Overview of the Scandinavian program
Swedish and other
Scandinavian languages
The Scandinavian languages, spoken
primarily in the respective Nordic countries, include Swedish, Danish,
Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese. Like English and German, they belong
to the group of languages called Germanic that share a linguistic ancestor
and many everyday words. Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian in their standard
forms are mutually intelligible; that is, a person who knows one of the
languages can read and understand the others with little difficulty. Language
students benefit from this fact, since with just a bit of extra effort
they can acquire (at least passively) two more languages "for free."
(Finnish belongs to an unrelated language group and is not classified
as a Scandinavian language, though about six percent of the Finnish population
has Swedish as its native tongue and all Finns study Swedish in school.)
Moreover, the Scandinavian languages
all have quite simple grammatical structures. To give just one example,
verbs do not change their form within a given tense. The comparatively
uncomplicated grammar, combined with word recognition carry-over from
English, enables students to make rapid progress. Those with previous
exposure to German have a further advantage, since there are many additional
cognates.
Courses
At the University of Illinois, Scandinavian (SCAN) courses are
offered through the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures.
At present only Swedish is taught on a regular basis, SCAN 101 (first
semester) and 103 (third semester) every fall and SCAN 102 (second semester)
and l04 (fourth semester) every spring. In addition, students may continue
with Advanced Swedish (third-year and beyond), taught every semester under
the SCAN 396 open number. In this class, particular topics change depending
on student interest and capability, but the reading and discussion of
literary texts plays a central role. Completion of four semesters of Swedish
fulfills the LAS language requirement.
Beginning and intermediate Swedish
classes (101-104) are generally taught by a teaching assistant or teaching
associate, often a graduate student in Germanic Languages and Literatures
or a related department such as DEIL or Linguistics. TAs in Swedish are
either native speakers of the language or have acquired near-native fluency
by living and studying in Sweden. Advanced Swedish is virtually always
taught by faculty. Class size is typically quite small (15-20 in first-year
courses, 8-10 in second-year). During the first semester, the language
of instruction gradually shifts over to Swedish so that by the beginning
of 102, if not sooner, almost no English is spoken. In 103 and 104, they
read longer texts as well as articles in magazines and newspapers, write
frequent essays, and participate in a weekly conversation hour. Class
is conducted entirely in Swedish.
Some of the students enrolled in
Swedish classes have chosen to study the language because their ancestors
emigrated from Scandinavia and they wish to explore their ethnic heritage.
Others have traveled in Scandinavia and become interested in the countries
and cultures or have some other personal connection to Sweden. Students
of German sometimes elect to study Swedish because of the close linguistic
relation. Still other students want to have access to the rich national
literatures of the Scandinavian countries, or are interested in Scandinavian
design or Scandinavian politics and social policy.
In addition to language classes,
the Scandinavian Program offers a number of upper-level literature and
film courses that are taught in English (students with sufficient fluency
are nevertheless encouraged to do some reading in the original language)
and cross-listed with other departments, programs, and units. These courses
include: SCAN/ C LIT 215 (The Scandinavian Novel: Masterpieces in English
Translation); SCAN /RELST 251(Viking Mythology); SCAN/ C LIT 252/ (Viking
Sagas in Translation); SCAN/ C LIT/ THEAT 363 (Ibsen); SCAN/ C LIT/ THEAT
364 (Strindberg); SCAN/ C LIT/ W S 375 (Women and Society in Scandinavian
Literature); SCAN/ CINE 390 (The Films of Ingmar Bergman); SCAN/ CINE
392 (Swedish Film); and SCAN 396 (Special Topics). The 200-level SCAN
courses fulfill the General Education requirement in Literature and the
Arts (SCAN 215 and SCAN 252) and Historical and Philosophical Perspectives
(SCAN 251). Though students enrolled in these courses come from a wide
variety of disciplines, many students of Swedish also take at least one
Scandinavian literature or film course during their undergraduate careers.
It is possible to earn an undergraduate major in Scandinavian as an option
under Germanic Languages and Literatures; students who do so generally
spend one academic year studying in Sweden on an authorized study-abroad
program. A number of graduate students in Germanic Languages and Literatures,
Comparative Literature, and the Department of Theatre select Swedish/
Scandinavian literature as a graduate minor. On the graduate level, two
semesters of Old Norse-Icelandic (SCAN 405 and 406) are offered regularly.
Other
activities
The Scandinavian Program also organizes a number of extracurricular
activities. An informal conversation group, attended by students at the
102 level and above, former students, TAs, faculty, and native speakers
in the community, meets during the academic year at The Bread Company
(Urbana) on Wednesdays from 4-6 p.m. Swedish is the dominant language,
but speakers of Norwegian and Danish participate with some regularity.
The conversation group gives students an opportunity to practice their
oral skills in a low-pressure environment, to get to know others who share
their interest in Scandinavia, and to hear not only Swedish, but also
the other modern Scandinavian languages. The Scandinavian Program also
sponsors an annual Christmas party (julfest) featuring traditional foods,
music, and dancing. In addition, teachers arrange for occasional video
screenings of Swedish films outside of class. |
