Some of you will be about to leave for a summer break, possibly overseas. Our second-year undergraduates, having packed up their rooms, are about to embark on an adventure: their year abroad. This is an opportunity to spend a prolonged period of time embedded in one or two foreign countries and effectively to lead their daily lives in the languages they are studying. To whet your appetites, we have a trio of destinations evoked by our current students.
In her delightful account, Matilda Lawson writes with both depth and humour about her time in Pavia (Italy)—and we are still in time to wish her an excellent summer in Spain. Will she, like, James Murphy, be stepping into the settings of the works of literature she read at university? He puts his finger on one of the important aspects of time spent overseas: inhabiting another culture. Whilst in Orléans, Adam Noad navigated French bureaucracy, helped prepare traditional French family meals, was caught up in a protest and discovered a love of teaching. Hearing what his pupils got up to with his encouragement (reenacting Poe’s short stories, writing agony aunt letters and horoscopes, taking part in blindfolded treasure hunts, participating in debates), you can only say you would have loved to have been one of them!
Another of our talented students, Eva Bailey, is turning her thoughts to the Edinburgh festival. She has developed an interest in translating theatre texts for performance and offers both general reflections on this and the concrete example of how she took on a famous monologue by Cocteau.
We like to believe that our students benefit from the best teaching on offer—and Oxford Modern Languages has once again been ranked first in the world https://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/news/2026/03/25/modern-languages-one-four-subject-areas-oxford-top-qs-world-university-rankings. Many of our colleagues go above and beyond their job description. This year we will be bidding farewell to a wonderful lectrice, Stéléna Sterhane who returns to her native France to pursue her own studies but not without recounting aspects of her experience which culminated in a hugely successful prize in which her undergraduates took part.
Extra assistance in terms of writing is available thanks to our Royal Literary Fund fellow, talented author Elizabeth Lowry, who helps students overcome any difficulties they might have and gain confidence in writing.
One of the joys of being an academic is hearing about former students. Amanda Thomas has not strayed far from the university since she now works on the OED, her internship having led to a career in words. As to Elizabeth (‘Liz’) Throssell, she has travelled the world as a journalist, worked for the UN and never lost her passion for languages.
We owe congratulations to a number of colleagues—many of you will have read about their activities and awards on the website (https://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/news)—, including Professor Caroline Warman who is spending the year as Junior Proctor—a photo of her procession is at the top of the issue. We also wish Katrin Kohl, Ben Morgan, Martin Maiden and Ian Watson a very happy retirement
Whether you are staying at home or leaving for a break, I hope you will have a restful summer and look forward to seeing some of you in Oxford after the vac: alumni are always welcome to return to the Faculty!
Professor Phillip Rothwell
Chair of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages