As one of Europe's most creative and diverse civilisations, Italy has a fascinating and influential history. This flexible joint honours programme gives you the opportunity to study Italian in its cultural context while exploring how the English language has changed over time. Combining the linguistic and cultural study of languages demonstrates that you are a good communicator, a resilient problem solver, and someone open to other cultures and new ideas.Lots of our graduates started as complete beginners in Italian, leaving with a broad cultural education and specialist knowledge valued by employers.

Study Italian with us, and you will learn the language in the context of some of the most famous and influential works of literature, art and cinema. No previous knowledge of Italian is needed. Intensive language tuition, including a year spent studying or working in Italy, will develop your ability to read, write and speak the language to a high standard with advanced translation skills.

The English language has a well-recorded history of more than 1,000 years, and its changes can be traced through written materials ranging from medieval manuscripts to text messages, and more recently, through recordings of spoken English. Your studies will develop your knowledge and understanding of:* the principles of theoretical linguistics * the way we learn language * the regional and social variations of language, particularly the English language * methods of communication As part of the programme, you can opt to study the Scots language, which has its own rich linguistic and literary tradition. English Language courses of particular interest to students of Italian cover:* the speech sounds of the world's languages * variation in the languages of the world

From our own Italian Society to the Italian Cultural Institute, you will find many places in Edinburgh to develop your interest in Italian culture. Italian has been taught here since 1919, and has been part of our tradition for many years, as far back as the 18th century.Studying over four years enables you to choose courses, including from other disciplines, that match your own interests, expertise and employability needs. We are unique in Scotland in offering students a full academic year abroad within the four-year honours programme, regardless of whether you spend the year studying or working.