都柏林圣三一學(xué)院

Why study Spanish?

Spain, currently one of Europe’s leading industrial nations, was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the foremost Western power, and Spanish is the native language of over five hundred million people. In those countries – more than twenty – in which it is officially spoken, it is second only to English. Spanish is an exciting and growing area of study, having become the second language in the United States, an official language in the European Union, the African Union, and the United Nations, and the second most important language on the Internet.

Spanish: The course for you?

The Department will help you to discover or deepen your interest in the Spanish-speaking world, giving you multiple opportunities to choose from a wide variety of courses across the centuries and genres, while helping you to develop your independence as a confident and critical thinker.

Spanish @ Trinity

Whether a beginner or non-beginner in Spanish, you will very quickly come to feel a valued member of a Department with a rich experience that goes back to 1776, having attracted some of the most distinguished names in Hispanism as teachers, with access to libraries which are among the very best in Ireland and the UK. You will be learning in a Department dedicated to innovative and small-group teaching, with a friendly, committed, and supportive ethos, aided throughout your studies by a wide variety of guest speakers on contemporary topics of interest. Our external examiners consistently comment on the very high levels of linguistic and research skills attained by Hispanic Studies students, and you will always have the assurance that you have chosen a four-year degree that will set you on a professional or academic path as a highly qualified specialist in a field of ever-increasing international importance.

Graduate skills and career opportunities

A degree in Spanish opens up many career opportunities in education, journalism, the diplomatic service, business administration, banking, publishing, interpreting, translation, advertising, public relations, digital communication, and the visual media generally, with recent graduates opening up careers in Google, Oracle, Telefónica, Ryanair, Central Bank of Ireland, Gerson Lerhman Group, Third World Organizations, and the European Union.

A substantial proportion of students engage in further study, particularly masters’ courses. Many opportunities exist in several universities, both in the UK and in Ireland, with Trinity’s M.Phil. in Literary Translation and Comparative Literature proving popular. A number of undergraduates have also chosen to pursue M.Litt. and PhD research degrees.

Your degree and what you'll study

At entry, Spanish must be combined with one other subject. In later years, you will be able to select additional subjects and electives and will have the option to graduate with Spanish as a Single Honours degree, a Joint Honours degree with another subject, or a Major with a Minor.

Spanish at Trinity is taught by a variety of methods to equip you with a comprehensive range of skills in the accurate, fluent and sensitive understanding, reading, as well as use of the spoken and written language. If you are a beginner, the language teaching (five hours weekly) offers a realistic opportunity for you to reach the same standard within a year as those who have studied Spanish previously.

The department aims to develop the skill of textual analysis through close and careful reading, together with the organization and expression of ideas in verbal and written form, and the deepening of analytical and critical skills.