Undergraduate offer holders

Students in central Cambridge

So, you’ve been offered a place to study one of our degree courses at Cambridge. Congratulations! Find out how you can best prepare before you arrive.

A brief overview of academic life in Cambridge

Tripos is the name of the undergraduate system at Cambridge, and it is divided into different parts based on year group. It begins with broad introductory courses and allows for specialisation as you progress.

In your first year, the papers (i.e. courses or modules) you take will equip you with core skills for your degree. You will have a combination of lecture, classes and small-group sessions known as supervisions. The courses are designed to be challenging but also introductory and supportive.

The Director of Studies (DoS) for your College will provide guidance should you meet your offer. Your College is always your first point of contact.

Preparatory reading for offer holders

Don’t worry if you have little experience in certain aspects of the course. Make a start where you feel most comfortable and you’ll soon find that you’re making progress.

Cambridge terms are relatively short (the year is made up of three eight-week terms), so the pace of study is rapid. You will enjoy classes and lectures far more if you arrive well-prepared! So do read the further guidance for your course, and get going on suggested exercises and reading over the summer.

See below for preparatory reading for offer holders

Your summer preparation should focus on both aspects of your future course in French: the study of language and the study of literature, linguistics, film and thought.

Language preparation

It is vital that you work actively on your language skills in the summer before you arrive. It would be great to make a commitment to watch French TV or films, listen to French radio, and read French newspapers online every day for at least 30 minutes. You should also revise French grammar, especially if you will have taken a gap year since your A levels. Your goal is to enlarge your vocabulary, improve your listening skills, and increase the accuracy and complexity of both your written and spoken French, preferably while looking at media that you enjoy.

Students will be asked to use the following grammar book:

Margaret Jubb and Annie Rouxeville, French Grammar in Context (Routledge)

Preparatory reading

In order to be ready for FR1: Introduction to French literature, linguistics, film and thought, please take note of the reading list on the course page. It is essential that students purchase the texts in the prescribed editions. (Other editions vary considerably.) ISBN codes have been provided for the avoidance of confusion. The most important preparation for the course is looking at the set texts themselves.

Do not worry if you are unaccustomed to reading books in French or if you find these works difficult to understand, the course is designed to help you with this. However, you should dive in and do the best you can to read all the primary texts (and watch the film) over the summer before you arrive.

Prescribed texts 2026/2027

  • Marie de France, Lais, ed. by Karl Warnke, accompanied by a modern French translation by Laurence Harf-Lancner (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1990). ISBN: 225305271X
  • Michel de Montaigne, Des cannibales, suivi de La Peur de l’autre (anthologie), ed. by Christine Bénévent (Paris: Gallimard, 2008) [only Des cannibales is required reading]
  • Corneille, Horace, ed, Jean-Pierre Chauveau, Collection Folio Théâtre no. 16 (Paris: Gallimard, 1994) ISBN: 2070386600
  • Diderot, Supplément au voyage de Bougainville
  • Honoré de Balzac, Le Père Goriot, Stéphane Vachon (Paris: Le Livre de Poche Classiques, 1995)  ISBN: 2253085790
  • Ousmane Sembène (director), La Noire de.... (1966)
  • Marie NDiaye, Autoportrait en vert (Gallimard Folio, 2006)

The texts will be taught in the following order tor 2026/27:

  • Corneille
  • Diderot
  • Marie de France
  • Balzac
  • Montaigne
  • NDiaye
  • Sembène 

Students may also wish to consult the following accessible overviews of French literary history: 

John D. Lyons, French Literature: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010)

The Cambridge Introduction to French Literature, ed. Brian Nelson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015)

Once students are in Cambridge, they will have free online access to two further extremely useful background texts:

The Cambridge History of French Literature, ed. B. Burgwinkle, N. Hammond, E. Wilson (Cambridge University Press, 2011)

A Short History of French Literature, ed. S. Kay, T. Cave and M. Bowie (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003)

Additional resources for French students

Obtaining French books

A good source for French books in the UK is Grant & Cutler at Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0DT, but it is often easy to order online from www.blackwells.co.uk, www.fnac.fr, or www.amazon.co.uk or www.amazon.fr. Secondhand copies of the set texts are sometimes also  available through the above websites or at  www.abebooks.com.

