BEIJING FOREIGN STUDIES UNIVERSITY SECOND LATIN INTENSIVE SUMMER COURSE
The second Latin Summer Intensive Course has taken place in Beijing from June 25thto July 6th,2012,with the participation of about 150 students.
The course was organized byLatinitas Sinica, Centre for Latin Language and Culture, and the National Research Centre of Overseas Sinology, both part of Beijing Foreign Studies University.
The course, thanks to some generous benefactors, was offered free of charge as a service to the society and a way to promote Latin language in China and friendly cultural exchanges between China and the West.
The teachers involved were prof Michele Ferrero, who is also director ofLatinitas Sinica, Luo Ying, researcher at the National Research Centre of Overseas Sinology and member ofLatinitas Sinica,prof Quentin Dauthier, teacher of Latin at the Graduate School of the Academy of Social Sciences and adviser toLatinitas Sinica, prof Miran Sajovic from the Faculty of Classics of the Salesian University in Rome, and Wang Shuofeng, from Beijing Foreign Studies University.
The number of the students registered was originally 170 and about 120 students persevered to the end of the course and after the exam received the certificate of attendance and completion of the course.
There were three classes: two of beginners and a smaller one, about 25 students, of advanced level.
The course focused mainly on introduction to Latin grammar, but included also presentation of Roman and Medieval traditions and stories, Latin songs and proverbs, readings from famous classics and examples of contemporary use of Latin in the world.
One of the most characteristics events of the course was the guided visit to the Latin inscriptions in the Beijing Zhalan cemetery, where more than 60 tombstones of 17thand 18thcentury’s Jesuits are preserved in good state of conservation. These tombstones included famous figures such as Matteo Ricci, Ferdinand Verbiest, Adam Schall von Bell, Giuseppe Castiglione and Augustin Hallesrstein.
The students were extremely pleased with the course. They appreciated in particular the availability of the teachers to spend time with them even outside the regular time of the classes.
The teachers were impressed by the hard working attitude of these students, some of whom came for afar, ready to sacrifice their summer afternoons and evening to study a language that, although very important in Western culture, is quite hard to master.
The organizers plan to repeat the course next year and perhaps extend it to other locations in China.
Teachers – insegnanti – magistri –老师
