Once again, many students are taking a summer opportunity to learn a new language -- rapidly -- in Cornell's intensive language programs.
The university offers a wide variety of language instruction, from Chinese and Japanese to Swahili and Yoruba. Most classes meet four to five hours, four or five days a week, for six to nine weeks and stress development in all skill areas of language acquisition -- speaking, listening, reading and writing.
The population of the students enrolled in the classes is diverse. This summer, there are more than 200 students in the intensive language sessions, and approximately three-quarters of them come from outside Cornell.
Nikki Davis, who graduated from Ohio University and is taking Yoruba, said she carried the flier about Cornell's African language program "for a few years" before deciding to apply. Davis, who is interested in traveling to Nigeria, says her Yoruba class has given her an appreciation of the culture.
Another student, Pechluck Pongchet from Chicago, researched several Chinese language programs before choosing Cornell's. Pongchet was attracted by the Asian Language program's "emphasis on speaking," she said. Like Davis, travel plans influenced her decision to take the course; she wants to visit China next year.
Other motivations students have for learning a new language quickly and thereby committing themselves to a heavy workload include employment in foreign countries and the desire to make themselves more marketable.
Most of the summer language programs include both in-class sessions with a teacher and work in the language lab or using language tapes every day. The classes themselves are conducted primarily in the foreign language, encouraging interaction between the instructor and students. Kenny Owen, a Cornell senior who is taking introductory Chinese and is a student in the FALCON (Full-year Asian Language Concentration) program said, "You have to be very alert in class. You must speak almost every other minute." Furthermore, students not only learn the language but gain a better understanding of its context. Rakey Cole, the instructor for the Mandinka class, said, "We try to make it fun for the students learning Mandinka. We put our language in the context of the culture."
Students must overcome many obstacles when learning a new language.
"One challenge is that many African languages have tones. This makes learning pronunciation difficult," said Akinloye Ojo, the instructor for Yoruba. Similarly, Julian Wheatley, director of the Chinese FALCON program and an instructor in the summer session, said, "[The students] are learning a language that is completely unrelated to their own language. They have no hints from their own vocabulary, so they have to pay attention to what they're doing."
Nevertheless, summer is the best time to learn a language, said Charles Jermy Jr., associate dean of the School of Continuing Education and director of Cornell's Summer Sessions.
"Students don't have any distractions," he said. "They don't have to worry about their calculus or economics classes. One can learn languages in extraordinary ways."
Indeed, Helena Pachon, a graduate student in nutrition studying Mandinka said, "The course is very consuming. I have learned a lot in just one week."
Intensive language classes started at Cornell in the 1970s with Chinese and Japanese. In the 1980s, African languages were added. Courses generally rotate, depending on the demand for the language and the availability of faculty. This summer, Cornell is offering intensive classes in Chinese, Japanese, Swahili, Yoruba, Mandinka, Sinhala and Nepali, as well as the regular summer session classes in Spanish, French and other Romance languages. For more information about intensive language classes, contact the Cornell University Summer Session, B20 Day Hall, or at 255-4987.