Comparative Literature and Languages

The following areas are administered by this department: Arabic, Asian Studies, Chinese, Classics, English Language Program, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin, Linguistics, Literature in Translation, Modern Greek, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili and World Literature. Each language or area is listed alphabetically.

Comparative Literature (CLL)

Professor Leonard, Chairperson
Professors Donahue, Mihailovic; Associate Professor Lekatsas, Advisers
Professors D’Acierno, Donahue, Leonard, Mihailovic; Associate
Professors Lekatsas, Welch, Zhou; Assistant Professors I. Marchesi, Rovner; Instructor Siegel

Arabic (ARAB)

Instructor Siegel, Adviser

Asian Studies (ASST)

Associate Professor of Japanese and Comparative Literature, P. Welch, Director of Asian Studies

The Asian Studies program is an interdisciplinary program designed to provide the student with a broad understanding of the traditional and modern civilizations of East Asia and Southeast Asia. The Asian Studies program offers both a major and minor. Study of an Asian language is strongly recommended for all majors and minors, and language courses beyond level 4 may be counted toward the major requirements.

Students majoring in Asian Studies will choose a core of four courses, concentrating on either traditional or contemporary Asia, and also take a seminar as part of the major. To assure that students receive training in a specific discipline, students are required to complete a minor (18 hours) in the discipline of their choice, in addition to their Asian Studies courses, as a requirement of the major.

Chinese (CHIN)

Associate Professor Zhou, Director of Chinese Studies

Classics

Assistant Professor Marchesi, Director

English Language Program (ELP)

Dr. Greaney, Director

The English Language Program is designed for students whose native language is not English. Its purpose is to bring non-English speaking students to college-level proficiency in speaking, reading and writing English. It is an accelerated program providing intensive study on a full-time basis. Students who are accepted into a degree-granting program may earn up to 12 semester hours of liberal arts credit. The Bachelor of Arts foreign language requirement may be fulfilled by completing those intermediate (Level II: ELP 25) and advanced (Level III: ELP 31, 35, 36) courses in the program which are designated for degree credit.

Students will be accepted into degree-granting programs upon the successful completion of the following requirements:

ELP courses as required, based upon the Hofstra ELP Placement Examination and the student’s progress;
completion of at least four University courses including WSC 1 and any one course from the social sciences.

Students not admitted to a degree program are not eligible to take courses other than the English Language Program courses.

For further information, contact the Admissions Office, Admissions Center, or the Director of the English Language Program.

Level I, Introductory Intensive English: an accelerated program providing intensive instruction and practice in reading, writing and speaking English for students whose native language is not English. Level I consists of two components: 1) Reading and Writing; 2) Conversation and Language Laboratory. Each component is based on a grammatical syllabus. No degree credit.

Level II, Intermediate Intensive English: an intermediate level program providing intensive instruction and practice in reading, writing and speaking English for students whose native language is not English. Prerequisites: Completion of ELP Level I and/or the appropriate satisfactory score on the Hofstra ELP Placement Examination.

Level III, Advanced Intensive English: An intensive program providing instruction and practice in written and spoken English for students whose native language is not English. Prerequisite: Completion of ELP Level II and/or the appropriate satisfactory score on the Hofstra ELP Placement Examination.

German (GERM)

Professor Donahue, Adviser

Greek (Modern) (GRK)

Hebrew, Modern (HEBR)

Assistant Professor Rovner, Adviser

Japanese (JPAN)

Latin (LAT)

Associate Professor Marchesi, Director

Linguistics (LING)

Professor Leonard, Chairperson and Adviser

Literature in Translation (LIT)

Literature in Translation courses are available under the prefix LIT, as well as in French (FRLT), Italian (ITLT), Romance Languages and Literatures (RLLT), and Spanish (SPLT). See alphabetical listings of courses.

Modern Greek (MGRK)

Russian (RUS)

Professor Mihailovic, Adviser

Russian literature in translation courses can be found under the prefix LIT.

Swahili (SWAH)

Professor Leonard, Chairperson and Adviser

Swahili is a major lingua franca in Africa with millions of speakers throughout the eastern part of the continent. A Bantu language of the Niger-Kordofanian family, Swahili has a typical, complex Bantu structure. It utilizes, for example, some 13 noun classes, the equivalent of a Romance language having 13 genders.

The Swahili course series introduces the student to the basics of speaking, understanding, reading, writing, and conversing. An important part of the curriculum is the culture of the Swahili people and of other speakers of the language. Readings on culture are supplemented with guest lecturers. Language lab is required.

World Literature