable topic areas; to extract required information and record it accurately and coherently in English; to manipulate spoken and written Finnish with appropriate and accurate use of lexis and grammatical structures in a variety of contexts and registers; to speak with confidence and accuracy appropriate to this level about many aspects of life and culture in Finland and societies where Finnish is spoken; to demonstrate understanding of translation by discussing problems of specific translations from and into Finnish; to successfully translate a range of texts from and into Finnish; to demonstrate knowledge and active use of more complex grammatical structures and a wide range of vocabulary in Finnish.
This is a Finnish language module. This is a course for students who have successfully completed Finnish Language Level 2 course, or who can demonstrate equivalent competence in Finnish. The course consists of two components, comprehension and production, each of which has the value of 0.5 of a course-unit (see Course Details above). Both components are taught in conjunction. Students who successfully complete this course should be able to function effectively and with confidence in an extensive range of academic, professional and social situations, and also to have gained a metalinguistic perspective on translation issues.
This is a Finnish language module. By the end of the course students should be able: to understand authentic spoken and written Finnish from unpredictable topic areas; to extract required information and record it accurately and coherently in English; to manipulate spoken and written Finnish in any situation with appropriate, accurate and elaborate use of lexis and grammatical structures in a wide variety of contexts and registers; to seek, provide and refine opinions and information in sustained spoken and written interchanges in Finnish; to speak and write confidently and accurately about key issues relating to life and culture in Finland and societies where Finnish is spoken; to demonstrate knowledge and active use of more complex grammatical structures and a wide range of vocabulary, register and styles in Finnish.
Since the 1980s, Afro-Brazilian literature has acquired legitimacy in universities, evidenced by a growing number of academic studies, undergraduate and graduate programmes dedicated to it. Many of these studies address the concept of AfroBrazilian literature itself. Some scholars reject it, for spreading a sense of political identity embodied by the word ?black?. For others, it encompasses both literature about and by black people. For a third group, it is a more elastic theoretical concept, ?capable of spanning the range of discursive boundaries that people use to express their Afro-descendant identity/ies in their literary works? (Duarte, 2012, p. 106). In this module, we will analyse literary representations by and about Afro-Brazilians, from the mid-19th century to the 21st century, available in English translation.
This is a Portuguese module. Taken over two terms, this is an intermediate course that builds on and consolidates previous knowledge of the Portuguese language. Students must have been enrolled in the Beginners? course (PORT0001) offered by the department or must have otherwise undertaken an equivalent course in a different institution or possess basic speaking, writing, and listening skills through self-study. Students will develop skills in listening, reading and translating short literary and non-fiction texts in a variety of registers, including poems, short stories, novels, newspaper articles, and commentaries. Classes explore the conventions of European and Brazilian Portuguese, so that learners can continue to develop their preference for one or the other variant. This module consolidates linguistic ability at Level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), with some aspects of Level B2 also explored.
This is a Portuguese module. This module will introduce you to the critical study of Portuguese travel narratives, geographical and ethnographic texts produced between c.1450 and 1650. We will read a selection of translated primary texts narrating travels, encounters and confrontations with extra-European cultures, accompanied by a selection of secondary literature highlighting the quandaries of the genre?s intertwinements with imperial expansion and the making of colonial societies in Brazil, Africa and Asia. To highlight the unique characteristics of Portuguese travel writing, the course covers the entire globe, but some emphasis will be placed on early colonial Brazil and the East Indies. The secondary readings will help us to reflect on questions of literary invention, appropriation and stereotyping in the representation of other cultures. At the same time, we shall also examine how travel accounts can function as historical sources and promote a better understanding of the world that produced them.
Year Abroad
Your third year is spent abroad. This will not only bring the language and culture you are studying to life, but also strengthen your resourcefulness and self-reliance. You will normally spend this year studying at a university in your chosen country (or countries if you are studying two languages), but alternatives, such as work placements, may be possible.
This is a Finnish language module. This is a course for students who have successfully completed Finnish Language Level 2 course, or who can demonstrate equivalent competence in Finnish. The course consists of two components, comprehension and production, each of which has the value of 0.5 of a course-unit (see Course Details above). Both components are taught in conjunction. Students who successfully complete this course should be able to function effectively and with confidence in an extensive range of academic, professional and social situations, and also to have gained a metalinguistic perspective on translation issues.
This is a Finnish language module. This module explores central themes in Finnish society and culture through the study of Finnish texts. The module will deepen existing knowledge by looking at specific cases which illuminate Finnish social and cultural life and the construction of Finnish identity in discourse.
This is a Finnish language module. Students can choose 30 credit compulsory language course: SEEF0011 - Finnish Language Level 3a ? Comprehension; SEEF0013 - Finnish Language Level 3b - Production OR SEZZ4901 Free Standing Dissertation. 30 credits from SEEF0015: Finnish Society and Culture. 60 credits from: Courses in the other language (including 15 credits Interdepartmental course if not taken from SSEES side).
This is a Portuguese module. This module is designed for students who have had exposure to Intermediate Portuguese (PORT0005) and, typically, spent several months in Brazil, Portugal or another Lusophone country on their Year Abroad. Native speakers of Portuguese may be present in the classroom. The module is aimed at developing speaking, reading, writing and translating skills in Portuguese to an advanced level of ability and help students gain further insight into aspects of the culture of Portuguese-speaking countries. Proficiency in Portuguese is consolidated at Level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), with aspects of Level C1 also explored. You will expand your vocabulary and learn to use increasingly complex sentences and structures, as well as idioms, expressions and colloquialisms. Both the Brazilian and European Portuguese variants are covered, and aspects of Luso-African and Luso-Asian culture will be explored. Students are encouraged to establish connections with the materials studied on final-year PORT* content modules. By the end of the module, we expect students to be fluent in one of the world?s most widely spoken languages, and highly skilled in translating literary and non-fiction texts in a variety of registers.
This module explores the colonial, anti-colonial and post-colonial cultural production of the Lusophone world in the 20th and 21st centuries. The first third of the course engages with Portugal, its empire under the Salazar regime, and how it appropriated the Luso-tropicalist theories of the Brazilian sociologist and historian Gilberto Freyre. We will learn about the regime?s scramble for Africa, its management of internal dissent and migration, its position with regard to World War II, and its adoption of Lusotropicalism as a state ideology for the shaping of a Lusophone Atlantic world. We then move to the different ways in which African intellectuals responded through adoption, adaptation or rejection, leading up to the idea of an armed struggle for independence.
This is a Portuguese module. This module provides an opportunity to develop knowledge of the Brazilian cr??a and short story as short narrative genres, based on certain principals of composition and historical reception. It will explore key concepts of narrative theory and the relationship between literature and journalism. A chronological overview of the short story and cr??a will be provided with a focus on the most prominent Brazilian cronistas and short story writers from the 1870's to the present. The module will offer a historical and literary framework for the critical exploration of the set texts, as it aims to trace the development of short fiction considering its relationship to major themes, events in post-colonial Brazilian history.
Undergraduate student in UCL self-catered halls £304 Per week
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