Humanities Program Spotlight:

Bonjour tout le monde! Benvenuti a tutti!
Students of French and Italian Broadcast on the Underground

There is nothing quite like a live audience to sharpen one's writing and speaking skills, especially in a second language! The Department of French and Italian, the Foreign Language Center, and Ohio State's student-run radio station, the Underground, recently collaborated to provide undergraduate French and Italian students with the opportunity to create and broadcast foreign language programs worldwide via the Internet. Professors Janice Aski (Italian) and Wynne Wong (French) supervised five students as they prepared two inaugural hour-long programs, one each in French and Italian. The student DJs included communications and French major Carolyn Hersch; history, international studies, and French major Drew Bunker; undeclared sophomore Matt Jepsen; junior international studies and Italian major Matt Daniels; and senior Italian and English major Michelle Hungerford.

To prepare for their broadcasts, the students learned about the technology of streaming audio via the Internet, were required to pass a test on Underground policy, listened to programs on the Underground, and served as DJs for a one-hour broadcast in English. To prepare their French and Italian programs, the student DJs listened to radio programs in their respective target languages to familiarize themselves with different styles of delivery, levels of humor, and content. They also worked with Vinnie Young, a recent Ohio State graduate who majored in Italian and had previously completed an independent study on Italian Radio with Professor Aski. Professors Wong and Aski helped students develop the content for their shows, reviewed their scripts, and helped them practice their pronunciation.

The French broadcast included music by various artists and musical groups, including Zebda, Milene Farmer, M, and Gregory Lemarchal, as well as segments on the DaVinci Code, Québécois music and slang, and contemporary French politics. In addition to introducing bands, the Italian broadcast featured weather reports for various cities, tongue twisters, jokes from an Italian joke book, and news. According to student DJ Carolyn Hersch, the mix of media, language, and cultural studies was a winning combination: "The show was so much fun! I enjoyed learning the inner workings of doing a radio show, while at the same time learning a bit about French music. Definitely a good experience!"

The three-credit-hour independent study course will be offered again in autumn quarter 2006. Student DJs will be asked to train new language DJs at the Underground in upcoming quarters. For more information please contact Rebecca Bias (bias.3@osu.edu)in the Foreign Language Center. Additional pictures of the DJs at work and brief audio excerpts from the programs are available online at http://frit.osu.edu/frittx/fritradio.htm.