DU aspirants vying for foreign language courses

New Delhi: Foreign languages are proving to be hot favourites among undergraduate aspirants in Delhi University. Even as more and more students continue to compete for English, Economics and Political Sciences degrees, international languages have their own takers, with Spanish, Italian, German and French among the most sought after.

This academic year, nearly 1.87 lakh aspirants have enrolled themselves for the undergraduate courses in DU. Of these, around 52,254 aspirants applied for BA (Hons) English, with the number of BA (Hons) Political Science applications coming a close second.

As far as foreign languages go, BA (Hons) French has received 17,188 applications so far, followed by BA (Hons) German with 16,085 applications, Spanish with 14,055 and Italian 12,312.

Meanwhile, BA (Hons) Punjabi received 9,243 applications and Urdu 8,599, so far.

Besides undergraduate, postgraduate, MPhil and P.hD courses, the varsity also offers part-time courses in Indian as well as foreign languages.

The University has specific departments dedicated to the study of languages. While the Department of Slavonic and Finno-Ugrian Studies (SFUS) offers part-time courses in Russian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, and Polish, the Department of Germanic and Romance Studies (GRS) offers part-time certificate courses in Portuguese and Romanian.

Similarly, the East Asian Studies department offers full-time intensive courses in Korean, Chinese and Japanese.

Classes for French, German, Italian, and Spanish courses — for all the three levels — are offered at various North and South Campus colleges. To enrol in these part-time courses, one must be a student of a DU College.

Many students believe that pursuing language courses broadens one's career prospects and helps one understand a new culture better.

"Learning a new language helps one explore opportunities in the corporate sector. One can think of becoming a translator and interpreter. I personally want to work with the Polish Institute in the national capital," said Prerna Malik, who recently completed a part-time certificate course in Polish.

In addition to these, the varsity also offers linguistic courses at the UG level.

Indian languages – including Bengali, Urdu, and Sanskrit – and international languages – such as French, Persian, and Arabic – are available at DU. Admission to all these courses follow the cut-off system.

Moreover, in collaboration with the GRS department, DU offers MA in French, German, Italian, and Spanish.