The study of French and Italian embody the idea that learning another language is about more than learning different words for the same things—the study of a new language is about learning different ways of thinking about things.
Dartmouth's Department of French and Italian is one of the largest foreign literature departments relative to undergraduate population in the United States, and it offers a wide array of courses, from beginning language to surveys of literature to single-topic advanced seminars. Students may elect either a major or a minor through the department. A total of ten term-long study programs take place in France and Italy every year, and students consistently cite these programs—which are well-established and designed to coordinate with on-campus coursework—as high points in their Dartmouth careers.