Ab initio German Structure of the course

All beginners will spend one year preparing for the Part IA examination in German, whether they are total beginners, have some basic familiarity with the language or have done GCSE German. The first year course will concentrate heavily on acquiring the basic elements of the language, with an introduction to a variety of authentic texts; in the second year beginners are able to take part in more advanced language classes.

Introduction to German Culture: Paper GEA3

Teaching provision for paper GEA3 consists of seven lectures in Michaelmas Term (October-December), and a further four lectures in Lent Term (January-March). Alongside these lectures, there will be four supervisions in Lent (on four of the paper’s topics), and two revision supervisions in the third term. Supervisions for paper GEA3 are organised centrally by the paper coordinator on behalf of your college. For details of this paper, and on how to prepare, see:

 

Language work: Papers GEA1 and GEA2

The course we use is DaF Kompakt neu (Klett 2016), by Ilse Sander et al and consists of a course book, a practice book and a grammar. There are 3 books which you need to buy:

  • DaF kompakt neu A1-B1 Kursbuch mit MP3-CD (ISBN 978-3-12-676310-3)
  • DaF kompakt neu A1-B1 Übungsbuch mit MP3-CD (ISBN 978-3-12-676311-0)
  • DaF kompakt A1-B1 Grammatik (ISBN 978-3-12-676193-2)

You should work through the first 4 chapters before you come to Cambridge to start your degree course. You will be sent a glossary to help you with this by the course teachers. In your first 2 weeks we will go through these 4 chapters together. For information on the course book see here.

In your first year at Cambridge, you will increase your fluency in German, deepen your understanding of the cultures of German speaking countries, and develop essential skills in analysis and argumentation.

The first-year course consists of a combination of lectures and classes arranged by the Section and mostly taking place at the Sidgwick Site, and of supervisions arranged by the colleges.

GE1 – Introduction to German Studies

Students should familiarise themselves with the materials for all six GE1 modules so that they can make informed choices, as they move through the year, about the four topics on which they would like to be supervised. Before they come to Cambridge, they should concentrate on the texts set for those modules for which lectures are scheduled in the first term (Michaelmas).

Topics: 

Medieval and Early Modern​ Literature:

Herzog Ernst

Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg: Geistliche Sonnette, Lieder und Gedichte

​Andreas Gryphius: Gedichte

​The poems by Greiffenberg and Gryphius can be found here: 

Modern Literature I: the 18th and 19th Centuries:

Goethe, Faust. Erster Teil

Annette von Droste-Hülshoff: Die Judenbuche

Modern Literature II and Film:

Kafka: Die Verwandlung

Akın, Auf der anderen Seite

History: Imperial Germany 1871-1918 – Authoritarianism and Modernism:

Bismarck’s Chancellorship

The Reign of Wilhelm II

Antimodernism

Modernism

Linguistics: Language and Lexicography:

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: Deutsches Wörterbuch

Konrad Duden: Deutsche Rechtschreibung

Thought: Marx and Nietzsche:

Marx and Engels: Das Kommunistiche Manifest

Nietzsche: Jenseits von Gut und Böse

For information on how to prepare, please see here.

GEB1 – Use of German

Grammar:

  • Durrell, Martin (2021): Hammer's German Grammar and Usage, 7th edition, London: Routledge.
  • Durrell, Martin; Kohl, Karin; Kaiser, Claudia (2017): Practising German Grammar, 4th edition, London: Routledge.

Vocabulary:

  • Fagan, Sarah (2004): Using German Vocabulary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

For information on how to prepare, please see here.

GEB2 – Translation from German and Oral Examination

S. Fagan, Using German Vocabulary, (2004)

M. Durrell, Hammer's German Grammar and Usage, (2016), and the accompanying work-book, Durrell, Kohl and Loftus, Practising German Grammar, (2017)

For information on how to prepare, please see here.

