The Albanian language is now part of the curriculum at Harvard University, Albanian media reported, citing a statement from Albania’s Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.
“Widely considered one of the oldest languages in the Indo-European language family, a distinct and unique representative of a distinct branch among the Indo-European languages, Albanian is studied only in select American institutions (…), and now at Harvard University,” he wrote the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
One of the initiators of the Albanian language being studied at Harvard is Edona Kosovic, the daughter of Albanian migrants from Montenegro, writes “Harvard Magazine”. Kosovic, who is a second-year university student, grew up in the US and learned Albanian from her parents, but found it difficult to retain the language despite her great desire.
“When I was little, my parents did not have the means to provide us with Albanian TV channels. We are at school all day and we listen to American television where everything is in English, and they (the parents) also try to learn English because they work here, so the language is being lost very, very quickly, within a generation.” , Kosovic said.
The Albanian language is included in the curriculum of Harvard University as an elective subject and will be offered in three levels of study – elementary, intermediate and advanced, the Albanian media added.
Standardized in 1972, the Albanian language has two main, mutually intelligible dialects, Northern Gegian and Southern Toscan, as well as several other sub-dialects and variants, notes Harvard Magazine. Besides being the official language of Albania and the majority in Kosovo, it is spoken by minority communities in other Balkan countries such as the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, as well as in Greece, Italy and Turkey.
Source : BTA
