Curious about studying Spanish and Swedish - 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 Spanish and Swedish 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 Spanish and Swedish, as well as cultural modules, covering a range of topics that draw on literature and film, history and linguistics. You will spend your third year abroad, split between two countries where Spanish and Swedish 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 Swedish language module. The module aims to teach students basic vocabulary, grammar and sentence patterns so as to enable them to read elementary Swedish texts, understand simple everyday conversations and express themselves with some fluency in both speech and writing. By the use of a variety of techniques the students will gradually become acquainted with spoken and written Swedish and develop the skills necessary to express themselves in the language.
This is a Swedish language module. The module aims to teach students basic vocabulary, grammar and sentence patterns so as to enable them to read elementary Swedish texts, understand simple everyday conversations and express themselves with some fluency in both speech and writing. By the use of a variety of techniques the students will gradually become acquainted with spoken and written Swedish and develop the skills necessary to express themselves in the language.
This is a Swedish language module. This module focuses mainly on language as a set of formal, interdependent sub-systems, such as phonetics/phonology (sound production and sound systems), grammar in the sense of morphology (word-formation and word classes) and syntax (phrases, clauses, sentences and word order), as well as on broader aspects of language as a special communication system. This will initially be illustrated with the help of English and the knowledge thus gained will then be applied to the mainland Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish). Where it adds to the discussion and understanding, reference will also be made to Icelandic and Faroese.
Basic Swedish is a comprehensive language course which is open to students from all disciplines. This is a course for students who have little or no prior knowledge of Swedish and who wish to attain a level of competence which will allow them to communicate effectively in a number of straightforward situations. Students will also be introduced to the reading of simple texts, including newspaper texts, and works of literature, in Swedish. The course provides a knowledge of basic Swedish grammar and vocabulary as well as an introduction to the culture of Sweden, and other Nordic countries.
This is a Spanish module. This is a post A-level first year Spanish language module, consolidating level B1 and exploring level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). By the end of the second term, students are expected to master complex structures of written and spoken Spanish. You should be able to communicate fluently in a variety of contexts and deal with most situations likely to arise when travelling in a Spanish-speaking country. The Grammar and Communicative Language Skills class provides a friendly atmosphere where you can practice and build up confidence in spoken and written Spanish. Different varieties of Spanish will be explored. The Translation classes equip you with the relevant competences to tackle translations from both Spanish into English (literary and non-fiction texts), and English into Spanish (audiovisual materials, including a video that you will produce yourself). You will be acquainted with key aspects of the Hispanic culture(s) across the globe, especially in the Additional Contents and Skills classes.
This is a Spanish module. This module will introduce students to the work of Spain?s most ambitious dramatists of the early twentieth century: Ram??ar?del Valle-Incl? Miguel de Unamuno, and Federico Garc?Lorca. These three writers were key figures in the flourishing of Spanish cultural life between the end of the nineteenth century and the outbreak of the Civil War in 1936, the year in which each of them died. Their dramatic works in particular fought against the stodgy, middle-class values that they believed were preventing the Spanish stage from becoming a focus of renewed artistic energy. Working chronologically, this module will examine how these three writers experimented with dramatic form, the possibilities of staging, and the capacity of theatre to challenge its audience to experience art in new ways.
This is a Spanish module. This module will provide an introduction to film analysis and to key aspects of the development of Spanish cinema. Topics examined will include: Surrealism, Melodrama, Film noir and the influence of Italian neo-realism, Postmodernism and the influence on film of the Spanish Civil War, the Franco Regiem, Censorship, the Transition to Democracy, and Postcolonialism.
This is a Spanish module.
This is a Spanish module. This module analyses a range of Latin American cultural forms (novel, short stories, visual material) which have the dialectic between the real and the unreal, the natural and the supernatural, at their core. We will analyse well-known canonical texts as well as less-known works and discuss the notions of Fantastic, Uncanny, Magical Realism and Real Maravilloso. Throughout the module, we will analyse how Latin American cultural production has tackled, through the uncanny and the unreal, issues of gender, politics, identity, nationhood, history, and experimented with narrative forms and genres.
This is a Spanish module. This course offers an introduction to key aspects of global Hispanic history and culture from the late medieval period to the 21st century, and acts as a foundation on which students will build throughout the rest of their degree. It exposes students to a wide variety of materials ? poetry, prose fiction, essay and film ? and explores different ways of making sense of them through historical contextualisation, close reading and critical analysis. Students gain a critical appreciation of the canon of Spanish and Latin American Studies, whilst also developing the tools to explore less canonical authors and works. In the seminars that accompany the lectures, we will focus on discussing the primary materials and develop key skills in reading and writing.
