Modern Languages with Translation with Foundation Year BA

Course overview

Do you love learning foreign languages? Would you like to explore a possible career in translation or interpreting?

This course is designed for talented UK students with a passion for languages but whose personal circumstances make achieving our usual entry requirements difficult.

This could be your opportunity to study your subject of choice at a top 20 UK university (Times Higher Education Rankings 2023).

Through a range of engaging modules spanning the arts and humanities, the foundation year gives you an opportunity to develop key skills such as communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and digital capability. Your foundation year tutors will support you in developing the necessary skills, knowledge and confidence for undergraduate study.

During the foundation year you will be a full member of the university, with all the opportunities this offers, including the same accommodation options as direct entry students.

Upon progressing from the foundation year, you'll find the four-year BA Modern Languages with Translation course has a strong vocational focus and provides insights into practical and technical translation and interpreting. We model our translation assignments on real-life situations and you will complete at least one translation project for an external organisation.

The year abroad will develop your communication skills, build your confidence and help you stand out to future employers.

Personal circumstances

As well as meeting the academic entry requirements (BCC), you must have attended a UK state school/college and meet at least one of the following personal background criteria:

1. you live in an area where people are less likely to go to university – check your postcode
2. you are the first generation in your family to enter higher education
3. you will be over 21 years old when you begin your course
4. you have spent more than three months in local authority care (for this criterion you do not need to have attended a state school)
5. you have refugee status from the Home Office
6. you need to study in the East Midlands (for example for family, cultural or financial reasons)
7. you provide long term care of a sick or disabled family member

Where relevant you should include reference to 5, 6 and 7 in your personal statement, or provide this information via artssupport@nottingham.ac.uk when you submit your UCAS application.

Visit our Foundation Arts webpages to discover more about the foundation year.

What do past students say about the Arts Foundation Year?
"Despite arriving at Nottingham with less than perfect A-level results I have gone on to achieve first class marks so far during my time at university. The catalyst for that change is not only the support networks, but also the variety of assessment methods. I admit that I hate exams! But I discovered that in essays I perform really well. Because the foundation year has a really wide variety of different assessments, you can find your niche and start to improve yourself." Calvin, a past Arts Foundation Year student

Important information

This online prospectus has been drafted in advance of the academic year to which it applies. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate at the time of publishing, but changes (for example to course content) are likely to occur given the interval between publishing and commencement of the course. It is therefore very important to check this website for any updates before you apply for the course where there has been an interval between you reading this website and applying.