Italian

Equivalent to ITAL V1101. Students will develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Italian and an understanding of Italian culture. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to provide basic information in Italian about themselves, their families, interests, likes and dislikes, and daily activities; participate in a simple conversation on everyday topics; to read edited texts on familiar topics; and produce Italian with basic grammatical accuracy and accurate pronunciation.

Prerequisites: ITAL S1101, or the equivalent. Continues the work of ITAL 1101 and completes the study of elementary Italian. Students continue to develop communicative skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills). Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to provide basic information in Italian about wants and needs, personal opinions and wishes, personal experiences, past activities, and daily routines; read simple texts on familiar matters of high frequency everyday or job-related language; draw on a repertoire of vocabulary and syntax sufficient for dealing with everyday situations.

Prerequisites: ITAL V1102 or W1102, or the equivalent. If you did not take Elementary Italian at Columbia in the semester preceding the current one, you must take the placement test, offered by the Italian Department at the beginning of each semester. Same course as ITAL V1201-V1202.

Prerequisites: ITAL V1201 or W1201, or the equivalent. If you did not take Elementary Italian at Columbia in the semester preceding the current one, you must take the placement test, offered by the Italian Department at the beginning of each semester. A review of grammar, intensive reading, composition, and practice in conversation. Exploration of literary and cultural material. Lab: hours to be arranged. ITAL V1202 fulfils the basic foreign language requirement and prepares students for advanced study in Italian language and literature.

Is the Qur’an translatable? Was the Qur’an translated? Are non Arabic-speaking Muslims allowed to translate the Qur’an? And what about non-Muslims? Did Muslims and non-Muslims collaborate in translating the text of the Qur’an into Latin and European vernaculars? This course focuses on the long history of the diffusion of the Qur’an, the Scripture of the Muslims, and one of the most important texts in the history of humanity. We will focus on reading and translation practices of the Qur’an in Europe and the Mediterranean, from the Middle Ages to the contemporary world. We will explore how European Muslims, such as Iberian moriscos, European Jews, as well as Orthodox, Protestants and Catholics read, copied, collected, translated and printed the Qur’an. We will also explore why the Qur’an was confuted, forbidden, burned and even eaten, drunk and worn along eight centuries of the history of Europe. This long excursus, based on a close reading of the Qur’an and on the discussion of the major themes this close reading proposes, will help us to understand the role of Islam and its revelation in the formation of European societies and cultures.