Autumn 2023 Course Offerings

Note on New GE Program

The university will roll out a new General Education program for new students beginning in Autumn 2022. These GE requirements will be called "General Education - New" or GEN.

Requirements for current students will not change, and they will continue to complete the same GE program — now called the "General Education – Legacy" or GEL.

FRIT (French and Italian) 3061 - Mediterranean Food Culture

Dr. Mark Anthony Arceno, TR 12:45 - 2:05 pm, IN PERSON

• GEL Cultures and Ideas
• GEL Diversity: Global Studies
• GEN Theme: Lived Environments.
• Taught in English.

What do bacalhau, falafel, moussaka, paella, ratatouille, risotto, spanakopita, tabbaouleh, and tagines have in common (other than perhaps making your mouth water)? They are among a host of diverse dishes that represent the rich, complex, and migratory tapestry of “Mediterranean food.” Considering food as more than just a biological necessity, this course approaches food as a way of talking about culture and identity in an ever-changing world full of human and environmental interactions. How does the food we and others eat help define the spaces we inhabit and call home? What do changing landscapes mean for the availability of ingredients we might otherwise take for granted? In what ways are these relationships represented in film, literature, music, and social media? With specific regard to local, regional, and national traditions of countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea, we will spend our semester together learning about the “taste of place” and why it is so difficult to define.

This course can count as a course taught in English towards FRIT minors and majors. Please consult specific degree requirements for more information.

FRIT (French and Italian) 3054 - The 21st-Century Skill: Intercultural Competence for Global Citizenship

Professor Cindy Xinquan Jiang, T/TR 12:45 - 2:05 pm, TBA

Professor Janice Aski, T/TR 12:45 - 2:05 pm, TBA

GE Diversity: Global Studies. Taught in English. 

Intercultural competence is among the top ten skills necessary for succeeding in the 21st century. Achieving the skills, knowledge, behaviors and attitudes of interculturally competent global citizens is a lifetime endeavor, so this course will help you acquire the foundations as you begin the journey. This course is divided into four modules: 1) Culture and intercultural competence, 2) Diversity and implicit bias; 3) How world language learning contributes to the development of Intercultural Competence, and 4) Experiencing diversity locally and globally. We will begin by exploring the complexities of the term ‘culture’ and how culture shapes our understanding of ourselves and others, our identity, and our worldview. You will explore your own cultural background through a cultural autobiography, then you will delve into how implicit biases and stereotypes impact interpersonal and intercultural interactions. You will carry out an investigative team project and learn to engage in effective and inclusive practices that make you better team players. In addition, the guided viewing of movies and readings that bring the issues and diverse perspectives discussed in class to the fore will serve as a source of reflection and stimulating class discussion. Finally, you will have the opportunity to participate in a full-immersion cultural experience in a virtual 360 lab and to interact and discuss interesting topics with peers from all over the world in the Global Circles program.  

This course fulfills 3-credit hours from the Global Studies General Education requirement and counts as a course in English toward the Italian/Italian Studies majors and minor and the French/French and Francophone Studies major and minor. 

 French 2501: Rebels and Runaways  

Doctor Ryan Joyce, TR 3:55 - 5:15 PM, TBA

This course currently counts as a Literature GEL. It is pending approval as a Race, Gender, and Ethnic Diversity Foundations GEN; registered students will be notified when approval is finalized.

Taught in English. 

From the early modern period to today, the maroon, or “runaway” fugitive slave, has played a vital leading role in shaping U.S. and Caribbean history, literature, and culture. Historically defined as the temporary or sustained flight of enslaved subjects from plantation zones and colonial centers, marronage has since flourished as a site for the flights, fights, and community-building practices of Afro-diasporic peoples throughout the Americas. Building from historical sources, fugitive slave narratives, 19^th and 20^th-century art, film, and literature, and contemporary Black social and political movements, this course will introduce students to the enduring, path-breaking activities of maroons and their descendants in the U.S. and the Caribbean.

This course can count as a course taught in English toward the French minor and the French major

French 2801 - French Cinema

Professor Maggie Flinn, M 10:05-11:55 AM, Distance

• GEL Visual and Performing Arts
• GEN Literary, Visual and Performing Arts
• Taught in English

Introduction to the study of the cinema and to French film classics. Students will explore cinema as an art form, the social and cultural history of France as it relates to the cinema, and the qualities that make the individual films cinematic masterpieces. The course will be taught in a distanced format, but will have synchronous components. 

