Harvard College offers courses and tutorials on 98 world languages, with even more available upon special request. From Mandarin Chinese, spoken by 1.1 billion people worldwide, to Old Church Slavonic, a medieval proto-Slavic language only occasionally used in some Orthodox and Eastern-Rite Catholic church services today, undergraduate language offerings span continents and millennia—yet few students take advantage of the diversity of courses available.
Even fewer students choose to devote the core of their academic career to the study of languages and their respective literatures and civilizations: for the Class of 2023, the College conferred just 31 degrees in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Romance Languages and Literatures, Linguistics, Comparative Literature, and the Classics.
Some students might feel that less common languages have limited use in the professional world, whereas Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Arabic, and English are the primary languages of the world economy. Even in graduate education, there is little incentive to know rarer languages besides pursuing a degree in these languages themselves. For all of Harvard’s master’s programs in history besides the program in the history of Latin America, knowledge of French and German can fulfill part or all of the language requirement.
Nonetheless, some students still embark on the road less traveled. Michelle Chung ’28 is one of three students—two undergraduates and one postdoc—taking an elementary Danish language tutorial. “First of all, I wanted to watch Danish movies,” Chung said, explaining her decision to take the language course. “I also want to study abroad there, so I think it’d be nice to know the fundamentals of the language.” Since the beginning of the semester, Chung and her two classmates have learned the basics of the Danish language. “I can count to 100, I can say the alphabet, I can do grammar,” she elaborated.
According to Chung, most people react to her decision to take Danish with confusion. “They’re like, ‘Why would you take that?’” However, Chung explained that her course selection generally differs from that of most other first-year students: “I’m also taking Philosophy 4. I don’t know many other first-years in that class.”
Chung views lower-enrollment courses as beneficial to her learning experience at Harvard. “I also like it when it’s a smaller class,” she stated. “If it’s a more niche topic, I feel like the professor’s more interested in it.”
The process of enrolling in tutorial-based language courses is more complicated than simply adding the class to one’s semester schedule. Rather, students must complete a brief course application. “I did petition for the language,” she said. “The lady I emailed, she was like, you have to fill out this form saying why you want to take it and how it’ll help your academic interest.”
Any student who wishes to take an independent language tutorial must apply for departmental review with an explanation as to why that language would contribute significantly to their educational goals. “Mere interest in the language is not sufficient for approval,” reads the Slavic Languages and Literatures Department’s page on language study.
“If I was a researcher in the field of social studies and sociology, then I would love to study their government,” she remarked when asked if Danish has any relevance to her future career. “But in my current path, no, only in terms of studying the language.”
Much like Chung, Ida Chen ’27 is taking a niche language through her study of Modern Irish at Harvard, taught by Dylan Cooper. “One of my favorite movies of all time is Song of the Sea, and the theme song that was sung in Irish, ‘Amhrán Na Farraige,’ piqued my interest in the language,” she recalled. “I was also quite into Irish lilting and fiddling.” Lilting is a traditional Gaelic form of singing characterized by pitch modulation and a swing rhythm.
Like Chung, Chen emphasized the small-class dynamic of her Irish course and the community of learners she has met. “The small class size really makes it special,” she said. “We meet four times a week at 9:00 a.m., and it is a perfect little hour to start the day off with.”
Chen said the style of instruction matches the class’s atmosphere of connectivity. “The learning is informal and indirect because we’re such a small group, and I feel like I get to learn much more than just the language,” she said. “Dylan is a linguist, so she’s always pulling in etymology and phonology and comparing our studies to other languages.”
Chen doubts that the Irish language will play a significant role in her career. “I plan on studying Economics and History of Architecture (HAA), so I am not sure if this will help me content-wise,” she admitted. “I guess it might help me in the art department, but some of the most famous visual artworks to come out of Ireland don’t actually use Modern Irish.”
Chen enthusiastically recommends that others take Modern Irish. “The language is actually so cool, and the culture in the Gaeltachtaí is so interesting to learn about,” she said. Gaeltachtaí refers to the regions of the contemporary Republic of Ireland where Irish is predominantly spoken. Although some may consider the study of Irish niche, in the Republic of Ireland, it is recognized as a valuable cornerstone of national culture and identity. Efforts by the Irish government to revitalize Irish language education have created a new generation of Irish speakers in Ireland.
Liv Birnstad ’27 is currently taking her first semester of Norwegian. “I decided to take Norwegian because my mom immigrated here from Norway and I hold citizenship, but I didn’t have a good grasp on the Norwegian language,” she explained. “I wanted to be able to connect with my family and community more when I visit Norway.” She is one of just two students enrolled in the course, but, like Chen, she identified the class atmosphere as a highlight of her experience taking Norwegian. “I feel like I enjoy learning Norwegian more than any other language because I get to do it in an intimate, small-group setting,” she elaborated.
Similarly to Chung and Chen, Birnstad recalled the confused reactions of other Harvard students to her choice to take Norwegian, and she expressed doubt that the language itself would assist her in her career search. “I don’t think that Norwegian will help me specifically in my job since I plan to work in the U.S., but I think the process of learning a language is a valuable skill,” she said. “Being bilingual tends to be helpful when applying to jobs.”
Chung, Chen, and Birnstad’s testimonies point toward the intellectual enjoyment that can come from enrolling in a less commonly studied language course.
Beyond the 98 languages listed on the Harvard language website, students can propose plans of study for any language they wish to learn, and the department most closely associated with that language will try its best to find faculty or an unaffiliated instructor to teach the course. Given the College’s renewed emphasis on intellectual vitality among the student body, the faculty’s maintenance and instruction of numerous language courses with under 10 students demonstrates a strong commitment to diversifying the educational paths available to undergraduates.
“I would highly recommend people get to know, not just Ireland, but just small corners of the world that pique your interest,” Chen said. “I think it will always be worth it.”
Jules Sanders ’28 (julessanders@college.harvard.edu) is currently learning Esperanto on Duolingo.