This module provides an introduction to some of the ways in which literary texts have explored the theme of migration from the late19th to the early 21st Century in Latin America. While in recent years migration north from Central and South America to the USA has garnered significant attention in international news media and cultural production alike, this module seeks to contextualise this contemporary crisis by examining key moments of mass migration in recent Latin American history through their literary representation. The movement of people across regional and national borders invariably involves linguistic displacement, and writers have long understood that literary texts have the power to shape public perceptions of migrant communities. Thus by analysing texts which examine historical migrations, students will learn about: some of the economic, political and social changes and conflicts which have led to periods of mass migration; the ways in which migrant communities reciprocally contribute to, accelerate, or produce economic, political, and social change; some of the varied literary styles and genres deployed in Latin America to represent culturally diverse migrant experiences; and the ways in which mass migration is closely linked to questions of indigeneity, race, social class, gender, and conflict in Latin America and that literary texts perpetuate or resist xenophobia, racism, and the negative perception of migrant communities.
This is a Swedish language module. The module aims to build on and improve the students? existing knowledge of Swedish so as to enable them to read Swedish texts, understand everyday conversations, and express themselves fluently in both speech and writing. Through the use of a variety of techniques (such as study of various types of text, grammar exercises, translation, conversation on everyday topics, etc.), the students will gradually improve their spoken and written language.
This is an intermediate course in Sweden language.
The module aims to build on and improve the students? existing knowledge of Swedish so as to enable them to understand a wide range of authentic spoken and written Swedish texts and express themselves fluently in both speech and writing.
This is a Swedish language module. The Intermediate Project Work in a Scandinavian Language provides a module of guided learning for students who have completed the Intermediate language module or otherwise reached the B2/C1 level (CFR) in their target language. It offers an opportunity to broaden linguistic proficiency in four core areas (reading, writing, translation/grammar, aural) while covering a number of topics and areas connected to the language region. The module also aims to develop communicative skills by setting tasks (both formative and as part of the portfolio assessment) designed to give opportunity for writing different type of texts, constructing audience-targeted material, and engaging with a variety of different practices of language usage.
This is a Spanish module. This is a second-year Spanish language module consolidating your proficiency at level B2 and exploring level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). In the Grammar and Communicative Skills classes you will expand your vocabulary and learn to use increasingly more sophisticated language in a variety of contexts and registers, as well as idioms, expressions and colloquialisms. Different varieties of Spanish will be explored. The Translation classes will help you enhance your translation competences already acquired in the previous year in order to tackle a wider variety of texts in both language directions.
This is a Spanish module. In this module we shall be reading and analysing the novel La Regenta (1884-85) by Leopoldo Alas. Writing under the penname ?Clar?, Alas was the most famous literary critic in Spain at the time he published La Regenta. He had gained a reputation as a scathing cultural commentator but La Regenta surprised many of his contemporaries for the sensitivity with which it depicted a troubled young woman?s search for happiness and a stable identity in a provincial Spanish city. Her name is Ana Ozores, a woman who endures a troubled childhood as the poor relation of an aristocratic family which has fallen on hard times. Still a young adult, she finds herself married to Don V?or Quintanar, an aged and impotent former judge, but increasingly torn between sexual desire for Don lvaro Mes? the local lothario, and a yearning to explore her spiritual life guided by her confessor, Ferm?de Pas. It is her struggle with the competing claims of duty, lust, and spirituality that forms the central thread of the novel.
This is a Spanish module. This module will introduce you to a range of works by a number of key women writers from the Southern Cone and the Andean region. The module will begin with a consideration of the principal issues at stake in approaching women?s writing in Latin America and then focus on specific case studies. We will examine a variety of genres including novel, short story, poetry and essay. We will introduce the historical contexts in which the works have been produced and consider themes such as gender, identity, family, nationhood, modernity and ?race? as well as questions of language and form. This module is taught in Spanish.
This is a Spanish module. This course focuses on the intellectual history of Latin America from the independence period to the 1950s. Topics for discussion include the development of national consciousness; the emergence of nationalism, the role of literature in the creation of Spanish-American identities, as will as issues dealing with poetics and literary expression. The course presents a critical examination of authors such as Alberdi, Sarmiento, Marti, Rodo, Gonzalez Prada, Mariategui, Vasconcelos, Borges, Ryes, Paz and Zea among others. This module is taught in Spanish.
This is a Spanish module. This module will introduce students to a broad range of periods and styles in Latin American cinema, and to concepts in film theory. It will explore thematic questions of nationhood, politics, gender and sexuality, as well as questions specific to cinematic and visual representation.