French 2803.01 - Paris

Professor Jennifer Willging, T 4:10 - 5:10 pm, ONLINE

• GEL Cultures and Ideas
• GEN Theme: Lived Environments
• Taught in English

What was the city of Paris like in 1789, and how have its geography and society evolved over the last two+ centuries? By reading and viewing representations of Paris in a variety of media (maps, paintings, photographs, films, and literary and historical texts), we will explore both how the city’s landscape has shaped its society and how its increasingly diverse society has in turn shaped and transformed its landscape to suit Parisians’ evolving needs, desires, and caprices. Each two-week unit will treat representations of a specific event or era in Parisian history that had a significant impact on the city’s organization, architecture, and/or demography, and together the units will give us a general understanding of Parisian history over the last 230 years and of the multiple ways in which that history has been represented, and thus manipulated for various purposes.

This course can count toward the French or French and Francophone Studies major or the French minor with permission of the instructor.

Italian 2051 – Italian Journeys

Professor Jonathan Combs-Schilling, MW 11:10 am - 12:30 pm, IN PERSON

• GEL Literature
• GEL Diversity: Global Studies
• Taught in English

This course examines cultural mobility in the Italian Renaissance through its many travelers: students and refugees, merchants and pilgrims, mercenaries and poets. We will follow Italian journeys—both historical and fictional—to the far reaches of Asia (Marco Polo), around the oceans of the world (Magellan), into the depths of Inferno (Dante) and up to the surface of the Moon (Ariosto). Through them we investigate how Italian identities were shaped by travel and the tales that travel inspires; and gain a new perspective on the place and power of travel in today’s mobile, multicultural world.

This course can count as a course taught in English toward the Italian minor and the Italian or Italian Studies majors.

Italian 2055 - Mafia Movies

Doctor Giuliano Migliori, WF 12:45 - 2:05 pm, ONLINE

*Distance synchronous meetings WF 12:45 - 2:05 pm 

• GEL Visual and Performing Arts
• GEN Foundation: Literary, Visual & Performing Arts
• Taught in English

The Mafia in Italy is referred to as an octopus as the organization pervades almost every facet of Italian cultural life. Tony Soprano, Don Vito and Michael Corleone, Lucky Luciano, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, or Christopher Moltisanti are some of the figures that contribute to the myth of the Italian and Italian-American Mafias. Others, such as Jonas Carpignano, Peppino Impastato, and Roberto Saviano explore a new cinematic wave about organized crime. In this course we watch Italian and American mafia movie and television hits, and explore the myth of the Mafia that is so widespread in American popular culture, and trace its histories and receptions as it passes across time and through a variety of cinematic styles. We will question whether there exists a unique American or Italian cinema and television treating Mafias, in its polymorphic nature, and explore how filmmakers from the two countries approach the subject in dissimilar fashions, especially in terms of stereotyping, gender, politics, and representations of violence and alluring criminals.

This course can count as a course taught in English toward the Italian minor and the Italian or Italian Studies majors.

Italian 2056 - Love on the Italian Screen

Professor Jonathan Mullins, MW 2:20 - 3:40 pm, Fontana Lab 1000

• GEL Visual and Performing Arts
• GEL Diversity: Global Studies
• GEN Foundation: Literary, Visual & Performing Arts
• Taught in English

Love has long been a theme that has dominated Italian film and television. But how have such representations of love been conditioned by questions of identity including race, gender, sexuality and ethnicity? This course explores this question through representations of eros, romance and friendship in a variety of moving images. We will engage with silent film that looks at what it means to be a Southern Italian woman (Assunta Spina) to more recent film on cross-cultural friendship between migrants in Shun Li and the Poet, ands interracial romance in Summertime. We study how the theme of love condenses a variety of concerns and anxieties about racial, gender, sexual and ethnic identity, with attention to how these forms of identity emerge in the context of 20th and 21st century Italy. Students will reflect on what it means to study such forms of identity in the Italian context, and also on their own experiences and biases that they bring to the study of race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality as students in Ohio. 