The first year of the ab initio Italian course will introduce you to the basics of the Italian language (in papers ITA1 and ITA2/Oral A). The ab initio course is designed to take you from scratch (or GCSE) to A-level standard in the space of eight months (October-May). This is roughly the equivalent of level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The course is, therefore, very intensive. Language and general cultural work are supported by the especially designed and collected learning material on the Moodle ITA1: Use of Italian and ITA2: Translation/Oral A pages and by the following texts:

Textbook - reference book

Soluzioni, A practical Grammar of Contemporary Italian, 5th edition, Hodder Education, 2025

Vocabulary Learning

Attiva il lessico, volume 1 and 2, Le Monnier, 2013

Cultural background information

Nuovo Spazio civiltà, Loescher, 2021

Language learning is taught in classes and supervisions; times and locations will be advertised at the start of Michaelmas Term.

Please make sure you access the ITA1: Use of Italian Moodle page and complete the preliminary work as indicated in the Freshers pre-arrival compulsory work and watch the welcome video.

In late August, you will receive a brief questionnaire via email about your past Italian language learning experience. Students arrive with different levels of basic Italian, so the aim of the questionnaire is to assess how much grammar and vocab you know and allocate you to the right group.

During the Easter break, ab-initio students are invited to attend a specially designed language course at the British Institute of Florence. (Grants are available to support this course.)

There will also be a course to introduce you to the interdisciplinary study of Italian culture, through the study of a variety of different kinds of ‘texts’ (literature, art, film, linguistics) from the 14th century to the present (paper ITA3). The topics for this year are:

• Giotto, Arena Chapel, Padova (early 14th century frescoes)

• Dante, Commedia (early 14th century), selected canti

• Renaissance Women Poets, selected texts

• Alberto Lattuada (dir.), Mafioso (1962)

• Primo Levi, Se questo è un uomo (1947/1958)

• Linguistics. Giro linguistico d'Italia (*Course material will be provided in lectures)

To prepare for this course, look at some of these works (including in translation). You could also look at some introductory or reference works, such as:

The Cambridge History of Italian Literature, ed. Peter Brand and Lino Pertile (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999); C. Duggan, A Concise History of Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); Italian Cultural Studies: An Introduction, ed. by David Forgacs and Robert Lumley (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996) Lepschy, A.L. and Lepschy, G., The Italian Language Today (London: Routledge, 1988)

The Post-A-Level language course aims consolidate and develop students' language skills in the use of Italian, in all four skills (reading, writing, speaking

and listening), with a particular focus on advanced grammar and writing (ITB1: Use of Italian, one weekly class), translation (ITB2: Translation into English, one fortnightly class) and oral (Oral B, weekly supervision) practice through a combination of weekly and fortnightly classes, and supervisions. Times and locations will be advertised at the start of Michaelmas Term.

Translation from Italian into English will hone your close-reading skills, develop your vocabulary and acquaint you with the stylistic subtleties of literary texts, as well as with issues of cultural transfer.

Language and general cultural work are supported by the especially designed and collected learning material on the Moodle ITB1: Use of Italian and ITB2: Translation, Italian Oral B pages and the following:

Textbook - reference book

Soluzioni, A practical Grammar of Contemporary Italian, 5th edition, Hodder Education, 2025

In altre parole/In other words, Lahiri, J., 2015 (for Oral B).

Paper IT1 ‘Texts and Contexts’ offers students the possibility to study a variety of different kinds of ‘texts’(literature, art, film, linguistics) from the 14th century to the present. The topics for this year are:

• Giotto, Arena Chapel, Padova (early 14th century frescoes)

• Dante, Commedia (early 14th century), selected canti

• Renaissance Women Poets, selected texts

• Alberto Lattuada (dir.), Mafioso (1962)

• Primo Levi, Se questo è un uomo (1947/1958)

• Linguistics. Giro linguistico d'Italia (*Course material will be provided in lectures)

To prepare for this course, look at some of these works (including in translation). You could also look at some introductory or reference works, such as:

The Cambridge History of Italian Literature, ed. Peter Brand and Lino Pertile (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999); C. Duggan, A Concise History of Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); Italian Cultural Studies: An Introduction, ed. by David Forgacs and Robert Lumley (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996) Lepschy, A.L. and Lepschy, G., The Italian Language Today (London: Routledge, 1988)

Your first year of Portuguese takes you from complete beginner to A-level standard (approximately B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) between October and May. Through papers PGA1 and PGA2, you develop core grammar, vocabulary, translation and communication skills; PGA3provides a structured introduction to the literature, history, and cultural contexts of Portugal, Brazil, and the wider Lusophone world.

