International Offerings

Less Commonly Taught Foreign Languages
Popular Among Extension Students

Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Latin, and German are the most popular foreign languages at the Harvard Extension School. Not surprisingly, they are also the most highly enrolled foreign languages in colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Of interest, though, are the Extension School students taking Old Irish, Swedish, Classical Greek, Russian, Hindi, Polish, and Turkish. Most of these less commonly taught languages--offered by the same instructors who teach them in Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences--rarely are available, day or evening, at other New England colleges and universities.

A closer scrutiny of the statistics reveals that there are even a number of less commonly taught courses included among the Extension School's most popular languages. For example, one-third of the Latin enrollments are found in LATI E-36 Intermediate Latin: Petronius, taught by Richard Thomas, Professor of Greek and Latin. His is the only course of its kind offered on the East Coast. Other courses rarely found in universities in the Boston area include advanced courses in Japanese and Chinese: JAPA E-50 Intermediate Japanese taught by Kiyomi Nakamura, Preceptor in Japanese, and CHIN E-50 Intermediate Modern Chinese offered by Dr. Baozhang He, Senior Preceptor in Chinese.

"Harvard Extension School has a proud tradition of providing instruction in the less commonly taught languages. In addition to the courses being taught this year, we have offered courses in Arabic, Czech, Korean, Iranian Persian, Sanskrit, and Yiddish in the past," reported Raymond Comeau, Director of Foreign Language Instruction for Continuing Education and Lecturer in French in Extension. "We are following the lead of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which has a strong interest in foreign languages and routinely provides instruction in more than 50 foreign languages each year."

What motivates Extension School students to study the less commonly taught foreign languages? A student poll conducted this semester showed that the motivation sometimes depends on the language. A number of students in LATI E-36 Intermediate Latin, for example, reported that they were taking the course to prepare for teacher certification in Latin, while students in CGRK E-30a Intermediate Classical Greek, taught by John Cobb, stressed their desire to read Homer in the original language. Almost all of the 15 students in SWED E-2 Elementary Swedish II, on the other hand, indicated that they were studying Swedish to learn the language of their ancestry; they are "heritage learners." Their instructor, Annette Johansson-Los, Teaching Assistant in Swedish, remarked, "It is extremely rewarding when someone lights up and says, 'Oh, now I understand what my mother said to me when I was little--that is the word I used to hear all the time.'"

Most often, however, students offered a variety of reasons for taking a course. For example, seven students in INDN E-1a Introductory Hindi, taught by Ali Asani, Professor of the Practice of Indo-Muslim Languages and Culture, reported that they are heritage learners. "One half of my family is Indian, the other half Irish. I am taking Hindi so I can understand what my grandfather is talking about!" wrote one student. Other reasons for taking the class included: travel, a general fascination with languages, a need to converse with friends, PhD requirements, and a desire to watch Indian films in the original language. The students in POLI E-1a Elementary Polish, taught by Anna Baranczak, Teaching Assistant in Slavic Languages and Literatures, provided equally varied reasons, with three students noting that they needed Polish for research purposes.

What motivates the faculty in the less commonly taught languages to teach in the Extension School? All agree that they see themselves as ambassadors of their languages to the community at large, but they also agree that they are drawn to the Harvard Extension School by the range, quality, and dedication of its students. "The range in age--my youngest this year is 16, my oldest 67--makes for an interesting mix in the classroom," claimed Kaarina Hollo, Lecturer on Celtic Languages and Literatures. "I call the students in the Harvard Extension School 'the real people,'" said Engin Sezer, Associate Professor of Turkish. "It is refreshing to be pleasantly reminded that there are such nice people full of energy outside the walls of Harvard." Professor Ali Asani concurred: "This is the first time I have taught a language at the Harvard Extension School, and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by the dedication and industriousness of the students in this class; they actually managed to cover the entire Hindi alphabet in just three lessons!"