Spoken across Europe, Latin America and Africa, Spanish and Portuguese open doors to diverse cultures and global opportunities. Advance your spoken and written proficiency, and explore Spanish and Portuguese literature, film, politics and history.
By learning Spanish and Portuguese, you’ll build high-level fluency in spoken and written Spanish, Portuguese or both, with support from our expert tutors. You'll also immerse yourself in the cultures of the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds, exploring themes such as gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, migration and displacement, linguistics, and storytelling across different media. Our Spanish and Portuguese courses help you enter the workplace as a multilingual graduate with a truly international outlook. Career-focused modules in audio-visual translation and public service interpreting will teach you the skills needed a future in international communication. For the year abroad, we have opportunities in Spain, Portugal, Colombia and Chile. Our students typically spend the year abroad studying, teaching or working – gaining language skills, international experience, and lifelong memories.
You can study Spanish on its own or alongside French, Portuguese, German or Mandarin. You can also take modules in Arabic, Italian, Russian and Japanese, or combine your Spanish studies with another subject – from linguistics and business management, to English and history. You can study Spanish post-A level or as an accelerated beginner, while Portuguese is offered only from accelerated beginner level alongside another language. Portuguese is particularly useful, as there are a high number of Portuguese speakers who do not speak English.
"My research passion for Latin American studies informs all of my undergraduate modules which include contemporary Latin American visual, cultural and literary studies with a focus on identity, race gender, the Mexican Día de Muertos or multimedia production, amongst other areas."
"As part of my Spanish teaching and research portfolio, I have published a book
on strategies to structure written and spoken texts effectively. I also founded a YouTube channel, Lo que no te han enseñado en español, focusing on fun Spanish idioms!"
In London, Spanish-speaking Latin Americans forge a sense of belonging through cultural enclaves such as Seven Sisters Market, where language and community intertwine. Spanish itself remains a vibrant thread linking generations across the city.
Student stories
Skills from my linguistic studies degree opened up a career in coding
Elizabeth Gardiner talks about her career change from translation to coding using versatile skills gained from her studies at University of Southampton.
