Question about joint honours

[Jointhonours]

Looking at courses with my lower sixth former and see that every year you have to complete 120 credits. This is the same whether you do single honours or joint.

So why do people say joint honours are more work?

my DD thinking of doing either French single honours or French and German joint honours. She is taking A levels in both.

Because depending on which 2 subjects you take there could be much less crossover than for a single subject, two lots of foundational knowledge etc rather than one.

Yes, what @SinisterKnitter said! The less overlap between the two subjects, the more background/foundational knowledge you need to pick up. However modular you try to make things, life doesn't always follow those boundaries. There's also the mental strain of "switching gear" more often. I did STEM/humanities joint honours, and there was the practical issue of not being able to spend all day doing one rather than the other.

Not sure quite how much that applies to 2xMFL, though!

Thanks @SinisterKnitter and @photodad. As you say, I'm not sure how much the point applies in the case of two MFLs though. Maybe it is better to do one but hopefully someone else will be able to give me some advice.

@TizerorFizz knows a huge amount about MFL, I hope she doesn't mind if I tag her in?

I did joint honours (MFL and phi tho) and it was a lot more work. But this was back when dinosaurs walked the earth; it was all on exams apart from my MFL diss and phi final year essays. So I had 3 exams in phi and single jobs students had 4. Assume it was the same in MFL but cannot recall.

May well be different now and sounds like it. Two x MFL is ace, well done her

“But this was back when dinosaurs walked the earth”

I empathise @clary. I went when there was an UCCA form and everywhere was catered! Seems most same self catered now which surprised me

Did a joint honours degree back in the day and I was required to do 2/3 of each subject course. Long before a credits system.

Same here.

Yes same here, there was more work and my subjects were quite different but I really liked switching between the two.

I think it is worth doing both, as it gives more options later on. A good linguist won’t struggle with switching.

I did joint honours, 2 modern languages. I did it because it was the language learning I found more appealing and I could do fewer of the 'cultural' modules (history, literature etc). It also meant I could choose not to do a dissertation in the final year, I think I did an additional module instead?

@Jointhonours
@PhotoDad tagged me. So here I am.

I’ve just looked at where DD went to refresh my memory. Although she did 2 MFLs, it’s now considered single honours. So not 2x120 and wasn’t in her day either. In her day 2xMFL was joint honours and the modules were split 50/50. However students will study 2 lots of language/grammar/translation so that is extra work. Two countries in the year abroad and obviously it is more work to do 2 but it shows you don’t mind hard work!

i think two MFLs is probably the best combination. It shows breadth to employers and is possibly more enjoyable to the students. No one advised dd to do a single MFL. It’s better for employment and definitely for teaching. Two countries abroad is great too.

I'd definitely recommend joint honours for modern languages. People with two foreign languages are becoming increasingly rare these days, as many schools don't offer two languages any more. Especially if she has German, which has become rarer but is still in high demand.

definitely [better] for teaching. this from @TizerorFizz is very very true. Most schools will want someone who can offer two languages and if you have two at degree that will put you above a lot of other candidates. That's if she is thinking of teachign at all obvs.

We have been researching MFL degrees which allow THREE (!) languages - eg. at Bristol, Exeter, Nottingham. DC likes the look of them for same reason as @LightGreenDot - great way to cut down on cultural modules 😂

On a serious note, still 120 credits per annum, even for three languages

I did joint honours and it was way more work than single. Instead of one English law module I did mfl language, literature and the law of that country. Plus there was zero coordination between the law faculty and languages so deadlines clashed horribly. I'm glad I did it though!

Joint honours for two completely different subjects can lead to some difficulties with coordination.

I do think 3 MFL is not a good idea. My view is that employers don’t often care about the language acquisition @Extrahotchilli . What is valuable is all the skills you get from the degree. The cultural aspects of a high quality degree where you research and show greater understanding of an academic subject are what is valued. Not avoiding modules.

Three MFLs also make the year abroad rushed and harder to settle in. Universities also do two semesters, not 3 by and large. So fitting in a third country with anything meaningful can be a struggle. I don’t see any academic reason to do three. Or in terms of employment.