Italian
There is no formal prerequisite for studying Italian in UCC but students wishing to take Beginners’ Italian are recommended to have a minimum of Grade HC3 in another modern continental language, or Irish, Latin, or Greek in the Leaving Certificate Examination (or equivalent). Students wishing to take Non-Beginners’ Italian are recommended to have a minimum of Grade HC3 in Italian in the Leaving Certificate Examination (or equivalent).
Why Study Italian?
For centuries, Italy has played a central role in western culture. The mention of Rome, Florence and Venice alone immediately brings to mind Italy’s impact on European civilization and culture. Today’s Italians build on this rich heritage in new fields from cinema to design, from fashion to engineering and as well as being one of the G8 countries, Italy is an important market for Irish Exports. Students taking Italian at UCC, both beginners and non-beginners, receive high quality, intensive language tuition, including access to online Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and explore a wide range of Italian culture. Many students, including those with no prior knowledge of Italian on entry, achieve the highest Honours standards by the end of their three-year or four-year degree programmes.
Overview
Students in all years of the programme study Italian language and culture, mostly in small groups, allowing them to reach a high level of linguistic proficiency and to develop important analytical skills. In the award-winning First-Year Italian culture programme, focus is on modern Italian culture and society. On the basis of performance in their First Year Exams, UCC students have won the prestigious Dr Henry Hutchinson Stewart Literary Scholarship in Italian, on seven occasions between 1999 and 2010.
In Year Two, students choose from a range of optional courses on modern Italian literature, cinema and the media. In Final Year, students can study Dante’s Divine Comedy, a classic of world literature, and choose courses on aspects of Italian literature, cinema and art. In all the programmes, cultural courses provide the context for language study and, at the same time, aid language acquisition.
Study Placement
After First Year, students of Italian in Arts can choose one of the four-year degree programmes, the BA Language and Cultural Studies (LCS) or the BA European Studies. (if they have taken European Studies as a First Year subject). Students who have completed the First Year of the BA (Arts-Music) can register for the four-year BA (Arts-Music) European Pathway and spend Third Year studying Music and Italian at an Italian partner university. Students taking Italian in Language and Cultural Studies can spend Third Year at a partner university in Italy (Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Padua, Rome, Udine, Venice). Students taking Italian in European Studies spend Third Year at the University of Siena or the University of Bologna. The Italian Cultural Institute in Dublin annually awards short and long term scholarships for study in Italy.
Postgraduate Opportunities in UCC
Italian at UCC has a lrge number of research programmes and an excelletn record in compeltion of doctoral theses and obtaiing postgaraduate funding. Staff in Italian supervise research post-graduates (MPhil, PhD) in their areas of specialisation: 19th and 20th century Italian literature, Italian and European cinema. The MA in Italian is a one year full-time programme, consisting of two streams, one cultural, the other language and translation based. An exchange allows students in the MA to spend a period at a partner University in Rome.
What will you be studying?
Year 1
Introduction to Written and Spoken Italian • Post-Unification Italian Culture and Society
Year 2
Intermediate Italian Language • Modern Italian Literature • Italian and/or European Cinema • The Italian Media
Year 3
Advanced Italian Language • Dante's Divine Comedy • Italian Literature, Cinema and Art • European Cinema
For complete modules descriptions, see the Book of Modules for Italian.