Teaching is delivered through lectures and close‑support supervisions, ensuring sustained guidance in both language acquisition and cultural analysis. The pace is demanding but fully achievable: each year, students with no prior knowledge reach the expected standard under the consistent mentorship of lecturers and supervisors.

By the end of the year, you will be able to read, analyse, and translate a range of texts while engaging critically with Lusophone cultural materials, establishing a solid foundation for subsequent study.

Language preparation

Even though this is an ab initio Portuguese course, students arrive with different levels of basic Portuguese, therefore you will be asked to complete a diagnostic test prior to coming to Cambridge. The aim of this exercise is to assess how much grammar and vocab you know and, if needed, allocate you to the right group. The exercise will be based on the minimal preparatory work outlined below.

     1a) "Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar”, by John Whitlam, Routledge: Chapters 1 to 9 and 15 from the Practical Guide and the Workbook

or

     1b) “Portuguese, An Essential Grammar”, by Amélia Hutchinson and Janet Lloyd, Second Edition, Routledge: Chapters 1 to 4; 5.1, 5.2, 5.3; 6 and 7; 

2) as a complement for both above, please complete the exercises on "Vamos lá começar" (pages 1-88), by Leonel Melo Rosa, Edições Técnicas Lidel. Please use the key to correct your answers.

You are strongly advised to study as much basic Portuguese grammar and vocabulary as possible before you arrive in Cambridge. In order to be ready for the rapid pace of the course, you should complete the minimal preparatory work above and explore the aspects of the Portuguese language on some of the additional resources below.

Additional resources

  1. Portuguese Communication Exercises - https://www.laits.utexas.edu/orkelm/ppe/intro.html Click on the “Beginning” tab and watch videos of native speakers performing basic language tasks. Transcripts and translations are available for each video.  
  2. Easy Portuguese Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@EasyPortugueseVideos
  3. Verb Conjugator - https://www.conjugacao.com.br/
  4. Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa - http://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/

5) Sounds 

5.1) Portuguese pronunciation dictionary: https://forvo.com/languages/pt/
       
5.2) Vowels: European Portuguese : https://www.practiceportuguese.com/learning-notes/pronunciation-guide-for-european-portuguese-vowels/
       
5.3) Consonants European Portuguese: https://www.practiceportuguese.com/learning-notes/pronunciation-guide-for-european-portuguese-consonants/

5.4) Difficult sounds (Brazilian Portuguese): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQx-i1PBOPY

Read newspapers, watch films and documentaries! The following websites offer good coverage of events in Portuguese speaking countries:

The Post-A-Level course is an intensive course: it develops students' language skills in the use of Portuguese, translation and oral practice through a series of classes and supervisions. It also offers students a challenging Introduction to the Language, Literatures and Cultures of Portuguese-speaking Countries.

Language work

This paper aims to help you consolidate and develop your command of Portuguese in all four skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening), with a particular focus on advanced grammar and writing skills.

Aims and objectives: 

If you attend all classes and complete all the set work, by the end of the course you will be able to:

  • Write in Portuguese with a very high level of accuracy, both in simple and more complex structures.
  • Have the vocabulary to discuss topics of general (non-specialised) nature with a good level of precision.
  • Have an awareness of register, even though you may not always reflect this aspect adequately in your linguistic choices.
  • Understand intermediate and advanced level texts of a general (non-specialised) nature.
  • Translate authentic non-specialist texts from English into Portuguese showing some sensitivity to the natural flow of the language, even though certain difficult words may need to be paraphrased.
  • Have familiarity with some aspects of the culture of the Portuguese-speaking world.
  • Meet the standards of Level B2 (and some of Level C1) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

You will be attending weekly classes organized by the Spanish and Portuguese Section:

PGB1: Use of Portuguese 

In this paper we work with a combination of books, class handouts and online materials.