Never study cinema before? No worries. A crucial component of the course will be dedicated to studying the aesthetics of narrative cinema, and also understanding it as a complex industrial product with its own systems of production and reception. 

The most up-to-date list of course offerings is always available via View Schedule of Classes on BuckeyeLink.

French 1101.01, 1102.01, 1103.01 - Beginning French I, II, and III Classroom (4 credit hours)

French 1101.21, 1102.21, 1103.21 - Beginning French I, II, and III Classroom Synchronous Distance Learning (4 credit hours)

French 1101.61, 1102.61, 1103.61 - Beginning French I, II, and III Individualized Instruction Distance Learning (2-4 credit hours)

French 1155.01 - Beginning French Review Classroom (4 credit hours)

Italian 1101.03, 1102.03, 1103.03 - Beginning Italian I, II, and III Classroom Blended (4 credit hours)

Italian 1101.71, 1102.71, 1103.71 - Beginning Italian II and III Online (4 credit hours)

French 2101.01 - Introduction to French and Francophone Studies

Professor Jennifer Willging, TR 12:45 - 2:05 pm

Instructor TBA, WF 2:20 - 3:40 pm

This course serves as a bridge between the beginning language courses (1101-1103) and upper-level courses that can count toward the minor or majors in French. By emphasizing all skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), it will prepare you for more advanced studies in language, literature, culture, and film. You will be exposed to a variety of texts (both literary and cultural) and to music and films from France and other francophone regions. Because knowledge of language impacts the ability to read and interpret texts, some grammar is reviewed in this course, although students who are able to are encouraged to take FR3101, Intermediate Grammar Review, concurrently (if they cannot, then 2101 should be taken first). Taught in French.

French 2101.61 - Introduction to French and Francophone Studies Individualized DL

Elizabeth Bishop, TBA, ONLINE

Techniques for reading and interpreting different types of texts from the French-speaking world: stories, poetry, plays, films, music, and ads while building vocabulary, comprehension, speaking and writing skills.
Prereq: 1103.01, 1103.21, or 4 cr hrs of 1103.51 or 1103.61, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for 2101.01, 2101.01H, or 2101.51. Repeatable to a maximum of 3 cr hrs or 3 completions. This course is available for EM credit.

French 3101 - French Grammar Review

Julie Parson, T/TR 11:10 am - 12:30 pm, Hagerty Hall 359

Dr. Gloria Torrini-Roblin, MWF 9:10 - 10:05 am, Hagerty Hall 050

In this course you will find all the information that you need to speak and write like the French. Review grammar you've seen, learn some you haven't, and practice translations in order to rid your French of those pesky anglicismes! We will look at usage examples in French popular songs, film clips, and short readings, and do plenty of conversation.

French 3103 - French Conversation

 

*This course in not open to native and near-native students.

Watch Monsieur Nobek Teach Français From Saturday Night Live

L'accent - Fabulous Trobadors

“Parlez-vous Français?

Oui!

Parlez-vous Français?

Oui!

Si tu peux le parler allez tombez la chemise” (Art vs. Science)

Several decades ago, a colleague asked me why I was teaching slang in my conversation course considering that the students had not mastered French. I replied: “What’s ‘French’?”.

What’s “French” anyway? What does it mean to “master” a language? When someone tells you, “Mais vous n’avez aucun accent,” what are they actually saying? Is slang French? Is Marseillais French? What about French spoken in Quebec and Africa? These are only a few of the questions we shall address in this course.

As we listen to and practice French in a variety of contexts, we shall reflect on what it means for us–as individuals–to speak “French”.  I hope that each one of you will find your own idiolect amidst the endless possibilities that this local, national and world language affords us: an idiolect in which you affirm your unique identity and fluency.

You are expected to attend and actively participate in every single class session. No perks for wallflowers!

