I studied Russian and Spanish at Cambridge and couldn't find many unis offering Russian ab initio when I was looking (started in 2018). Languages are so important and it's so sad that people don't see this! I went to a state school where I could only do either Spanish or French GCSE which already held me back. I would have loved to do both, then both at A Level and maybe uni too (although learning Russian led me down an interesting path in life, travels and postgraduate studies). Fingers crossed languages don't completely get kicked off the school curriculum! I am also passionate about learning about dialects and languages of the UK and recently went to Shetland were I was able to hear about the use of Shetland dialect, which holds strong in some of the smaller islands like Whalsay but is threatened in other areas. It's amazing to hear old Norn and Norse words coming out and being used today!
I did my degree in Applied Languages (French & Spanish) at the University of Ulster (now Ulster University) - the largest university in Northern Ireland. Back then the languages department offered Irish, French, Spanish, German and Japanese as degree subjects, I think they also had some Mandarin and Italian elements too. Now they only offer Irish as they did away with the school of Modern Languages.
I studied Russian and Spanish at Cambridge and couldn't find many unis offering Russian ab initio when I was looking (started in 2018). Languages are so important and it's so sad that people don't see this! I went to a state school where I could only do either Spanish or French GCSE which already held me back. I would have loved to do both, then both at A Level and maybe uni too (although learning Russian led me down an interesting path in life, travels and postgraduate studies). Fingers crossed languages don't completely get kicked off the school curriculum! I am also passionate about learning about dialects and languages of the UK and recently went to Shetland were I was able to hear about the use of Shetland dialect, which holds strong in some of the smaller islands like Whalsay but is threatened in other areas. It's amazing to hear old Norn and Norse words coming out and being used today!
I did my degree in Applied Languages (French & Spanish) at the University of Ulster (now Ulster University) - the largest university in Northern Ireland. Back then the languages department offered Irish, French, Spanish, German and Japanese as degree subjects, I think they also had some Mandarin and Italian elements too. Now they only offer Irish as they did away with the school of Modern Languages.