PGB2: Translation from Portuguese

In addition, you will attend a weekly language supervision​.

Preparation for Portuguese post A-level

Your summer preparation must focus on both aspects of your future course in Portuguese: the study of language and the study of literature, culture and history.

Language Preparation

It is vital that you work actively on your language skills over the summer. You may choose to take a summer language course or to spend time living or working in a Portuguese speaking country. Or you may simply make a commitment to watch television, listen to radio, and read newspapers in Portuguese throughout the summer, ideally every day for at least 30 minutes. You should also review Portuguese grammar, especially if you have taken a gap year since your Portuguese A levels and have not worked much with Portuguese in that time. Your goal is to enlarge your vocabulary, improve your listening skills, and increase the grammatical accuracy and syntactic complexity of both your written and spoken Portuguese.

Recommended textbook and websites for independent work:

Um Passo Mais no Português Moderno: Gramática Avançada, Leituras, Composição e Conversação, Francisco Cota Fagundes, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

BrazilPod - https://coerll.utexas.edu/coerll/materials/language/portuguese/?post_types=oer 

From here you will have access to six different projects for the study of Portuguese

Please note that you will be asked to take the Diagnostic test prior to coming to Cambridge. (Information will be sent out in late August). The aim of this exercise is to assess your level of Portuguese and, if needed, allocate you to the right group.

Additional resources for Portuguese students

Newspapers and magazines:

Jornal Público - http://www.publico.pt/

Expresso - http://www.expresso.pt/

BBC Brasil - http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/

O Globo - http://oglobo.globo.com/

Folha de S. Paulo - http://www.folha.uol.com.br/

O Estado de S. Paulo - http://www.estadao.com.br/

Radio and TV

RTP - http://www.rtp.pt/play/

RTP Ensina - https://ensina.rtp.pt/

Radio TSF - https://www.tsf.pt/

Rádio Mec - https://radiomec.ebc.com.br/

Globo - http://globotv.globo.com/

CBN - http://cbn.globoradio.globo.com/Player/playerAoVivoRJ.htm

Films

Youtube is an excellent source of authentic Portuguese language material. You can find Portuguese films and cartoons, Portuguese speaking countries television, music and many other entertaining Portuguese materials there with just a little creative searching. This Brazilian comedy group Youtube channel, for example, has videos with English or Portuguese subtitles:

Porta dos Fundos

Read as widely as you can on topics in Portuguese history, culture, and literature before starting your course. You will find specific reading suggestions in the online bibliography for PG1, but you may also just want to read Portuguese speaking countries fiction, poetry, or journalism on your own. The more Lusophone literature and history you read (whether in the original or in translation) the better.

The first year of the ab initio Russian course is intended to introduce you to the basics of the Russian language (in papers SLA1 and SLA2), as well as to the interdisciplinary study of Russian culture (paper SLA3). You will attend classes and small-group supervisions for language work, as well as lectures and supervisions for your work on cultural and literary topics.

By the end of the year, you should be able to use elementary grammar and syntax with a reasonable degree of confidence and accuracy, and should have sufficient vocabulary to be able to engage in simple conversation, tell a story, and translate simple texts. You will also have read a range of short 19th and 20th-century texts in Russian and will have studied key events and issues in Russian cultural history from the medieval period to the present.

Russian belongs to the group of Slavonic languages, and although there are many similarities between Russian and Romance and Germanic languages, there are many differences too, so the learning curve in the first year is very steep. You are strongly advised to study as much basic Russian grammar as possible before you arrive in Cambridge.

Summer Preparation

The ab initio course is designed to take you from scratch to A-level standard in the space of eight months (October-May). This is roughly the equivalent of level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The course is, therefore, very intensive.

