“When I first came to Harvard, my biggest frustration was that I couldn’t learn a South African language, which makes it rather difficult to do senior thesis research in South Africa,” said Bethany L. Hoag ’06.

But with the new innovations, Akyeampong vowed, students will get to Africa well before the time for thesis research rolls around.

The African Language Program will be an integral part of the department’s new African Studies track, which is scheduled to debut in fall 2004.

Some proficiency in an African language will be a requirement for a degree in the new sub-concentration (four semesters for honors degree candidates and two semesters for non-honors candidates) and will fulfill the College’s language requirement.

The beauty of the new program is its flexibility,” Akyeampong said.

Deciding which among the more than 2,000 African languages to offer was the program’s first challenge. In an effort to offer the largest number possible, the program has divided its offerings into two categories.

The lingua franca of each of the three major sub-regions of Africa will be taught regularly each year.

Assorted other languages will be offered through the African Language Tutorials Course on an on-demand basis.

The other major component of the program is a revamped and broadened set of study abroad opportunities, which will give students the chance to travel to Kenya, Niger and Ghana.

“We hope to give students a taste of what it means to be in a place they are not used to,” Mugane said.

Facility in any one of the three main languages—Hausa from West Africa, Swahili from East Africa and Zulu or its cousin Xhosa from South Africa—would enable students hoping to study in those parts of Africa to communicate successfully.

Students who have completed the Elementary Hausa course at the end of this year can journey to the University of Niamey in Niger to further study the language and participate in directed field study of environmental or health issues.

Students of Kikuyu or Swahili will have the chance to visit universities in Kenya and can also participate in an oral history project, led by Assistant Professor of History Caroline M. Elkins, which centers on the life stories of survivors of the Mau Mau Rebellion.

A long list of other languages, including Igbo, Kikuya, Twi, Wolof, Yoruba, Ethiopic and Banama, will be taught by native language speakers in the Boston area through the tutorial program.

“If there is no demand for a language, we won’t offer it, but if there is interest, we pull the native speaker’s file and bring them in to teach,” Akyeampong said. “It is not an infrastructure, which demands us to pay additional teachers,” he added.