Language Centre in Cornwall
Boost your employability and global profile by studying a foreign language as an optional course in your degree programme at no extra cost. You can start to learn a language from scratch or continue to progress in your French or Spanish language skills.
From September 2026, when having completed a minimum of 60 credits in the same language at an intermediate level or higher by the end of your undergraduate studies, you can have these additional skills formally recognised on your degree title as a Minor.
Learning a language with us offers a unique opportunity to identify, practice and reflect on the skills sets that are important for you to thrive and succeed professionally in the future regardless your home academic discipline.
- Prepare for working or studying abroad
- Develop intercultural awareness and adaptability
- Manage and analyse information critically
- Articulate ideas and arguments confidently
Students taking language modules are mixed with peers enrolled in different undergraduate programmes and academic years. There is a lot of interest in learning languages among students of International Relations and Humanities, but about 20% of our current cohort is studying Earth Sciences and more than 25% comes from Life Sciences as well.
Non-language specific skills such as digital fluency, problem-solving and collaboration play an important part in the assessment. Group projects effectively provide an opportunity to develop inclusion, tolerance and acceptance amongst peers but also encourage students to explore a wide range of topics, tropes and concepts from an intercultural perspective and invite them to challenge/decolonise their understanding of the world and the way they problematise current affairs, climate emergency, economic and gender inequalities, etc. The quality of their research and their creativity is also valued.
Our courses on Cornwall campus
We normally run 30-credit annual modules to help students progress effectively towards the "with proficiency in", but in some levels we have very recently accredited 15-credit term one-only courses to accommodate busy schedules.
Find the most updated list of language modules currently being advertised here
All modules are subject to timetable availability and will only run if a minimum requirement for student numbers is met. There is a risk that a module you have applied for will not run as advertised. You will be informed in as timely a maner as possible should this be the case (although this may be at short notice) and if possible we would look to run the module again at a later date.
“This project definitely improved our language skills […], but the format of the task was also very useful because we had to pay attention to how we communicated ideas so that these were appropriate and adequate for a podcast (language had to be accurate but at the same time accessible), which was a good challenge for our level of competence.”
Advanced One Level
"This project was a success. We learnt a lot about the location that we chose to research, and we tried to add as many details as we could to produce a promotional video as authentic as possible. […] The format of the video was a communication style that we had never explored before, and we really enjoyed the challenge."
Intermediate One Level
"We split tasks such as script writing, translating, video editing between us all because, in the future, these skills will be needed in our careers. […] It was out of our comfort zone to be acting on camera, especially in a second language, but patience shown by each other and a non-judgmental attitude to getting it done helped to overcome this. We also faced other external challenges, so we have also become closer friends through solving problems together."
Beginners level
FAQ
If you are just looking for non-credit bearing evening language courses, find out more about our online cross-campus language study options via the Language Centre webpages.