In order to be ready for the rapid pace of the course, you should complete the following minimal preparatory work by the start of the Michaelmas term:

Note that you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire and a diagnostic test on Moodle (our digital learning platform) prior to coming to Cambridge so that we can allocate you to the correct level group. 

Literature and Culture: Preparatory Reading

Please see the SLA3 paper description for a list of the recommended preparatory reading.

Additional resources

In addition to working through the first 6 chapters of Colloquial Russian before starting your course, you may find it helpful to explore the aspects of the Russian language on some of the available websites:

Youtube is an excellent source of authentic Russian language material. You can find Russian films and cartoons (also with subtitles), Russian television, Russian music and many other entertaining Russian materials there with just a little creative searching.

Obtaining books

Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge will have copies of some set texts by the beginning of the Michaelmas Term. You may also order books online from amazon.co.uk or abebooks.co.uk. Many Russian books are available for downloading free on the web. The Colloquial Russian course book can be purchased from the Waterstone's or Blackwell's online shops or from amazon.co.uk.

The Post-A-Level course is an intensive course: it develops students' language skills in the use of Russian, translation and oral practice through a series of three weekly classes. It also offers students a challenging interdisciplinary introduction to Russian and East European cultures from the ninth century through the present.

Language Work

Language work aims to train students to use all elements of Russian grammar and syntax correctly and to acquire a sound knowledge of modern standard Russian. Russian is a highly inflected language, so grammatical accuracy is essential both to understanding and to communication. Every area of grammar has therefore to be mastered. The course is designed to provide a comprehensive training system, covering grammar rules, exceptions and subtleties, syntax, idioms and set phrases, equivalents and non-equivalents in English and Russian, register, style, formulation of ideas, and argument.

You will be attending three weekly classes organised by the Slavonic Studies Section:

  • SLB1: Use of Russian
  • SLB2: Translation from Russian
  • Oral Practice in preparation for Russian Oral B (NB: though they are organised by the Section, these sessions are formally classified as supervisions, supported by the Colleges)

All incoming post-A-level students must take the Diagnostic Test that will be offered via Moodle in late August/beginning of September before the Michaelmas teaching term begins. The aim of this exercise is to assess your level of Russian and allocate you to the right group.

Assignments to language classes for Use of Russian and Translation will be announced on the Wednesday afternoon before classes begin. Your supervisors for the oral practice sessions will also be contacting you that Wednesday to arrange weekly supervision times. It is essential that you check your email and bring your diary to the briefing meetings for papers SLB1 and SL1 on Wednesday.

For grammar revision use:

  • James S. Levine, Schaum’s Outline of Russian Grammar. McGraw-Hill Education.
  • Terence Wade, A Comprehensive Russian Grammar (Blackwell)

Literature, History, Culture

In addition to your language classes, you will also take paper SL1: Introduction to Russian culture. Teaching for this paper will be through:

  • a series of 16 lectures organised by the Section
  • fortnightly supervisions arranged by the Section on behalf of the Colleges

What will your first-year Spanish studies look like?

The first year of the ab initio Spanish course is intended to introduce you to the basics of the Spanish language (in papers SPA1 and SPA2), as well as to the interdisciplinary study of Hispanic culture (paper SPA3). You will attend classes and small-group supervisions for language work, as well as lectures and supervisions for your work on cultural and literary topics.  

The ab initio course is designed to take you from scratch (or GCSE) to A-level standard in the space of eight months (October-May). This is roughly the equivalent of level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The course is, therefore, very intensive. As well as language skills, it also aims to offer you an introduction to Spanish and Latin American literature and culture, and to help you develop the close-reading and translation skills you will need in the course of your degree studies here.

These are exciting and ambitious goals, but do not be daunted – we see our students achieve them year after year. Your teachers and supervisors will be there to offer you all the support and encouragement you may need.

Teaching provision

For SPA1 Use of Spanish, you will be attending Faculty-based language classes (one 2-hour class and one 1-hour class per week), which will take you through all the basic grammar and vocabulary of Spanish, always placing language in a communicative and cultural context. 

The Spanish Section will arrange for you to have one weekly one-hour oral supervision and one fortnightly one-hour language supervision.

