Kim is currently a senior at Duke majoring in Italian Studies and Environmental Sciences, She began studying Italian her freshman year of college after enrolling in Italian 101. Since then she has taken eight Italian courses at Duke and has participated in the summer program Duke in Bologna and studied abroad her junior fall in Perugia, Italy.
What inspired you to learn Italian?
I started in Italian 101 because of the language requirement, Italian seemed like a good choice as a new language since it is a romance language. I remember my first day of class in 101, my professor kept on yelling “Sono Laura”, and I was so lost because I didn’t know what sono meant! Once I started learning the basic vocab, things got a lot easier. It was great because I was quickly able to understand more things.
Why did you decide to continue to learn Italian and pursue the major?
It was the Duke in Bologna program. I decided to go to Bologna because I thought it was a great way to complete the foreign language requirements and learn more Italian. There I met Luciana Fellin, who is an Italian professor and program director and Duke. If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have kept on going. I took her class Italian 388S – Food, Culture, and Society in the fall after my summer abroad. I loved that class and thought that if I could take more classes like this one, that would be amazing! Luciana was so encouraging that she made me want to major in Italian. She is the kind of professor that cares about her students and challenges you to use the Italian you already know. She makes you feel like learning a new language is not impossible!
How was your experience learning a language abroad?
In Bologna, the need to learn Italian felt more urgent and the classroom experience felt very authentic. We were in a real Italian classroom in the history building in L’Universita di Bologna. It was very empowering because you could leave the classroom and immediately start using what you learned that day. Our professor constantly encouraged us to speak to strangers. Since I learned the word for dog, cane, I always talked to people who were walking their dog!
I studied abroad in Perugia because I wanted to continue to learn Italian. There, we would just chat with the professors just to learn new things. We were even able to go to the opera with the professor and understand it!
Has studying a language at Duke opened any doors for you?
I ended up studying environmental studies because of the Duke Immerse I did that included the Italian food and culture class! It really introduced me to the humanities component environmental studies and encouraged me to do a food and sustainability studies program. It incorporated Italian language as well as culture, history, anthropology. This has really opened my eyes to how cool international work is. Food and culture is just one realm of international cultural issues. I’ve also been looking into graduate programs in Italy after my graduation. There are several food studies programs in Italy that focus on Food Policy. They’re not out of my reach because I know Italian now!
What advice would you give someone who is thinking of learning a language or just started learning a language?
I would say that learning a language makes you well rounded and more considerate of global issues, allowing you to understand people better. It makes your brain work in a certain way that other classes don’t.
To people starting to learn a language: Don’t give up! It all builds on itself so even if you don’t get it at first, you will continue to learn and will continuously be able to say new things. Eventually you will begin to think in the new language!
