The Language Bloc

Less Commonly Taught Foreign Languages
Enhance Extension School Curriculum

This year students in the Boston area seeking university courses in Arabic, Classical Greek, Modern Irish, Portuguese, Swedish, or Vietnamese will find them at the Harvard Extension School. "Many university continuing education programs offer courses in French, German, Italian, and Spanish; some offer Chinese, Japanese, Latin, and Russian; but few, if any, offer the number of less commonly taught foreign languages that we do," said Dean Raymond Comeau, Director of Foreign Language Instruction for Continuing Education. "This Extension School tradition puts us in the vanguard of continuing education programs in the country."

Through its policy of cycling the less commonly taught foreign languages every few years, the Extension School has been able to offer students a wide selection of foreign languages during the past five years. In 1997-98, for example, Hindi, Old Irish, Polish, and Turkish were offered, followed in 1998-99 by Arabic, Korean, and Modern Greek.

Some might expect that courses in the less commonly taught languages would have very small enrollments, but this is not usually the case. This semester, for example, courses in Modern Irish and Swedish have 24 students each, and Portuguese has 20. Last year, Elementary Standard Arabic was so popular that two sections had to be created to accommodate 37 students, and this semester, Intermediate Modern Arabic, which attracted 12 students, was added to the curriculum for the first time in recent history.

What motivates students to take a less commonly taught language, which may have a different alphabet and possess challenging linguistic characteristics? Many students are so-called "heritage learners" seeking to discover or rediscover their roots. "My grandmother, who came here from Sweden when she was 16, told me many stories of life in Sweden, and since then I have wanted to feel connected to the people I respect and love so much," reported a student in Elementary Swedish. A student in Introduction to Modern Irish said, "I left Ireland when I was a teenager, but with no opportunity to speak Irish in this country, I have forgotten all but a few words of my native tongue."

Personal or family connections also motivate a number of students, as do work-related considerations. "I married a Viking and I thought I should learn Swedish so I can help teach our children his language. Plus, he promised me a cat if I would converse fluently in Swedish with my mother-in-law," quipped a student in Elementary Swedish. A student in Elementary Portuguese said, "I am a periodontist who had the pleasure of working with a Brazilian dentist for about two years, and now I am working for University Health Services, where there is a large population of Brazilian students." In a similar vein, a lawyer in Elementary Vietnamese reported, "I represent many Vietnamese clients and I have to rely on an advocate to interpret for me. I am taking this course so I can check if the message I am getting from my interpreters is accurate."

Finally, a minority of students reported that they take these courses for the linguistic challenge. A student in Elementary Arabic said, "I wanted to take a non-Western language and learn a new orthography. Since Arabic is spoken by so many people in so many countries, I know I would be choosing a language with much to offer sociolinguistically and culturally."

Extension School instructors in these less commonly taught languages, all of whom hold appointments in Harvard College, agree that teaching such committed foreign language students is a satisfying experience. Kathryn Ann Chadbourne, Lecturer on Celtic Languages and Literatures and the instructor in Introduction to Modern Irish, summarized the common sentiment, "I have fallen in love with my Extension School students--with their passion, their commitment, their excitement. Their hunger for Irish is more acute than any I have ever encountered. They are truly inspiring."