European Languages and Cultures - Italian

One of the most remarkable characteristics of Italy is its ability to survive moments of great crisis, often by creating new ideas and conceptual frameworks that end up traveling around the world – from the Renaissance to the ‘golden age’ of Italian cinema and design in the 1960s. This interplay between crisis and innovation is an interesting angle from which to examine and better understand Italy within today’s Europe.

Italian is a beautiful language, but why does it sound the way it does? How does it differ from Spanish? How has it developed from Latin compared to the other Romance languages? Upon completing this degree programme you will not only speak and write Italian at near-native speaker level, you will also be an expert in the history and deeper features of the language In addition, you will study the cultural and political history of Italy in a European context.

Why Italian?

If you speak Italian, a whole world of art and culture will open up to you, as well as a country that has played a guiding role in Europe in many ways, even though it has been a political nation only since 1861. Choose Italian as a specialization within ELC and you will learn to recognize the influences this country has had all around you.

All European languages bear traces of Italian culinary culture. Cappuccino, pizza and tiramisù are just a few examples of dishes that are known by their Italian names everywhere, even outside Europe. But food is of course not the only field that is strongly influenced by Italian culture. Italy is the country with the highest number of UNESCO Heritage sites worldwide, and Italian artists have had great influence in the fields of literature (from Dante to Elena Ferrante), music (from Verdi to Mahmood), painting (from Giotto to Leonardo) and architecture (from Palladio to Renzo Piano). No wonder that many artists and students in the seventeenth century spent part of their training in Italy. And in a way this is still the case: all students get the opportunity to spend a semester in their third Bachelor’s year at one of the universities with which Groningen has an Erasmus contract. Students of Italian can choose between Milano, Pisa, Siena, Verona or Trieste, beautiful cities with old, elegant university buildings and great academic traditions.

Career perspectives

Upon completing the Italian specialization within European Languages and Cultures you will qualify for a wide range of jobs, for example at museums and other cultural institutions in Italy, in the Netherlands and in other European countries. You could also opt for a career as an academic researcher, or teach courses, as Italian still is and always will be a very popular language. You could also find a job as a communications officer at an organization or company that maintains contacts with Italy, or in another position in the field of relations with Italy.