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Bengali

College of Liberal Arts

Bengali Text

Bengali is an eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken by around 220 million people. It is the national language of Bangladesh and is native to the area of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which also includes West Bengal and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam.                                 

Bengali originally evolved from Middle Indo-Aryan dialects of the Indian subcontinent such as Magadhi Prakit and Pali. Presently, Bengali, or Bangla, has two literary styles: Sadhubhasa, the traditional formal, written language and Chaltibhasa, the vernacular, spoken language that is based on the speech of educated people in Calcutta.

Learn More About Lower and Upper Division Bengali Courses Below

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Lower-Division Courses

BEN 506, First-Year Bengali I (Fall)

Not open to native speakers of Bengali. Five class hours a week for one semester.

BEN 507, First-Year Bengali II (Spring)

Not open to native speakers of Bengali. Continuation of Bengali 506. Five class hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Bengali 506 with a grade of at least C.

BEN 312K, Second-Year Bengali I (Fall)

Not open to native speakers of Bengali. Three class hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Bengali 507 with a grade of at least C.

BEN 312L, Second-Year Bengali II (Spring)

Not open to native speakers of Bengali. Continuation of Bengali 312K. Three class hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Bengali 312K with a grade of at least C.

Upper-Division Courses

BEN 320K, Advanced Bengali I (Fall)

Not open to native speakers of Bengali. Three class hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Bengali 312L with a grade of at least C.

BEN 320L, Advanced Bengali II (Spring)

Not open to native speakers of Bengali. Continuation of Bengali 320K. Three class hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Bengali 320K with a grade of at least C.

BEN 360, Conference Course in Bengali Language and Literature

Supervised individual study of selected problems in Bengali language and literature. Conference course. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and written consent of instructor on form obtained from the undergraduate adviser.

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