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The Language Centre  The Language Centre

The Language Centre

Open Language Learning Courses and other Provision in the University

Many colleges and departments throughout the University offer open language courses. If your college or department is running a language course that is open to other members of the university please email webmaster@langcen.cam.ac.uk so we can add it to the list. You can send full information about the course or just a link to your own online information.


Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic

The Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic offers the following non-tripos courses open to all members of the University, during the academic year.

For more information contact asnc@cam.ac.uk.


Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES)

Open Language Classes

If you are a postgraduate student with an academic need for knowledge of Modern Hindi, the Faculty has classes available.

Please note that these classes are not normally available to those outside of the University.

Visit their website for details of classes and to complete their online registration form.

For more information contact allcomers-hindi@ames.cam.ac.uk.


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Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages & Linguistics (MMLL)

Romanian Language

This course is primarily intended for MMLL students following the undergraduate paper in comparative Romance languages and linguistics (CS1), but is also open to other members of the University with a particular interest in Romanian. The course assumes no previous knowledge of the language and aims to provide students with a good practical knowledge of modern Romanian by the end of the course. The course is taught through one weekly 2-hour language class during Michaelmas and Lent (Mondays 16.00-18.00). The course is taught through the medium of English and, as the course progresses, increasingly through the medium of Romanian.

Anybody interested in following the course should contact Prof. Adam Ledgeway at anl21@cam.ac.uk.

Slavonic Studies Section

The Slavonic Studies Section offers the following non-tripos courses which are open to all members of the University:

The Slavonic Studies Section is offering free weekly classes for University members in Ukrainian or Polish. A certificate will be awarded on successful completion of the course.

For more information, please visit their website.

Classes are free, but spaces are limited. Those interested in attending the classes should contact the Slavonic Studies Section at slavon@mmll.cam.ac.uk as soon as possible.


Department of Engineering Centre for Languages and Inter-Communication (CLIC)

The Engineering Language Unit offers free foreign language courses (in French, Chinese, German, Japanese and Spanish) to all students from the Department of Engineering. English language support is also available to postgraduate students and researchers from that department.
Foreign languages courses are available to some students from the School of Technology and the School of Physical Sciences.

Please see the Centre for Languages and Inter-Communication (CLIC) or email clic-enquiries@eng.cam.ac.uk for more details.


Institute of Continuing Education (ICE)

The Institute of Continuing Education offers residential weekend or week-long courses at Madingley Hall in French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish and Modern Greek. Some are aimed at beginners while others offer aim to build on previous study. Courses are held in the target language and are taught by native speakers.

Visit their website for details of the dates and fees for the courses on offer.


Cambridge Student Union (SU)

Anglo Japanese Society

The The Anglo Japanese Society offers Japanese language exchange and conversational exchanges with visiting Japanese students. They hope to foster an environment where people of all different levels of ability can practice their Japanese/English and leave feeling more confident and relaxed in their linguistic ability.

Visit the Society's website for more information.

Sign Language Society

The Sign Language Society aims to promote the use and knowledge of sign language, not only to provide a means of communication with d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, but also to raise awareness among students by providing relaxed and friendly weekly British Sign Language classes via zoom at differing experience levels.

Visit the Society's website for more information.


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Language Provision in other Faculties and Departments

As well as the languages taught as part of the Tripos examinations in the language teaching faculties (Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics), there is language provision in many languages in other Faculties and Departments of the University. In some cases courses or tuition may be available to members of the University.

Some of the languages we are aware of are listed below. Please note that not all of the them may be available in any given year, and they are not always available to people outside the Faculty or Department.

  • Akkadian (Department of Archaeology & Anthropology)
  • Arabic (Qu'ranic) (Faculty of Divinity)
  • Aramaic (Faculty of Divinity)
  • Coptic (Faculty of Divinity)
  • Dutch (Department of German and Dutch, MML)
  • Ancient Egyptian (Department of Archaeology & Anthropology)
  • Ethiop (classical) (Faculty of Divinity)
  • Hebrew (Faculty of Divinity, Hindi Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Languages)
  • Hindi (Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Languages)
  • Icelandic (Modern) (Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic)
  • Irish (Modern) (Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic)
  • Japanese (Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Languages)
  • Latin (classical/medieval) (Faculty of Classics, Faculty of Divinity)
  • Mongolian (Mongolian and Inner Asian Studies Unit)
  • Persian (Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Languages)
  • Polish (Department of Slavonic Studies, MML)
  • Sanskrit (Faculty of Divinity, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Languages)
  • Syriac (Faculty of Divinity)
  • Sumerian (Department of Archaeology & Anthropology)
  • Ukrainian (Department of Slavonic Studies, MML)
  • Urdu (Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Languages)
  • Uzbek (Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Languages)

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If you want to learn a specific language, contact Reception ((3)35058) at the John Trim Centre, where we keep a list of all the language provision we know about throughout the University.

You can also come and see a member of the Advising team in person and if there is no provision in the language you are interested in, we can try and help you to find a native speaker of the language with our Conversation Exchange scheme.

Learning resources in over 180 languages are available in the John Trim Centre (JTC) at the Language Centre.


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