A few voices to inspire you:

Recent OSU distinguished invited speaker Ta-Nehisi Coates (Middlebury French language program) (Vimeo) (YouTube)

Bradley Cooper (Studied in Aix-en-Provence for six months)

Angela Davis (French major at Brandeis University, junior year abroad in Paris)

Jodie Foster (attended the Lycée Français in LA)

Shan Sa (French writer)

Jack Kerouac (French-American writer of the Beat Generation)

Kim Thúy (Quebec writer)

David Sedaris (from Me Talk Pretty One Day)

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French 3202 - Literary and Visual Texts of the Francophone World

Instructor TBA, WF 11:10 -12:30 pm, Hagerty Hall 159

Readings and analysis of Francophone literary and multimedia texts that provide an appreciation and understanding of the French-speaking world. 
Prereq: 2101.01 (201.01), or 2101.01H, or 3 cr hrs of 2101.51 (5 cr hrs of 201.51), and 3101 (401). Not open to students with credit for 427.

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French 3403 - La Cuisine Française: Gastronomic Culture, Language, and Expression

Professor Sarah-Grace Heller, T/TR 2:20-3:40 PM

Explore Global French cultural ideas around dining, good table manners, and the meanings of food through short readings and media. Taste fabulous specialties (to the extent possible during the lingering pandemic!) and learn to cook to some simple and classic dishes from the many regions where the French language and the food culture go together. We will spice things up with a pinch of grammar (sorry, cheesy metaphor!) and plenty of conversation. Learn to read and translate recipes. Discuss and write about your personal experiences with food and with experiencing other cultures. This will be a practical and delicious language course.

"Dis-moi ce que tu manges : je te dirai ce que tu es." - Brillat-Savarin

Required materials 

1. À Table! The Food Culture of France, Becky A. Brown. 2^nd Hackett. ISBN 978-1-58510-847-3. Available from B&N OSU Bookstore: https://tinyurl.com/W21-FRENCH-3403-29179 (Links to an external site.)
2. Some films streaming on Amazon/ Google Play etc., around $2.99
3. Some food expenditures
4. Marguerite Abouet, Aya de Yopougon, ISBN 978-2070573110. (Available on Amazon and elsewhere; optional)

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French 3501 - Introduction to French for the Professions - “Getting Down to Business in the Francophone World”

Dr. Gloria Torrini-Roblin, WF 12:45 - 2:05 pm, Hagerty Hall 050

Why study advanced French grammar if you are interested in international affairs? Human rights? Food?  Finance?  Migrants?  Medicine? To follow these issues in the francophone media, you need to master the written language by becoming a more educated, informed reader, as well as a more skilled, articulate writer of French. 

This course replaces FR 5101 and is required for the French major for those have not yet taken 5101. Students who have already taken 5101 cannot register for this course.

French 4401 - Topics in French and Francophone Studies: Eco-criticism and Popular Visual Culture

Professor Maggie Flinn, T/TR 9:35 - 10:55 am, Hagerty Hall 042

In this course we will read and watch French language contemporary films, TV series, and comics that importantly represent the natural world and lend themselves to interpretation through an eco-critical framework. Of particular interest will be topics such as: documentary vs. fictional modes, other genres (cli-fi, crime fiction), political efficacy (militancy, aestheticism, etc.), scale (temporal & geographic), hyperlocalism vs. globalization, eco-feminism, agricultural and culinary discourse (terroir, labor, food chains and legacies of Empire), toxicity and trash, environmental justice, Green and Blue imaginaries, etc. Language of instruction is French.

Italian/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Classics/Romance Linguistics 5051

Prof. Martínez-Gil (Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese),Tu & Th 12:45 - 2:05PM, Hagerty Hall 359

This course is a general introduction to the modern Romance languages, their geographical distribution within Europe and the world, their classification as varieties of a common language family, a comprehensive survey of their phonology and inflectional morphology, and how they evolved historically from Latin, their common ancestor, how they came to diverge throughout time, and how they arose as prominent global languages. We all know that the Romance languages are similar because they derive from Latin. But did you ever wonder how the differences among the languages developed? That is, how exactly do the words for ‘fire’ in each of the Romance languages (Italian fuoco, Spanish fuego, Portuguese fogo, French feu, Romanian foc) relate to Latin fŏcu? Latin had a case system for nouns; does it still exist in any of the Romance languages? If the comparative in Italian and French derives from Latin plus (> Italian più, French plus), why is the comparative different in Romanian mai (mult), Spanish (más) and Portuguese (mais)? Why are the modern reflexes of lacte ‘milk’ in Latin, latte in Italian, lapte in Romanian, lait in French, leite in Portuguese, and leche in Spanish?  

