First Year Reading List - Modern Languages and Cultures
Below are the recommendations for preliminary reading for each of the main (L1) languages taught in the department (French, German, Russian and Spanish). Please consult those that are relevant for you.
In addition, all students doing a modern language will be taking a compulsory course in the first year called Culture and Language (module code: SML 4006), the texts for which are listed here. This will also be divided by language.
French
Grammars and other language resources
Students will find it helpful to acquire their own grammar book from the following list:
- Modern French Grammar, A Practical Guide (Second Edition) by Margaret Lang and Isabelle Perez, (Routledge, 2004) – this is the textbook that will be used in our French I grammar classes.
- J. Morton, English Grammar for Students of French: The Study Guide for Those Learning French (Ann Arbor: Olivia and Hill Press, 2013).
- French Grammar and Usage (Fourth Edition) by Roger Hawkins, Richard Towell, and Marie-Noëlle Lamy (Routledge, 2015).
Ab initio (Beginners)
There is no text book for ab initio students: students will have accessed to specially curated, appropriate materials once they enrol.
SML 4006 Culture and Language Texts for French students
The texts we will study in French for the first six-week block are as follows:
- Charles Perrault, ‘Le Chat botté’
- Arthur Rimbaud, ‘Le Bateau ivre’
- Françoise Sagan, Bonjour tristesse
Charles Perrault, ‘Le Chat botté’
- Online French version: http://clpav.fr/lecture-chat-botte.htm
- Online English translation: https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault04.html
Arthur Rimbaud, ‘Le Bateau ivre’
- Online French version: https://www.mag4.net/Rimbaud/poesies/Bateau.html
- Online English translation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55036/the-drunken-boat
You need to purchase the following text, which is widely available online:
- Françoise Sagan, Bonjour tristesse (Paris: Pocket, 1986)
Should you also wish to consult an English translation, seek out the following:
- Bonjour Tristesse, trans. Heather Lloyd (London: Penguin Modern Classics, 2013)
German
Grammars and other language resources
Students will find it helpful to acquire their own grammar book from the following list:
- Martin Durrell/Katrin Kohl/Gudrun Loftus. Essential German Grammar. London: Arnold, LATEST EDITION. – for First and Second Year Students
- Hammer's German Grammar and Usage, ed. Martin Durrell, Edward Arnold. 5th edition 2011 – for Second and Final Year Students
- Hilke Dreyer/Richard Schmitt. Lehr- und Übungsbuch der deutschen Grammatik. Ismaning: Hueber, LATEST EDITION. – for First and Second Year Students, also available in English.
- Cecile Zorach and Charolotte Melin. English Grammar for Students of German. . London: Arnold, LATEST EDITION. – for students unfamiliar with grammatical terminology
Ab initio (Beginners)
The text book for ab initio students is:
- Dieter Sevin, Ingrid Sevin: Wie Geht's? An Introductory German Course (9th International Edition). Heinle Cengage Learning. ISBN: 9781439084090.
In addition, we will be working with the following book to extend vocabulary, which will be vital in terms of your linguistic proficiency and your performance in the exams:
- Monika Reimann/Sabine Dinsel. Großer Lernwortschatz. Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Ismaning: Hueber, 2003.
SML 4006 Culture and Language Texts for German students
The set texts for the first six-week block are:
1. Heinrich Heine, Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen. You can access the text in both German and English starting here: http://www.heinrich-heine.net/winter/abschied.htm
2. Heinrich von Kleist, Die Marquise von O. The German text is available here: https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/kleist/marquise/marquise.html
If you need an English version, there is a new translation by Nicholas Jacobs which has just been published by the Pushkin press.
Russian
Grammars and other language resources
Students will find it helpful to acquire their own grammar books:
- Terence Wade, Oxford Russian Grammar and Verbs (2002)
- Terence Wade, David C. Gillespie, Russian Grammar Workbook (2012)
Ab Initio (Beginners)
The text book for ab initio students is:
Привет, Россия» by V.A.Stepanenko, M.M.Nahabina, E.G.Koliovska, O.V.Plotnikova
The electronic variant of the book should be purchased following the link: https://rus.study/textbook-about#registration
SML 4006 Culture and Language Texts for Russian students
The set texts for the first six-week block are:
1. ‘Vasilisa the Beautiful’ (Василиса прекрасная')
Russian: https://russkaja-skazka.ru/vasilisa-prekrasnaya/
English: http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/65r.pdf
2. Alexander Pushkin, The Bronze Horseman (Медный всадник) (1833)
Russian: https://ilibrary.ru/text/451/p.1/index.html
English: http://www.tyutchev.org.uk/Download/Bronze%20Horseman.pdf
Spanish
Ab initio (Beginners)
The text book for ab initio students is:
Post- A Level
Students will find it helpful to acquire their own grammar book:
A Spanish Learning Grammar. London: Hodder Education, 2001
SML 4006 Culture and Language Texts for Spanish Students
The set texts for the first six-week block are:
1. Libro de Alexandre – selected extracts [a copy of these will be distributed in class]
2. Miguel de Cervantes, ‘El coloquio de los perros’, in Novelas ejemplares, online: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/nd/ark:/59851/bmctm763 [Spanish original] / ‘The Dialogue of the Dogs’, in Exemplary Novels, online: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14420/14420-h/14420-h.htm#DIALOGUE [English translation].
