Undergraduate Spanish and Latin American Studies 2024-2025

This is a fast-paced and intensive language course for students with very little or no previous knowledge of Spanish. It is aimed at students intending to pursue an honours (single or joint) degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies but is also suitable for students on other degree programmes.

This course involves intensive language study. Upon successful registration to this course, you are expected to complete a short online entry test on MyAberdeen to ensure that you are registered for the most appropriate course for your language ability. You will not be able to access the course site until you have completed this short test.

It is strongly recommended that you complete this test at the earliest opportunity as your timetable/course selections may be subject to change if your language ability would be better suited to an alternative course. You will be informed of this as soon as you complete the test.

The short entry test does not count toward your overall grade for this course.

It is recommended (subject to individual entry test results) that:

• Students who have no experience of Spanish register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to National 5 level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to Higher level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have student Spanish to Advanced Higher level or A Level (or equivalent) register for SP1028: Spanish Language 2

This is a fast-paced language course for students with some previous knowledge of Spanish. It is aimed at students intending to pursue an honours (single or joint) degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies but is also suitable for students on other degree programmes.

This course involves intensive language study. Upon successful registration to this course, you are expected to complete a short online entry test on MyAberdeen to ensure that you are registered for the most appropriate course for your language ability. You will not be able to access the course site until you have completed this short test.

It is strongly recommended that you complete this test at the earliest opportunity as your timetable/course selections may be subject to change if your language ability would be better suited to an alternative course. You will be informed of this as soon as you complete the test.

The short entry test does not count toward your overall grade for this course.

It is recommended (subject to individual entry test results) that:

• Students who have no experience of Spanish register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to National 5 level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to Higher level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have student Spanish to Advanced Higher level or A Level (or equivalent) register for SP1028: Spanish Language 2

The course introduces students to colonial encounters ranging from Muslim Iberia to the pre-conquest Americas and continuing into the period of the Spanish Empire.  From the nineteenth century, conquest and colonial encounters continued as newly-independent Spanish American states seized indigenous territories, while colonial mentalities re-surfaced in contexts as diverse as the Spanish Civil War and Southern Cone dirty wars. These examples show how colonial encounters helped shape contemporary Spain and Spanish America. 

This is a fast-paced language course for students with some previous knowledge of Spanish. It is aimed at students intending to pursue an honours (single or joint) degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies but is also suitable for students on other degree programmes.

This course involves intensive language study. Upon successful registration to this course, you are expected to complete a short online entry test on MyAberdeen to ensure that you are registered for the most appropriate course for your language ability. You will not be able to access the course site until you have completed this short test.

It is strongly recommended that you complete this test at the earliest opportunity as your timetable/course selections may be subject to change if your language ability would be better suited to an alternative course. You will be informed of this as soon as you complete the test.

The short entry test does not count toward your overall grade for this course.

It is recommended (subject to individual entry test results) that:

• Students who have no experience of Spanish register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to National 5 level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to Higher level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have student Spanish to Advanced Higher level or A Level (or equivalent) register for SP1028: Spanish Language 2

This course follows Spanish Language 2 or can be taken by students who have the required level of Spanish. 

This course aims to prepare intending Honours students of Spanish and Latin American Studies for their compulsory period abroad in a Spanish-speaking country.

The course will develop further Spanish language skills, both receptive and productive. Classes on grammatical and linguistic analysis will contribute to the development of both sets of skills. In addition students will complete a structured self learning programme of audio-visual study and grammatical reinforcement study.

This course uses texts, which can include plays, films, novels, music, letters and an etiquette guide, to understand issues, concerns and themes in Latin American history. The course is organised chronologically and each week classes focus on texts from a particular country as a means to discuss bigger questions, such as how to make a new nation after three hundred years of colonial rule and a decade of warfare, how to demonstrate your honourability in an anonymous city and what cultural models are the best source of inspiration. The course also focuses on 'context' shared throughout Latin America.

This course follows Spanish Language 2 or can be taken by students who have the required level of Spanish. 

This course aims to prepare intending Honours students of Spanish and Latin American Studies for their compulsory period abroad in a Spanish-speaking country.

The course will develop further Spanish language skills, both receptive and productive. Classes on grammatical and linguistic analysis will contribute to the development of both sets of skills. In addition students will complete a structured self learning programme of audio-visual study and grammatical reinforcement study.

This course follows Spanish Language 4 and aims to prepare non beginners intending Honours students of Spanish and Latin American Studies for their compulsory period abroad in a Spanish-speaking country.

