Welcome to the Department of European Languages and Literatures, which offers instruction in the languages, literatures, and cultures of the French-, German-, Greek-, Italian-, and Russian-speaking worlds. In addition to elementary and intermediate courses that provide students with the basic skills of the particular language, the Department also offers a wide range of more specialized elective courses in advanced language skills (including translation), literature, film, and other cultural areas. The Department has also recently inaugurated of four courses devoted to cross-cultural subjects in European studies.

The Department of European Languages and Literatures offers a major and minor in French, German, Italian, and Russian, and a minor in Modern Greek. The Graduate Programs in French and Italian offer Master of Arts or a Master of Science in Education degrees in those two languages. The Department also works closely with the Division of Education to insure that those students interested in pursuing a career teaching French, German and/or Italian at the secondary-education level will be thoroughly prepared for their profession. The Department faculty includes a staff of dedicated full-time teachers as well as a very committed staff of Adjunct Lecturers. The European Languages staff is thoroughly committed to scholarship, and has produced numerous books and articles in a wide variety of areas. Members of our staff also regularly participate in conferences and colloquia throughout the world. Many of our faculty members also actively participate in various doctoral programs at the City University of New York's Graduate Center in Manhattan.

In addition to taking courses in the Department, students have the opportunity to earn college credit by taking advantage of one of Queens College's several study-abroad programs. Interested students may seek tuition, scholarships, and internships from a variety of sources. The Department also offers small annual awards to deserving students, along with several graduation awards, among them the Robert W. Hartle Award for Excellence in a Romance Language, the Sheila Endler-Landau Memorial Prize and the Norman H. Paul Awards in French, the Literary Society Foundation Prize in German, and the Italian Prize for students of that language. Many of these prizes were made possible through the generosity of alumni, friends, and former staff members, such as Robert Hartle and Norman Paul, of the Department. The Department also has Honor Society chapters in French, German, Italian, and Russian.

Euro Talks

From time to time, the Department organizes lectures on topics related to continental Europe or to specific European countries. Recently, Euro-Talks were given by Professor Kebabdjan (University of Paris) on La France aujourd'hui (Fall 1999), and by Professor Kaufmann (Economics, Queens College) on Europe's Attempt to Become a Superpower (Fall 2000).

Euro-Courses

The Department has recently created a series of four interdisciplinary courses, taught in English, devoted to cross-cultural studies of European civilization, art, cinema, and language.

Tutorials

Students in elementary and intermediate language courses in French, German, Italian, Modern Greek and Russian may seek assistance from tutors selected for each language. Please check for available tutors and schedules in the first two weeks of the semester.

Students with advanced fluency may contact the Coordinator in the first week of the semester. If accepted in the Program, prospective tutors will be supervised by a full-time faculty member and earn 2 credits for their work. Particularly successful tutors may be selected to tutor for an additional semester earning 1 credit.