In this course, students will develop analytical skills by comparing and contrasting phonological features (sound system) and also inflectional morphological features, both nominal and verbal, in the five major Romance languages: French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. We will also consider the history and present-day status of other minority Romance languages such as Galician, Catalan, Occitan, Franco-Provençal, and Rhaeto-Romance. In addition, we will examine the socio-historical factors, such as the expansion of the Roman Empire and its dissolution, which contributed to the formation of the Romance languages and their divergences. Finally, we will survey the main phonological changes from Latin to Romance, both in the vowel and consonant systems. Students will acquire an understanding of linguistic systematicity which will enhance further studies in the language(s) of their choice, while the investigation of exceptional, or unexpected developments will provide insight into the complicated nature of language change.

A substantial portion of the required readings will be drawn from the following textbooks:

Alkire, Ti, and Carol Rosen. 2010. Romance languages: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 1-8).

Harris, Martin, and Nigel Vincent. (eds.) 1988. The Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 11).

Yule, George. 2017. The Study of Language,(6^th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 3-6, and 16-19).

French 5401: From the Sun King to WWI

Professor Benjamin Hoffmann, T/TR 12:45-2:05 PM, TBA

The aim of the course is to cover three hundred years of French history. It will focus on the major cultural and political events that have shaped the image of France over the centuries and have given rise to one of the most dynamic and influential cultures in the world. The themes and periods to be studied and illustrated via texts and films include the Age of the Sun King, the Enlightenment, the Age of Revolutions, the First and Second Empires, the Restoration, the Monarchy of July, the Second and Third Republic, the history of colonialism, slavery, and anti-slavery movements, and World War I. Authors to be studied will include Descartes, La Fontaine, La Bruyère, Saint-Simon, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Olympe de Gouges, Beaumarchais, Balzac, Dumas, Hugo, Zola, Proust, Apollinaire, and Céline. Other works to be examined will include paintings by Watteau, Fragonard, Monet, and Renoir, as well as cinematic representations of the period by Guitry, Leconte, Enrico, and Tavernier. The course will be conducted in French. Prerequisites: Fr 3101 and Fr 3401.

French 5601 – Center of Excellence Colloquium

Professor Benjamin Hoffmann, M 11:30-12:25 PM, HH 206

Since 2020, the Department of French and Italian at The Ohio State University has been recognized by the French Cultural Services in the United States and a panel of professors at prestigious institutions around the country as a member of the “Centers of Excellence network”. This label recognizes the presence at OSU of a critical mass of highly skilled researchers and artists whose scholarship and creative activities take France and the Francophone world as their main object. Receiving financial and logistic support from the French Embassy, the Center of Excellence at Ohio State organizes cultural events throughout the year. Its activities are threefold. First, it invites thinkers, novelists, and scholars to share their work on campus or via Zoom. Second, it organizes the annual Jules Verne Writing Residency, which welcomes every year a French speaking writer to spend a period of three weeks on campus, a period punctuated by public lectures and participation in undergraduate and graduate classes. Finally, it leads regular interviews of French-speaking authors via French Press, its online literary show, which is supported by the French Cultural Services in the US and promoted on their official website.

Undergraduate and graduate students registered for this course will receive one credit hour per semester for attending the Center of Excellence’s events, lectures co-sponsored by the Center of Excellence, and subsequent discussions. The number of these lectures will vary from one semester to the next but will be no less than four and no more than six. When the Center of Excellence welcomes speakers to campus, participants will be expected to have lunch with them. 

In addition, graduate students registered for this class will contribute to the French Press literary channel by being co-hosts during one recording at the Digital Media Studio in Hagerty Hall (which will take place on a Thursday from 1 to 2). In preparation for this interview, graduate students will read the guests’ work, prepare questions that will be used during the interview, participate in one preparatory meeting on Zoom (one week before the interview) and contribute to the interview as the show’s co-hosts.  

Because it is different every semester, this course is repeatable up to ten times. Undergraduate students may count three credit hours (three semesters) of it toward their French or French and Francophone Studies major or, with permission from the instructor, their French minor. Graduate students are required to take at least three credits hours (three semesters) of it and are encouraged to take it more often for intellectual and professional development and well as for networking opportunities.

