Italian

专业详情

A major in Italian offers students the opportunity to study Italian literature and culture in an intimate, seminar setting with the close supervision of the department’s faculty. In addition, the prerequisite and corequisite sequence of language courses is designed to give students a command of written and spoken Italian.

Departmental courses taught entirely in English do not have linguistic prerequisites and students from other departments who have interests related to Italian culture are especially welcome to enroll.

Italian language instruction employs a communicative approach that integrates speaking, reading, writing, and listening. Courses make use of materials that help students to learn languages not just as abstract systems of grammar and vocabulary but as living cultures with specific content. Across the levels from elementary to advanced, a wide range of literary, cultural and multimedia materials, including books, film, and opera, supplement the primary course text.

The sequence in elementary and intermediate Italian enables students to fulfill the College’s foreign language requirement and thoroughly prepares them for advanced study of language and for literature courses taught in Italian. Specialized language courses allow students to develop their conversational skills.

For highly motivated students, the department offers intensive elementary and intensive intermediate Italian, both of which cover a full year of instruction in one semester. Courses in advanced Italian, although part of the requirements for a major or a concentration in Italian, are open to any qualified student whose main goal is to improve and perfect their competence in the language.

Outside the classroom, the Department of Italian organizes a weekly Caffè e conversazione where students at all levels can converse with fellow students and faculty members over Italian espresso and cookies. Students can also attend the Serata al cinema, Italian film viewings scheduled in the evening throughout the academic year, in which faculty and graduate students introduce each film and then conclude with a question and answer session. In addition, the student-run Società Italiana (culasocieta@gmail.com) organizes events such as pasta-making workshops, movie nights, and costume parties.