The course will develop further Spanish language skills, expanding on the vocabulary and introducing formal documents and letters. Classes on grammatical and linguistic analysis will contribute to the development of both sets of skills. In addition students will complete a structured self learning programme of vocabulary and grammatical reinforcement study.

This is a core prescribed course open only to Junior Honours Spanish and Latin American Studies students and a selected range of other programmes at the appropriate level. This course aims to enable you to identify and use, accurately, fluently, and with an appropriate level of sophistication, a range of vocabulary and linguistic registers at advanced level.

This is a core prescribed course open only to Mode B Junior Honours Spanish and Latin American Studies students. This course aims to enable you to identify and use, accurately, fluently, and with an appropriate level of sophistication, a range of vocabulary and linguistic registers at advanced level.

The aim of the Residence Abroad Project is to develop an in-depth understanding of a specific aspect (anthropological, political or cultural) connected with one of the Spanish and Latin American countries in which students are staying. Students are expected to study a topic in its socio-and to complete a report in Spanish of c. 2000-2500 words.

This course will enable students to gain an insight into the theoretical framework of translation and will also enable students to grasp some of the main issues and concepts in translation theory and practice which go beyond linguistic concepts.

The course will be analysing Gender Representations in 20^th Century Spanish Cinema and how these have been used to articulate critical portrayals of Spanish society. Students will study the ways in which these films relate to social and political developments such as the Civil War, Post-war, the Transition and Democracy.

The course will study three of the best-known writers of fictions that engage the reader in a playful manner: Miguel de Cervantes from Spain, Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar from Argentina. We will read selections from Cervantes’ masterpiece the Don Quixote de la Mancha and short stories by the other two writers. We will study the digital inflections of these writers, all of whom challenge reality and the borders between virtual (fictional) and physical worlds.  

International agencies such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime see organised crime as a growing challenge. International NGOs have emerged to address the challenge – an example is the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime. Yet national and international agencies disagree even on how to define organised crime, still more on how to respond to it. The course will consider how to understand organised crime, and will gauge efforts by state and society to respond to it.

This course extends and refines students' practical translation skills from English into Spanish. It will also enable students to think critically about linguistic and cultural issues associated with translation from English into Spanish at an advanced level. Students will translate texts on a variety of topics using a variety of discourses; evaluate published translations; discuss, analyse and apply different translation strategies; produce critically-annotated translations and an evaluation of a published translation.

This year-long course unit combines dissertation research with research methods training. The dissertation is a piece of extended independent research (8,000-10,000 words long), structured as a critical evaluation, analysis or argument, about a topic germane to Spanish and Latin American Studies. The topic is chosen by the student, in conjunction with the dissertation coordinator and an individual Departmental supervisor, both of whom approve the topic. Students are encouraged to design their topic building on their previous studies, especially honours courses. The dissertation offers a chance for students to carry out in-depth independent study in Spanish and Latin American Studies, and to acquire and develop valuable research skills. The course begins, in the first half session, with workshops on diverse research methods and the creation of peer support groups. The second half session includes structured meetings with the dissertation supervisor and meetings with the peer support group, as well as independent research and writing.

This is the final Spanish language course within the degree that will provide students with advanced comprehension and writing skills in general and specialised registers.

This course will enable students to gain an insight into the theoretical framework of translation and will also enable students to grasp some of the main issues and concepts in translation theory and practice which go beyond linguistic concepts.

The course will be analysing Gender Representations in 20^th Century Spanish Cinema and how these have been used to articulate critical portrayals of Spanish society. Students will study the ways in which these films relate to social and political developments such as the Civil War, Post-war, the Transition and Democracy.

The course will study three of the best-known writers of fictions that engage the reader in a playful manner: Miguel de Cervantes from Spain, Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar from Argentina. We will read selections from Cervantes’ masterpiece the Don Quixote de la Mancha and short stories by the other two writers. We will study the digital inflections of these writers, all of whom challenge reality and the borders between virtual (fictional) and physical worlds.  

International agencies such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime see organised crime as a growing challenge. International NGOs have emerged to address the challenge – an example is the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime. Yet national and international agencies disagree even on how to define organised crime, still more on how to respond to it. The course will consider how to understand organised crime, and will gauge efforts by state and society to respond to it.

This course extends and refines students' practical translation skills from English into Spanish. It will also enable students to think critically about linguistic and cultural issues associated with translation from English into Spanish at an advanced level. Students will translate texts on a variety of topics using a variety of discourses; evaluate published translations; discuss, analyse and apply different translation strategies; produce critically-annotated translations and an evaluation of a published translation.