What’s in a language? Everything, if the demand for language courses in Delhi University is anything to go by. Last year, more than 1500 students applied for the 100 undergraduate seats that DU offers in foreign languages.
“The popularity of language courses has skyrocketed in the last two years,” said Saswati Mazumdar, head, Department of Germanic and Romance Studies in DU. The reason is a great demand in the industry for multilingual professionals.
“This year, students were recruited with annual salaries as high as Rs 4.5 lakh by multinational companies (MNCs),” said Mazumdar. The department offers a BA, MA, M.Phil and Ph D in French, German, Spanish and Italian studies and an advanced diploma in Portuguese.
It also offers a part-time one-year certificate course in Portuguese and Romanian, a diploma in Portuguese and Italian and an advanced diploma in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
It also offers a part-time one-year certificate course in Portuguese and Romanian, a diploma in Portuguese and Italian and an advanced diploma in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
“The DU curriculum is very strong,” said language expert Ashok Jain. “Student are not only taught the spoken language, but also the country’s history.” Students who take up foreign languages have a host of opportunities.
“The French government invites students from Delhi University to teach English in France for nine months every year,” said Jain. Another option is the five-year integrated BA/MA programme and part-time certificate and diploma courses provided by the JNU.
JNU’s School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies offers programmes in French, German, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Persian and Arabic. It is also the only school in the country that offers a BA programme in the Korean language.