Students from 31 countries participate in Summer Language Courses
Beginning July 9, students from 31 countries participate in the fourth edition of the Ancient Language Courses (Latin, Hebrew and Greek) organized by the University. This year there has been a 50% increase in the number of participants, for a total of 88 students.
The students come from very different countries, making it possible for the students to talk to each other in ancient languages during the breaks, as the method in teaching requires.
Thus the language richness of imperial Rome has been reborn in university classrooms these days. There are students from faraway China, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, along with others coming from the USA (9 students) and many Latin American countries (from Chile to Mexico, for a total of 17 students).
There is also wide diversity in the proficiency level among the students. There are professors and students who have come from such Universities as Oxford, Yale or Princeton. At the highest Latin level,
for example, one seems to be listening to speeches of a rhetorician like Cicero, while at the first level, students make the first steps at an elementary school in Rome.
In short, an experience which year after year is providing a new way of getting in touch with the ancient world.
Eusebio González