You will have fortnightly Faculty-based classes in preparation for paper SPA2 Translation from Spanish into English.

Teaching provision for paper SPA3 Introduction to Hispanic Literature (ab initio) consists of lectures and supervisions. Supervisions for this paper are organized by your college. 

LANGUAGE WORK AND SUMMER PREPARATION

For your SPA1 Use of Spanish paper, you will need the following textbooks: 

  • Coursebook: Campus Sur. Curso intensivo de español A1-B1. Libro del alumno (Barcelona: Difusión, 2017 or 2019 edition). Note: you do NOT need to get a copy of the Cuaderno de ejercicios (Workbook).
  • Grammar Practice: Uso de la gramática española (elemental for Michaelmas; intermedio for Lent), Francisca Castro (Edelsa, latest edition). Note: you do NOT need to get a copy of the answer key (Clave). 

It is very important that you get the coursebook Campus Sur. Curso intensivo de español A1-B1. Libro del alumno and the workbook Uso de la gramática española (elemental) in time for your first class.

You should be able to purchase them from retailers such as Blackwell’s (or Heffers bookshop in Cambridge), Waterstones, or Amazon, or you may be able to buy second-hand copies from students in your college. There are some copies available to borrow from the MMLL Library and you may wish to ask in your College Library too.

Before you start: Summer preparation for the ab initio course

Students start Spanish at Cambridge with a wide range of linguistic ability, from absolute zero (except that you should have made a start over the summer before coming) to those who have GCSE or have lived and travelled in Spain or Latin America for an extended period of time. For this reason, you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire and a diagnostic test on Moodle (our digital learning platform) prior to coming to Cambridge so that we can allocate you to the correct level group.

You are strongly advised to study as much basic Spanish grammar and vocabulary as possible before you arrive in Cambridge. In order to be ready for the rapid pace of the course, you should complete the following minimal preparatory work by the start of the Michaelmas term:

1. Work your way through the following chapters from A Spanish Learning Grammar, by Pilar Muñoz and Mike Thacker (London: Routledge, latest edition) and do the corresponding exercises. Please use the key at the back of the book to correct your answers:

PART I

  • Chapter 1. Pronunciation, Accents and Spelling [please read the theory, but you don’t need to complete the exercises; we’ll cover this topic in class]
  • Chapter 2. Articles
  • Chapter 3. Nouns
  • Chapter 4. Adjectives
  • Chapter 7. Personal Pronouns
  • Chapter 8. Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns
  • Chapter 9. Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns
  • Chapter 13. Verbs: 13.1. Present Tense.

By all means explore other chapters as well if you can; this is just a minimum requirement. 

2. The companion website to the Colloquial Spanish book (Routledge) has free audio files available online in MP3 format. Although we will not be using this book in class, we recommend that you listen to the audio file Track 2 with a pronunciation guide in Spanish (and any other tracks you may wish to listen to in order to familiarise yourself with how Spanish sounds): 

https://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/colloquial/language/spanish.php 

3. The internet is a phenomenal source of language learning material, much of it completely free: you can practise your grammar, read the news or listen to the radio in Spanish at the click of a mouse. BBC Languages has an excellent range of resources for beginners Spanish, even though their pages are no longer updated: read the Guide to Spanish, watch the video drama Mi vida loca, and check the links to Spanish news, TV & radio.

4. We recommend that you start using Quizlet or Memrise to learn basic vocabulary. You may also want to try the free app Duolingo:

Recommended reference works

  • Pilar Muñoz and Mike Thacker, A Spanish Learning Grammar (London: Routledge, latest edition) [For beginners and intermediate level]
  • Gramática básica del estudiante de español (Barcelona: Difusión, latest edition) [For beginners and intermediate level. This grammar is also available in English from the same publisher: Students’ Basic Grammar of Spanish]
  • A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish, John Butt and Carmen Benjamin (London: Arnold) [Advanced level. All you will ever want to know about Spanish grammar]
  • The Collins Spanish-English Dictionary (Glasgow: HarperCollins)
  • Oxford Spanish Dictionary (Spanish-English, English-Spanish) (Oxford: OUP)
  • Wordreference: https://www.wordreference.com/English_Spanish_Dictionary.asp
  • Diccionario de la lengua española (Real Academia Española). Available online on: http://www.rae.es/rae.html

In the first year (Part IA, Option B)

The Post-A-Level course is an intensive course: it develops students' language skills in the use of Spanish, translation and oral practice through a combination of weekly and fortnightly classes, and supervisions. It also offers students a challenging interdisciplinary introduction to Spanish and Latin American literature, culture and linguistics from the 15th century through to the present.