Italian/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Classics/Romance Linguistics 5051

Prof. Martínez-Gil (Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese),Tu & Th 12:45 - 2:05PM, Hagerty Hall 359

This course is a general introduction to the modern Romance languages, their geographical distribution within Europe and the world, their classification as varieties of a common language family, a comprehensive survey of their phonology and inflectional morphology, and how they evolved historically from Latin, their common ancestor, how they came to diverge throughout time, and how they arose as prominent global languages. We all know that the Romance languages are similar because they derive from Latin. But did you ever wonder how the differences among the languages developed? That is, how exactly do the words for ‘fire’ in each of the Romance languages (Italian fuoco, Spanish fuego, Portuguese fogo, French feu, Romanian foc) relate to Latin fŏcu? Latin had a case system for nouns; does it still exist in any of the Romance languages? If the comparative in Italian and French derives from Latin plus (> Italian più, French plus), why is the comparative different in Romanian mai (mult), Spanish (más) and Portuguese (mais)? Why are the modern reflexes of lacte ‘milk’ in Latin, latte in Italian, lapte in Romanian, lait in French, leite in Portuguese, and leche in Spanish?  

In this course, students will develop analytical skills by comparing and contrasting phonological features (sound system) and also inflectional morphological features, both nominal and verbal, in the five major Romance languages: French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. We will also consider the history and present-day status of other minority Romance languages such as Galician, Catalan, Occitan, Franco-Provençal, and Rhaeto-Romance. In addition, we will examine the socio-historical factors, such as the expansion of the Roman Empire and its dissolution, which contributed to the formation of the Romance languages and their divergences. Finally, we will survey the main phonological changes from Latin to Romance, both in the vowel and consonant systems. Students will acquire an understanding of linguistic systematicity which will enhance further studies in the language(s) of their choice, while the investigation of exceptional, or unexpected developments will provide insight into the complicated nature of language change.

A substantial portion of the required readings will be drawn from the following textbooks:

Alkire, Ti, and Carol Rosen. 2010. Romance languages: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 1-8).

Harris, Martin, and Nigel Vincent. (eds.) 1988. The Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 11).

Yule, George. 2017. The Study of Language,(6^th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 3-6, and 16-19).

French 5401: From the Sun King to WWI

Professor Benjamin Hoffmann, T/TR 12:45-2:05 PM, TBA

The aim of the course is to cover three hundred years of French history. It will focus on the major cultural and political events that have shaped the image of France over the centuries and have given rise to one of the most dynamic and influential cultures in the world. The themes and periods to be studied and illustrated via texts and films include the Age of the Sun King, the Enlightenment, the Age of Revolutions, the First and Second Empires, the Restoration, the Monarchy of July, the Second and Third Republic, the history of colonialism, slavery, and anti-slavery movements, and World War I. Authors to be studied will include Descartes, La Fontaine, La Bruyère, Saint-Simon, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Olympe de Gouges, Beaumarchais, Balzac, Dumas, Hugo, Zola, Proust, Apollinaire, and Céline. Other works to be examined will include paintings by Watteau, Fragonard, Monet, and Renoir, as well as cinematic representations of the period by Guitry, Leconte, Enrico, and Tavernier. The course will be conducted in French. Prerequisites: Fr 3101 and Fr 3401.

French 5601 – Center of Excellence Colloquium

Professor Benjamin Hoffmann, M 11:30-12:25 PM, HH 206

Since 2020, the Department of French and Italian at The Ohio State University has been recognized by the French Cultural Services in the United States and a panel of professors at prestigious institutions around the country as a member of the “Centers of Excellence network”. This label recognizes the presence at OSU of a critical mass of highly skilled researchers and artists whose scholarship and creative activities take France and the Francophone world as their main object. Receiving financial and logistic support from the French Embassy, the Center of Excellence at Ohio State organizes cultural events throughout the year. Its activities are threefold. First, it invites thinkers, novelists, and scholars to share their work on campus or via Zoom. Second, it organizes the annual Jules Verne Writing Residency, which welcomes every year a French speaking writer to spend a period of three weeks on campus, a period punctuated by public lectures and participation in undergraduate and graduate classes. Finally, it leads regular interviews of French-speaking authors via French Press, its online literary show, which is supported by the French Cultural Services in the US and promoted on their official website.

