Imagine a Hillsdale that taught the “Aeneid” without training students in Latin, or read the “Iliad” but didn’t encourage the study of Greek, or assigned short stories from Jorge Louis Borges but never led students to delve deeper into the study of Spanish. 

Now remember that Hillsdale students will often study the works of Dante, Petrarch, and Machiavelli solely in translation. The college doesn’t yet count proficiency in Italian towards fulfilling the core curriculum’s BA language requirements, let alone offer an Italian minor or major. 

It’s simply got to change. Proficiency in Italian ought to fulfill the language standards for Hillsdale’s BA requirements. 

Currently, students who want to learn Italian must take the courses as electives, which forces any BA student who wishes to study Italian to do so in addition to a different language, in addition to juggling the rest of the core curriculum and any majors and minors he or she may have. That’s a lot of work. 

The college currently offers Beginning 1 and 2, Intermediate, and occasionally Advanced Italian. As there is no Italian department, the courses are listed as IDS classes. Students learn modern Italian, which is foundational for reading Dante.

This has its advantages: the only students who sign up for Italian currently are those who love the language and want to devote themselves to understanding it. On the other hand, it also forces students who would otherwise take Italian to fulfill their core curriculum requirements with French or Spanish instead. 

This is an incredible missed opportunity for Hillsdale. After all, Italian is the native tongue of several of the greatest authors ever to write. Everyone’s heard of Dante — hopefully — but if you haven’t heard of Bocaccio or Petrarch as well, you’re missing out. 

Though Dante’s not the only great Italian writer, learning Italian would be worth it just for him. His epic trilogy, the “Commedia Divina,” is a monument of literature which well merits its place beside the other foundations of the Western tradition, the “Iliad,” “Odyssey,” and “Aeneid.” 

Dorothy Sayers, T. S. Eliot, and Charles Williams were all Dante scholars — maybe they were on to something. English translations can be helpful, but they’re simply not enough: until you’ve read a poem in the original language, you have never truly read it and you will not be able to fully appreciate it. 

Add to that the fact that Italian is critically important for the many singers at the college because of the quality and quantity of Italian art songs and opera. Then consider that the language itself may be the most beautiful of the modern languages and that it’s quite easy to pick up. 

Like German, French, and Spanish, Italian has produced its fair share of authors, poets, writers, composers, artists, novelists, politicians, thinkers, and scientists. Italian culture is fascinating as well: think it’s just pizza and pasta? Think again. 

By not crediting proficiency in Italian toward the graduation requirements, Hillsdale directs students away from studying Italian. This unnecessary — and entirely changeable — state of affairs means that it becomes much harder for Hillsdale students to attain and enjoy an understanding of the many gifts that Italy has bestowed upon the world in general and Western culture in particular. It’s a self-imposed but easily remedied problem.

It’s excellent that the college is already offering courses in Italian and even better that some students are taking advantage of them. Along these lines, if you have a little extra time in your schedule and are looking for an immensely fulfilling and enjoyable course of studies, you should strongly consider signing up for IDS-393 Beginning Italian 1 next semester — it just might change your life. 

But studying Italian should not be left up to the whims of selecting electives. The college’s mission and work will be made richer when more students than just those who have the extra credit room and inclination to study Italian are able to talk about their day with friends in passato prossimo or master those devilish pronomi doppi. 

Make Italian count for the language requirements and you will begin to sow the seeds of a deeper understanding of some of the greatest poetry, art, music, and culture ever to exist. Reward the effort that students put into Italian — it’ll be more than worth it for them and for Hillsdale as a whole. 

Looking to strengthen the liberal arts at Hillsdale? Give amore di Italiano a chance. 

Zachary Chen is a sophomore studying Greek and Latin.