This is a Spanish module. This module concerns the extraordinary history of Spain in the twentieth century. Over the past hundred years, the country has fought a brutal civil war, and experienced among the most stable and enduring of European dictatorships; toyed with republicanism, before re-establishing itself as a monarchy; and undergone a democratic transition regarded as a model around the world, to then experience several decades of the ?Spanish miracle?, of rapid economic growth and growing soft power. Most recently, the country has seen the political and economic model established during the transition come under strain, through unresolved tensions over fundamental questions of governance and national identity. All of this, while undergoing social change of unprecedented rapidity, that has given the country much of its distinctive feel in recent times.
This is a Spanish module. This module will provide an introduction to the latest literary, political and social changes in contemporary Spain, introducing students to the question of the existence, or not, of a Spanish literature describable as women?s writing. By analysing works by Rosa Montero?s Cr??a del desamor, Dulce Chac?? La voz dormida, Luc?Etxebarria?s Cosmofobia and Najat El Hachmi?s El ltimo patriarca, we will consider the role that writing by women plays in written accounts of collective identities, in providing alternatives to traditional fictional gender stereotypes, in promoting a feminist awareness and in portraying new definitions of Spanishness.
This is a Spanish module. There has been a recent boom in Latin American fiction dealing with Nazism and the Second World War. This module seeks to address the question ?why are Latin American authors writing about Nazism now??. We shall focus on En busca de Klingsor by J. Volpi, Amphitryon by I. Padilla, Los informantes by J.G.V?uez, and El comienzo de la primavera by P. Pron as primary texts. Topics will include issues of space, place and literary ?postnationalism?, violence, dictatorship, peace and reconciliation, and the nature of the relationship between history, identity, reality and fiction.
Images have been of great importance to the interlinked drug wars of the Americas. These conflicts have been subject to extensive visualisation, whether in the form of uncensored media footage, crafted photographs and propaganda, or through the explosion of televisual and cinematic works dealing with drugs and the narcotics trade. Interweaving artistic, cinematic and televisual viewings with theoretical and historical readings, this module will examine the visual politics of the ?War on Drugs?, integrating case studies from Mexico, Colombia and the US. We will consider inter alia how portrayals of violence in the media drive militarisation; how ethical concerns influence aesthetic strategies; visual framings of grief and loss; the ways visual texts highlight the co-dependent relations between drugs, death, capital and the state; and how visual works explore alternative policies, as exemplified by The Wire?s ?Hamsterdam?.
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 module is a Swedish language module. The course has three main aims: to develop a high proficiency in Swedish ? including expanded vocabulary, grammatical security, and awareness of different styles, text types, and registers; to develop knowledge and understanding of Swedish society and culture, through study of particular issues and texts; and to develop awareness of language learning processes at an individual level and its place in society.
This module is a Swedish language module. The module aims to expand the vocabulary, oral skills and written skills of students who already have a high level of fluency and proficiency in their chosen language. It is designed to challenge all students at their individual level and give them the maximum opportunity to develop their own strengths within the framework of the module, while at the same time give the students the opportunity to undertake a longer and more in-depth study of a specific topic that relates to their main language.
This module is a Swedish language module. This module is designed to (a) provide practice in translation from the three languages, (b) identify strategies for using knowledge of one Scandinavian language to develop comprehension of the other two, and (c) introduce translation theory and apply it to practical translation tasks. The module is timetabled for one hour per week throughout the academic year, in order to provide ample time to develop skills. The first five weeks focus on translation theory, using a range of authentic translations to identify approaches most relevant in the Scandinavian context. Thereafter, classes cover a range of text-types and genres across the three languages, organised in three language-specific blocs of five weeks each. The module is team-taught by language specialists and with occasional guest appearances from practising Scandinavian-English translators. Students may be able to attend events relating to translation throughout the year, including one or more briefing sessions on translation careers and technological tools for translators.
This module is a Swedish language module. The dissertation is a compulsory element of the Scandinavian Studies degree. It is an original academic work on a topic completely of your choosing. You can write on any topic you like (so long as a staff member is willing to supervise it) but are encouraged to write on a topic relating to your specialism (the language, literature, culture, history etc. of the Scandinavian country you have focused on during your studies).
Norse myths and medieval sagas have been the source for ?popular? cultural trends since the first nationalistic approach of the Romantics in 19th century Europe. Today, such Norse-based representations have established a distinct visual and thematic identity within popular culture transcending national and cultural boundaries. Through study of the source myths combined with theoretical analysis of various popular texts such as fantasy and graphic novels, comic books, film, music, video games and MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games), this module will guide students to situate these depictions within a larger theoretical framework of Nordic studies and cultural theory, while simultaneously enabling them to analyse their own relationship with the various representations of the ?popular Norse?.