Undergraduate and graduate students registered for this course will receive one credit hour per semester for attending the Center of Excellence’s events, lectures co-sponsored by the Center of Excellence, and subsequent discussions. The number of these lectures will vary from one semester to the next but will be no less than four and no more than six. When the Center of Excellence welcomes speakers to campus, participants will be expected to have lunch with them. 

In addition, graduate students registered for this class will contribute to the French Press literary channel by being co-hosts during one recording at the Digital Media Studio in Hagerty Hall (which will take place on a Thursday from 1 to 2). In preparation for this interview, graduate students will read the guests’ work, prepare questions that will be used during the interview, participate in one preparatory meeting on Zoom (one week before the interview) and contribute to the interview as the show’s co-hosts.  

Because it is different every semester, this course is repeatable up to ten times. Undergraduate students may count three credit hours (three semesters) of it toward their French or French and Francophone Studies major or, with permission from the instructor, their French minor. Graduate students are required to take at least three credits hours (three semesters) of it and are encouraged to take it more often for intellectual and professional development and well as for networking opportunities.

FRIT (French and Italian) 7301 - Teaching French and Italian at the College Level

Wynne Wong, M 1:00 - 3:40 pm, Hagerty Hall 206

Methods and techniques for teaching French and Italian languages at the college level.
Prerequisite: Graduate teaching associate in the Department of French and Italian, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for French 7301 or Italian 7301.

Italian 2051 – Italian Journeys

Professor Jonathan Combs-Schilling, MW 2:20 -3:40 pm, Journalism Building 251

• GEL Literature
• GEL Diversity: Global Studies
• Taught in English

This course examines cultural mobility in the Italian Renaissance through its many travelers: students and refugees, merchants and pilgrims, mercenaries and poets. We will follow Italian journeys—both historical and fictional—to the far reaches of Asia (Marco Polo), around the oceans of the world (Magellan), into the depths of Inferno (Dante) and up to the surface of the Moon (Ariosto). Through them we investigate how Italian identities were shaped by travel and the tales that travel inspires; and gain a new perspective on the place and power of travel in today’s mobile, multicultural world.

This course can count as a course taught in English toward the Italian minor and the Italian or Italian Studies majors.

Italian 2102 - Contemporary Italian Studies

Doctor April Weintritt, MW 9:35 - 10:55 am

In this course you will learn about a variety of aspects of Italian contemporary society and culture, while at the same time focusing on the four language skills: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Since you are transitioning from the elementary to the intermediate level, at this point more emphasis will be placed on developing your reading skills, so you will be exposed to a lot of authentic Italian in different genres. (However, your listening, writing, and speaking skills will not be ignored!) You will learn techniques to improve your reading in Italian and you will progress from reading relatively short texts to reading a short novel. Grammar will be reviewed and tested throughout the course. The targeted structures are: irregular plurals of nouns and adjectives, the forms and functions of the regular and some irregular present indicative verbs, direct and indirect object pronouns; the passato prossimo, the imperfect, and the past perfect (trapassato prossimo), and the remote past.

Italian 3332 - The Sounds of Italian 

Janice Aski, T/TR 12:45 -2:05 pm, Hagerty Hall 056

An introduction to Italian phonetics and phonology. Special focus on pronunciation. Not open to native speakers of Italian. Prerequisite: 2102 (202), or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for 402. 

Italian 4224 - Survey of Italian Literature

Jonathan Combs-Schilling, MW 11:10 - 12:30 PM, TBA

Overview of selected works of Italian literature from the origins to today. Special focus on the cultural and historical contexts of the text studied. Not open to native speakers of Italian.
Prereq: One course taken at the 3000 (or 400) level or above, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for 614. FL Admis Cond course. 

