African Language Program
Languages of
Africa at Boston University
Are you interested
in world cultures?
How broad is
your horizon?
How rich your
cultural perspective?
Is your foreign
language no longer foreign?
Looking for classes
of a more reasonable size? Tired of language classes where
you can’t get a word in edgewise? Enjoy fulfilling your
language requirement through the African Language Program.
Become fluent in a language and in a culture. The importance
and the value of being multilingual and multicultural will
become clear to you. Make the world smaller by making your
world larger.
The African Studies
Center at Boston University can offer you an important selection
of African languages - you are fortunate to have the opportunity
to learn to speak an African language and to become culturally
literate, with an African teacher, in a small group.
Africa is not as
Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone as the British, French,
and Portuguese would like us to think. Learn how to interact
with Africans in their own languages, so that when you visit
Africa, or go there to live or to work, you will have a totally
different experience. Americans have been known to require
visitors to their country to speak to them in understandable
American English. Africans, on the other hand, are pleasantly
surprised when they find that a visitor has made an effort
to learn their language, and then extremely encouraging no
matter how many mistakes you make.
Today there are
more and more opportunities for study and work abroad in Africa.
Boston University has a semester abroad internship program
in collaboration with the University of Niamey, Republic of
Niger.
Boston
University offers you the unique opportunity to learn
an African Language. You can now learn one of a number of
widely spoken languages of Africa offered by the African
Studies Center.
Courses in African languages are offered every semester, depending
on student needs. Students benefit from learning in small
numbers, from African instructors, in a comfortable environment
with emphasis on spoken proficiency. African languages may
be used to satisfy both undergraduate and graduate language
requirements.
Regularly
offered languages now include Zulu, Swahili, Twi and Arabic; Xhosa will be offered in the Spring and Wolof and Pulaar are expected next year. Each of these is
offered through the third-year level. Other, less commonly
taught languages may be offered upon demand.
Intensive instruction
in a wide range of African languages is available to BU students
during the summer, and is offered in cooperation with other
African studies programs. Overseas study of the major languages
of Africa in the intensive summer format is also possible
through Boston University and its consortium partners. The
African Language Program makes an effort to place undergraduate
and graduate students in summer and study abroad programs
in which they can use their African language.
The Minor
in African Languages and Literatures enables undergraduates
to study three years of an African language and to choose
from a wide range of electives, including courses in African
literature, oral traditions, education systems, and linguistics.
African
Language Program
The African Studies
Center offers several languages depending on student needs. Students benefit from learning in small numbers
from African instructors in a comfortable environment with
emphasis on their communicative and functional proficiency.
African languages may be used to satisfy both undergraduate
and graduate language requirements. The core of regularly
offered languages usually includes Hausa, Mandinka-Bambara, and
Swahili; each of these can be studied through
the third-year advanced level. Arabic is also offered by Department of Modern Languages through the second-year intermediate level.
Other, languages offered on demand include Amharic, Capeverdean,
Ewe, Igbo, Kanuri, Lingala, Wolof, and Zarma-Songhai, among
others.
Learning a foreign
language enriches your world. Enhance your career goals by
studying an African Language at Boston University. It will
prepare you better, for example, to work with international
organizations, non-government organizations (NGOs) or the
Peace Corps Volunteers program.
Language is not
just a means of communication. It is also a carrier of the
culture and history of its speakers. For example, by studying
Kiswahili at Boston University, you will also learn about
East African culture and society, its ancient and modern roots.
Study of Yoruba will take you closer to one of the largest
and most dynamic populations of West Africa, and Zulu will
introduce you to Southern Africa. In addition, you can:
- Fulfill BU's
Foreign language undergraduate requirement
- Obtain a Graduate
Certificate in African Studies
- Be competitive
in applying for scholarships and financial support. For
example, you may become eligible for a FLAS fellowship (Foreign
Language Area Studies) to fund your studies at BU
- Prepare yourself
to participate in BU's Study
Abroad Programs or Group
Project Abroad programs organized every summer by different
US universities
- African languages
are challenging but fun to learn (Talk to our current and
former students)
- Get to meet
other students with similar interests
- Participate
in fun events during the year of study (e.g. African Language
Theater Night every Spring and Fall)
- If you are
a student from another university in the Boston area (e.g.
Brandeis, UMass, Harvard, etc.) you can also cross-register
at Boston University and get full course credit at your
home university
For more information
contact Zoliswa Mali, at the African Studies Center, 270
Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215 @ 617-353-5137 or e-mail zolimali@acs.bu.edu
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