This module is a Swedish language module. This module builds on the foundation laid by SCAN1102 Introduction to Linguistics and the Scandinavian Languages, and is aimed at students in their second or fourth year of study. Exploring the structures and usage of the Scandinavian languages in their modern form, the module covers areas such as language form, language meaning and language in context. The module seeks to offer students a theoretical grounding in the broad field of Linguistics and neighbouring disciplines, and a solid introduction to their methods and applications (including the study of speech, dialects and sociolects), with a key feature being cross-linguistic comparison between the Scandinavian languages.
This is an advanced Spanish language module designed for finalists, consolidating level C1 and exploring level C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). In the Grammar and Communicative Skills classes, you will consolidate your skills acquired in your Year Abroad. You will also improve your language proficiency by carrying out tasks at C2 level (the highest of CEFR levels). Therefore, you will be exposed and will have to use increasingly sophisticated language in a wider variety of contexts and registers. Different varieties of Spanish will be explored. The Translation classes will consolidate your translation competences already acquired in the previous years. You will be encouraged to make connections with your experience in the Year Abroad and broaden your knowledge of Hispanic culture(s).
This is a Spanish module. This module examines the development of Spanish film from the late 1990s onwards focusing on issues such as gender, migration, genre, national identity and the increasing globalisation of the Spanish film industry.
This is a Spanish module. This module will examine the changing ways in which the Spanish Civil War and subsequent dictatorship have been represented in the contemporary Spanish novelAlthough Spain's transition from Franco's thirty-six year dictatorship to democracy has been considered a success-story, underlying tension and resentment between the opposing sides of the country’s political divide remain. A country in which the defeated of the war were treated as second-class citizens and their dead comrades excluded from official commemoration of the victims clearly has some catching up to do when it comes to national reconciliation. Spain's novelists have reflected this situation through their works, questioning the national silence over the uncomfortable past during the transition to democracy and, in more recent times, joining the national debate on how best to acknowledge both sides of the fratricidal conflict.
This course will focus on the representation of children in film, with special attention to the kind of function the child fulfils in Latin American cinema. This will allow us to explore thematic questions of nationhood, politics, gender and sexuality, and the way childhood is used to envision the past and history, as well as the future and social change. We will also consider questions specific to cinematic and visual representation, such as whether, how and why filmmakers attempt to create a child?s view of the world through aesthetic means, and ethical questions arising around the representation of child suffering and death.
This is a Spanish module. The Peruvian writer, folklorist and ethnologist Jos?ar?Arguedas (1911-1969) is not only the most prominent representative of the neo-indigenist literary movement in the Andean region but also one of its most acute interpreters, particularly with respect to the cultural values and traditions of the Quechua communities of his native country. This course explores Arguedas?s vivid representation of the Andean world through a careful reading of some of his most important literary and ethnological works. From his early short stories and novels?in which he draws from his own personal experiences among the Indians of the southern sierra?to his insightful essays on the historical development of Andean mestizo culture and society, Arguedas captures the spirit of a people that have endured centuries of oppression and, at the same time, presents a challenging economic model for its social and political survival.
This advanced module considers how artists, filmmakers and writers from Latin America have experimented with institutional and popular Catholicism in response to periods of intense political and social upheaval. While the Catholic Church may appear to be monolithic and immutable, students will examine some of the ways in which Catholic aesthetics, theology, doctrine and social teaching have been appropriated, contested, distorted and revolutionized in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Latin American cultural production. By studying select works of poetry, prose, theatre, film and visual art, students will develop close-reading and analytical skills in order to explore the relationship between a range of divergent, hybrid Catholicisms and contemporary culture. To meet these requirements, students will study artistic engagements with some of the following topics: Afro-Caribbean syncretism and theories of transculturation; Andean Catholicisms and modernity; Liberation Theology and revolutionary movements; the Catholic Church and dictatorship; popular religiosity and the emergence of extreme narco-violence; Catholicism, sex and gender. Specific primary texts studied may vary from year to year. While all texts will be studied in an intellectual and sympathetic manner, students should note that certain texts may prove to be distressing, due to their violent content, and/or challenging to those of firm religious beliefs.
This is a Spanish module. Of the many complex civilisations to arise in the ancient Americas, three stand out: the Maya of Mexico and Guatemala, with a sophisticated art style and the only true writing system ever to develop in the Western Hemisphere; the Aztecs, the last ancient Mexican civilisation, known for their huge city-on-a-lake of Tenochtitlan and for the mass practice of human sacrifice; and the Incas of Peru, whose rigid state structure and many gold and silver treasures so amazed the Spanish conquistadors. This module studies the states, societies, religions and cultural practices of these peoples, drawing on both a rich corpus of primary sources and a vibrant historical literature.
Undergraduate student in UCL self-catered halls £304 Per week
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