Italian/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Classics/Romance Linguistics 5051

Prof. Martínez-Gil (Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese),Tu & Th 12:45 - 2:05PM, Hagerty Hall 359

This course is a general introduction to the modern Romance languages, their geographical distribution within Europe and the world, their classification as varieties of a common language family, a comprehensive survey of their phonology and inflectional morphology, and how they evolved historically from Latin, their common ancestor, how they came to diverge throughout time, and how they arose as prominent global languages. We all know that the Romance languages are similar because they derive from Latin. But did you ever wonder how the differences among the languages developed? That is, how exactly do the words for ‘fire’ in each of the Romance languages (Italian fuoco, Spanish fuego, Portuguese fogo, French feu, Romanian foc) relate to Latin fŏcu? Latin had a case system for nouns; does it still exist in any of the Romance languages? If the comparative in Italian and French derives from Latin plus (> Italian più, French plus), why is the comparative different in Romanian mai (mult), Spanish (más) and Portuguese (mais)? Why are the modern reflexes of lacte ‘milk’ in Latin, latte in Italian, lapte in Romanian, lait in French, leite in Portuguese, and leche in Spanish?  

In this course, students will develop analytical skills by comparing and contrasting phonological features (sound system) and also inflectional morphological features, both nominal and verbal, in the five major Romance languages: French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. We will also consider the history and present-day status of other minority Romance languages such as Galician, Catalan, Occitan, Franco-Provençal, and Rhaeto-Romance. In addition, we will examine the socio-historical factors, such as the expansion of the Roman Empire and its dissolution, which contributed to the formation of the Romance languages and their divergences. Finally, we will survey the main phonological changes from Latin to Romance, both in the vowel and consonant systems. Students will acquire an understanding of linguistic systematicity which will enhance further studies in the language(s) of their choice, while the investigation of exceptional, or unexpected developments will provide insight into the complicated nature of language change.

A substantial portion of the required readings will be drawn from the following textbooks:

Alkire, Ti, and Carol Rosen. 2010. Romance languages: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 1-8).

Harris, Martin, and Nigel Vincent. (eds.) 1988. The Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 11).

Yule, George. 2017. The Study of Language,(6^th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 3-6, and 16-19).

Italian/French/Spanish/Portuguese/Classics/Romance Linguistics 5051

Prof. Martínez-Gil (Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese),Tu & Th 12:45 - 2:05PM, Hagerty Hall 359

This course is a general introduction to the modern Romance languages, their geographical distribution within Europe and the world, their classification as varieties of a common language family, a comprehensive survey of their phonology and inflectional morphology, and how they evolved historically from Latin, their common ancestor, how they came to diverge throughout time, and how they arose as prominent global languages. We all know that the Romance languages are similar because they derive from Latin. But did you ever wonder how the differences among the languages developed? That is, how exactly do the words for ‘fire’ in each of the Romance languages (Italian fuoco, Spanish fuego, Portuguese fogo, French feu, Romanian foc) relate to Latin fŏcu? Latin had a case system for nouns; does it still exist in any of the Romance languages? If the comparative in Italian and French derives from Latin plus (> Italian più, French plus), why is the comparative different in Romanian mai (mult), Spanish (más) and Portuguese (mais)? Why are the modern reflexes of lacte ‘milk’ in Latin, latte in Italian, lapte in Romanian, lait in French, leite in Portuguese, and leche in Spanish?  

In this course, students will develop analytical skills by comparing and contrasting phonological features (sound system) and also inflectional morphological features, both nominal and verbal, in the five major Romance languages: French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. We will also consider the history and present-day status of other minority Romance languages such as Galician, Catalan, Occitan, Franco-Provençal, and Rhaeto-Romance. In addition, we will examine the socio-historical factors, such as the expansion of the Roman Empire and its dissolution, which contributed to the formation of the Romance languages and their divergences. Finally, we will survey the main phonological changes from Latin to Romance, both in the vowel and consonant systems. Students will acquire an understanding of linguistic systematicity which will enhance further studies in the language(s) of their choice, while the investigation of exceptional, or unexpected developments will provide insight into the complicated nature of language change.

A substantial portion of the required readings will be drawn from the following textbooks:

Alkire, Ti, and Carol Rosen. 2010. Romance languages: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 1-8).

Harris, Martin, and Nigel Vincent. (eds.) 1988. The Romance Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 11).

Yule, George. 2017. The Study of Language,(6^th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (chapters or sections of chapters 3-6, and 16-19).

FRIT (French and Italian) 7301 - Teaching French and Italian at the College Level

Wynne Wong, M 1:00 - 3:40 pm, Hagerty Hall 206

Methods and techniques for teaching French and Italian languages at the college level.
Prerequisite: Graduate teaching associate in the Department of French and Italian, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for French 7301 or Italian 7301.