Bethan is from a 'northern state school' studying German and Spanish at Emmanuel College. She started Spanish from scratch and became fluent in 2 years. She discusses some of the stereotypes of Cambridge student life which can seem off-putting for people from her background and the reality as she has experienced it. She describes the courses she takes and their content and offers advice to students making their GCSE and A level choices about keeping options open. She reflects on the value of languages to future careers and why she chose Cambridge for the personal attention via the supervision system which she describes. She also describes the options for the year abroad and the social benefits of Cambridge student life!

Originally from Barnsley, Chris is studying French and Italian (which he started at Cambridge) at St Catherine's College. Taking languages or coming to Cambridge were unusual choices in terms of his background. He talks about his own passion for languages and the wide career options open to linguists as well as the 'myths' out there about Cambridge student life, the so-called private-state school divide and the selection interview process, which he describes in some detail. He talks about how the Collegiate system in Cambridge helps make going to university less daunting and describes the supervision system of tuition. He also talks about the value of the year abroad and the flexibility of tailoring it to your own interests. His year abroad was spent in Verona, Italy, as an Erasmus student having started the language from scratch.

A native speaker of Greek, Cristina is a PhD student in Classics (focussing on ancient languages) at Peterhouse College. She speaks English, and has been learning Italian and German, intending to take French in the future (all at the Language Centre). She talks about the wide range of good personal, academic and professional reasons for studying languages and also discusses the academic, cultural and social advantages of coming to Cambridge, which welcomes students from such a wide variety of backgrounds. She talks about the close 'family' feeling of College life, not at all snobby! She also reflects on the support available to achieve high academic standards.

Fiona is a final year student in Middle Eastern Studies studying Arabic in combination with French, at St Catherine's College. She wanted both language skills and a wide choice of studies, not just literature, but including history, literature, anthropology and studying a completely different region of the world, which she found in Cambridge. She wants to work in development work in the future and made her choices on the basis of the major demand languages to work in many of the poorest countries in the world. She also talks about her year abroad studying in Egypt, during a politically interesting time, and discovering how important Arabic skills are, and how few people she could have communicated with in English! She talks about the advantages of College life in Cambridge including the 'Hogwarts' dimension.

Johanna is a native speaker of German, studying Japanese and Korean (both from scratch) at Murray Edwards College. She speaks 7 languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese and Korean! She talks about her motivation to study languages, including mobility, such as visiting North Korea and working in Japan on her year abroad, and for employability. She explains her reasons for coming to Cambridge based on academic expertise, and the opportunity to make choices about studying aspects of culture, history and society, not just language - although she's now fluent in 2 languages she started here. She also talks about her opportunities to study Spanish and Portuguese in the Language Centre. She talks about College life, the inclusive atmosphere of the University, and the academic support available, particularly through supervisions.

Sam came from a state school in Leeds to study Linguistics at Emmanuel College. Although he knew little about linguistics before starting his degree, he was aware that it opens the door to the study of a wide variety of languages, while focussing on topics including how children learn their mother tongue and the psychology of language. He believes his studies will equip him to continue learning languages throughout his life and career. He talks about Cambridge and what he gets out of the social side as well as the 'Harry Potter' factor of the atmosphere!