Students in the Italian program acquire skills in writing and
speaking, knowledge of aspects of Italian civilization including
geography, history, art, social customs, cuisine, science, music
and the political life of Italy. Students become familiar with
Italian literature from its origins in the thirteenth century to
the present.
Italian majors further focus on monographic courses that devote
considerable attention to literary figures or work, such as the
Divine Comedy, or the Italian Novella, or the Modern Theatre, the
art and skills of translation, and in the study of significant
elements that contribute to the complex portrait of Italian
culture.
All are encouraged to participate in the summer and semester
study abroad programs in Italy, and especially Rome, where they can
master important linguistic and social skills through focused
internships in a variety of fields. There are also
internships in this country in local Italian Institutions.
The program will prepare graduates to:
Demonstrate the ability to understand,
speak, write, and read the Italian language.
- Communicate with educated native speakers of the language on a
variety of topics, fluently, without making serious errors in
pronunciation or choice of words.
- Translate Italian texts into English and English texts into
Italian.
- Write essays in Italian on a variety of written texts ranging
from a critical evaluation of poems, novels, short stories and
newspaper or magazine articles.
- Demonstrate understanding of Italian as spoken in film,
television programs, and interviews.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the idiomatic features of the Italian
language in comparison to English.
- Distinguish the terminology used in the description of Italian
as a language and demonstrate command of same.
- Recognize linguistic nuances in the speech of Italians,
physical features, mannerisms and other distinguishing marks that
will assist them in identifying the region of origin of their
interlocutors.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the meta-linguistic skills necessary
to teach Italian, that is, the specific grammatical and idiomatic
features of Italian
Demonstrate understanding of the values of
Italian culture, social, historical, political and every day
aspects of life.
- Recognize social, cultural and linguistic diversity among
Italians.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the historical processes that have
contributed to making the country of Italy.
- Recognize the physical and political features of Italian
territory and have a good command of its specific features
Demonstrate understanding and familiarity
with major literary periods, theoretical perspectives of esthetics
of language and historical and social values reflected in
literature.
- Read, understand and critically evaluate a variety of written
texts in Italian.
- Demonstrate knowledge of Italian literature from its origins to
the present.
- Recognize and define the various periods of Italian literary
history beginning from the Middle Ages to the present.
- Demonstrate ability to discuss the major literary authors and
works of Italian literature.
- Describe and critically evaluate a film, a documentary, or work
of art in the Italian language.
Demonstrate knowledge of Italian
contributions to western civilization in art, architecture, music,
science and commerce.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the contributions made by Italians to
the United States.
- Recognize the names of the major Italian artists, painters,
sculptors and scientists and discuss their work with some degree of
expertise.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the Italians who have made
contributions to the development of the United States from the
famous discoverers of the Renaissance (Columbus, Vespucci,
Verrazzano) to the millions of Italian emigrants who came in the
19th and 20th centuries.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how the Italian nation was formed and
what role it has played in European history of the 20th and 21st
centuries.