Lots of people say they want to learn a language, but the task itself can be daunting if you don’t know where to start. I remember approaching college eager to learn Italian. Fortunately, Stanford paved a path for me to do so.

The Stanford Language Center prides itself on its unique approach to teaching foreign languages. It equips students with linguistic skills to not only augment their academic experience but also aid in potential work or study opportunities abroad. To fulfill the first-year language requirement, undergraduates choose from a broad spectrum of offerings, ranging from Japanese to Hindi to American Sign Language, and assuming beginner proficiency, typically complete a three-quarter sequence of classes. Furthermore, through the Special Language Program, a program unique to Stanford, learners can request instruction in a less commonly taught language to meet this requirement.

With a combined six decades of dedication, my Italian lecturers, Giovanni Tempesta and Alessandra McCarty, truly embody the Stanford Language Center’s mission. Tempesta says that he and his colleagues “just don’t give you language. We give you our heart. We give you our culture.” For Italian learners, this means both instructors frame their teaching around preparing students to navigate Italy through language in real-world scenarios. Tempesta explains his teaching approach “is not just teaching the grammar.” Referencing the department’s instruction style, McCarty adds that “it’s very creative and less stuck on the mechanical part of the language.” My favorite part of their language courses has been this creative element, often taking the form of conversations in Italian with peers on wide-ranging topics.

This dynamic approach to language acquisition resonates with many students at Stanford, including Evan Sing (‘26). A junior majoring in International Relations and minoring in Russian, Sing is an avid language learner who sees beauty where others might find confusion. A driving force he has carried with him through his study of French, Spanish and Russian is what he describes as being able to “understand something that [he] didn’t understand before.” He believes the grunt work of sitting down and learning a new grammar and its intricacies, albeit necessary, is just one part of the process. Sing suggests that to love the process of learning languages, learners need a “half study, half fun” mentality. So, in addition to grammar-intensive studying of a language, it’s important and beneficial to supplement learning by reading news articles, watching videos, or perhaps listening to music in the target language.  This balanced language-learning mentality is a core pillar of Stanford’s language courses.

Reflecting on his time in Stanford’s Sophomore College, Sing fondly remembers a Spanish immersion program that landed him on a local Spanish language radio show. Later, after taking Russian classes at Stanford, he continued his language journey in Tbilisi, Georgia through the Critical Language Scholarship, a U.S. Department of State program funding summer language study abroad. Sing recalls having “a lot of great conversations with taxi drivers” in Russian during his time there. Reaching such a degree of comfort using a foreign language isn’t an easy feat; it’s the result of hours of practice and the consistent decision to create with the language, even when making mistakes. To this end, McCarty knows she and her colleagues play a “very important role” in fostering a classroom where students feel “safe to take chances… to put [themselves] out there because that’s what is needed.”

This past fall, Sing was studying abroad in Paris through Stanford’s Bing Overseas Studies Program. “I would encourage anybody to study abroad,” Sing says. But, language learning need not stop with studying abroad, the first-year language requirement, or any of the aforementioned programs. Students looking to get practice in a language can utilize Language Tables or the Language Conversation Partner Program.  They can even join a language honor society, available for French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Stanford also offers non-core language courses, such as CHINLANG 131: Business Chinese, First Quarter and ARABLANG 10: Arabic Calligraphy, which explore language through alternative lenses. Ultimately, consistency and immersion are key to language learning, and Stanford provides options for just about any kind of learner.

As I continue studying Italian and other languages in the future, I’ll remember the mantra that Tempesta repeated in class throughout the quarter: in Italian, “Passione, Amore, Coraggio, Entusiasmo.”  Have passion, love, courage and enthusiasm for both the language and the process of learning it. Then, you are sure to get the most out of your experience.