ሰላም (Hey), Take An African Language

Before my sophomore year, I was terrified of deciding what foreign language to take. The idea of learning a whole new form of human communication seemed daunting. After a lot of stress and searching, I eventually landed on Tigrinya, an East African language spoken by the Tigrayan ethnic group in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

But despite the loving faculty and incredible culture that I have come to know during my time taking Tigrinya, I’ve noticed that surprisingly few students enroll in the African Language Program.

The ALP deserves more fantastic students in its ranks. To all current Harvard undergraduates: Consider taking a course in an African language.

The African Language Program at Harvard University turns 20 years old this year. Throughout its short history, the ALP has provided instruction in more than 40 languages spoken on the African continent, offering more than 10 courses every semester that fulfill the foreign language requirement for Harvard undergraduates. These courses are essential to those specifically concentrating in the African Studies track of the Department of African and African American Studies, but also relate well to a variety of other areas of study and people on campus.

There’s only one problem: Students aren’t taking these courses. Last fall, the elementary courses in Igbo and Yoruba, two of the major languages spoken in Nigeria, had less than 10 students enrolled. Introductory Swahili only had seven students, despite being a language spoken in over more than 14 countries across Africa and the Middle East. And I myself was one of only three students in elementary Tigrinya.

These small enrollment numbers obscure the fact that the African Language Program is directly relevant to Harvard’s purpose. One of the missions of a liberal arts education is to familiarize students with other cultures that aren’t their own. At Harvard, it’s easy to center languages that have always been at the forefront of Western higher learning. This historical precedent is apparent in the fact that the only language placement exams Harvard centrally administers are French, German, Italian, and Spanish. But the University has become more and more diverse over the last century, so students should move away from this precedent.

Harvard does not have to be a place that only values and encourages learning about Western history — it is just as important to learn about the African diaspora.

One of the most unique learning experiences you will get in the African Language Program is Theater Night. Each semester, students in every ALP course are required to participate in a performance of their choosing. For my first Theater Night, my two wonderful classmates and I did a Tigrinya rendition of “Little Red Riding Hood.” It’s an event unique to the ALP that brings people together through cultural food, arts, and warm welcomes from various people in the department.

Beyond Theater Night, I was taken care of in my first introductory course. As a foreigner with no direct attachments to Tigray, my instructor was patient with me. He walked me through the Tigrinya variation of the Ge’ez alphabet, a script which originated as a consonant-only alphabet that is now used for several Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan languages. Although I was going at a snail’s pace, my instructor consistently checked on my confidence in the material being covered. Before I knew it, I was able to butcher pronunciations of words, name body parts, and even tell time in Tigrinya.

If you are worried about not having a connection to the culture, do not fear. You will be welcomed with care by the African Language Program.

While I am a generational African American student, I also understand the extra hesitancy of white students who decide to take courses in African and African American studies. Coming into these spaces, it may feel like courses in ethnic studies are geared only toward students of their respective identities. However, white students who decide to pursue non-white language and ethnic studies are not accessing knowledge or occupying territory in which they aren’t welcome. The opposite is the case. I encourage more white students to explore, perhaps for the first time, brand new perspectives that they can learn a thing or two from.

If you’re a rising sophomore on the fence about what language to take at Harvard, you should consider joining the ALP. More new students in the department is exciting, and more engagement gives the program the chance to enhance existing events as well as make way for brand new traditions. By choosing to take an African language, you are affirming that this scholarship matters.

In the words of the program’s director, John M. Mugane: “A serious understanding of Africa begins with language study.” More students learning indigenous African languages, including those without prior connections to Africa, strengthens the intellectual soul of our University.

Learning an African language is deeper than learning some words — it’s about broadening our sense of which cultures can nurture our development as scholars and people.

Prince A. Williams ’25, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a History concentrator in Adams House.