Introduction

Bengali (Bangla) is simply more than a language. It is the essence and pride of all Bengalis, no matter where they reside and for however many years they have been away from West Bengal (India) or Bangladesh, the two places where it is spoken as a native language. While India has about 67,200,000 Bengali speakers, its neighbor Bangladesh has approximately 100,000,000 speakers. These figures do not indicate the entire population of Bengalis as many others reside in various other countries. For instance, U. A. E. has about 70,000 Bengalis and the US. has a far greater number. The extensive diaspora of the Bengali population all over the globe, has raised the everyday demand and popularity of this language in the international scene.

Bengali is more than a language for it opens the door to a whole vista of rich cultural material, that is both traditional and contemporary. Those who learn Bengali, soon find themselves enamored by the works of Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel laureate in literature, and hosts of other reputed literateurs. Others learn to appreciate the beauty and craft of Bengali cinema, especially the films of Satyajit Ray, the Oscar winner of the 'Lifetime Achievement Award'. For those interested in philosophy and religion, a knowledge of Bengali becomes crucial to an understanding of the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda, Chaitanya and the Bhakti movement in Bengal.

In today's world Bengali occupies an important place. For this language, whose origins lie in the middle of the tenth century, allows one to simultaneously explore the ancient traditions as well as appreciate the prevailing trends of a community of people who hold onto their traditional values, but at the same time are eager to explore new paths in diverse directions.

Course Descriptions

See the current semester roster for times and room numbers

Beginning Bengali: SAST 403
Instructor: Haimanti Banerjee (haimanti@sas.upenn.edu)

Description: This course introduces students to colloquial Bengali. It gives equal emphasis to each of the four skills, reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Language will be studied in the context of socio-cultural aspects of West Bengal and Bangladesh. Besides lessons from the text, a major portion of the syllabus will be based on topics drawn from films, cultural events and festivals, food and religion.

This is a two semester course with 2 c.u.

Intermediate Bengali: SAST 423
Instructor: Haimanti Banerjee (haimanti@sas.upenn.edu)

Description: This course develops the students' prior knowledge of Bengali. Attempt is made to gear the syllabus to meet the specific needs of the students under certain situations. The focus of the course is to develop the oral and aural skills of the learner as well as improve writing skills and reading strategies. Emphasis is also laid on increasing the sociolinguistic and strategic competence of the learners so that they are able to function in the target culture. Besides discussions on the various aspects of Bengali life, students read some short literary texts in the original Bengali version.

This is a two semester course with 2 c.u.

Advanced Bengali: SAST 433
Instructor: Sanjukta Banerjee (sanjukta@sas.upenn.edu)

Fall: Bengali Literature
The objective of this course is to develop the proficiency level of the students in all the four skills by using different genres of Bengali literature (West Bengal and Bangladesh) as its course content. Reading comprehension will be enhanced as students learn to understand authentic texts at the linguistic and cultural level while discussion (description, narration, support opinion) on issues related to these texts aim to hone the oral and written skills. Students will be allowed to work on individual texts & topics (with the instructor's permission) for their final project.

This is a one semester course.

Spring: Bengali Popular Culture
This course aims to use as its content, different aspects of popular Bengali culture as they are represented in media (film, television, magazines, newspapers) and arts (fashion, local and regional art, music). Students will be expected to develop their linguistic skills (description, narration, supporting opinion) and socio-cultural awareness while interacting with these varied types of texts. Students will be allowed to work on individual texts & topics (with the instructor's permission) for their final project.

This is a one semester course.

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