Language Work

Language work aims to help you acquire a sound knowledge of modern standard Spanish. You will consolidate and develop your command of Spanish in all four skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening), with a particular focus on advanced grammar and writing. The practice of translation from Spanish into English will hone your close-reading skills and acquaint you with the stylistic subtleties of literary texts, as well as with issues of cultural transfer.

You will be attending three classes:

  • SPB1: Use of Spanish (weekly class)
  • SPB2: Translation from Spanish (fortnightly class)
  • Oral practice in preparation for Spanish Oral B (weekly supervision)

It is essential that you check your email regularly (at least twice a day) during the first few days of term as the class lists and supervision groups will be published/arranged then.

Textbooks

You will not have a textbook for papers SPB2 and the Oral. For SPB1, most of the material will be provided by your teacher, but we do use a grammar practice book we ask you to own a copy of: Uso de la gramática española (nivel avanzado), Francisca Castro (Madrid. Edelsa, latest edition), .

Although it is not compulsory that you own a copy, we highly recommend the following grammar: A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish, John Butt and Carmen Benjamin (London: Routledge, latest edition), 

Literature, History, Culture

In addition to your language classes, you will also take paper SP1: Introduction to the Language, Literatures and Cultures of the Spanish-speaking World. Teaching for this paper will consist of lectures, reading classes and supervisions focused upon each of the primary texts and linguistic topics covered in the paper. For the Linguistics topic, you will have one supervision per term. With your literature supervisor, you will normally have three supervisions in Michaelmas and Lent Terms.

Resources for Spanish students

There is a wealth of resources for language learning and Hispanic culture preparation on the web – feel free to explore them. It’s not just about ‘studying’: the more you can integrate Spanish into your regular entertainment, the more quickly you will gain confidence in the language. You will greatly benefit from reading, listening and, if possible, speaking as much Spanish as you can before you arrive in Cambridge. Here is a small selection of useful resources to get you started:

Podcasts 

Hoy en El País: daily podcast by the Spanish newspaper El País 

Un tema al día: daily podcast by the Spanish newspaper elDiario.es 

El día en dos minutos: the daily headlines in 2 minutes 

Podcast de Diana Uribe: cultural and History topics by a well-known Colombian journalist 

Las entrevistas de Aimar: interviews with prominent figures in culture and politics 

Radio Ambulante: topics on Latin American society and culture 

Hoy hablamos: cultural and gramatical topics for learners of Spanish 

Coffee Break Spanish: various levels, aimed at learners of Spanish 

Lyricstraining: improve your Spanish while listening to your favourite songs

News 

BBC Mundo: excellent news site by the BBC 

RTVE Noticias: news by the Spanish national broadcaster 

DW Noticias en español: news in Spanish by the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle

Grammar and dictionaries 

ProfeDeELE: an excellent collection of grammar topics with interactive exercises 

Lingolia Español: grammar explanations and exercises alongside vocabulary practice and reading and listening comprehension sections 

Conjuguemos: very useful to review your verb conjugations 

Diccionarios de la Real Academia de la Lengua Española: the famous monolingual dictionaries by the Real Academia de la Lengua 

Fundéu: a place to find the answer to your linguistic queries 

Centro Virtual Cervantes (Instituto Cervantes): a wealth of material by the Instituto Cervantes

Other resources 

Language Reaktor: a really useful browser extension that you can use while watching video on Youtube or Netflix. It offers many useful features for language learners, e.g. dual subtitles, instant dictionary, grammar explanations, etc.