Secondary Fields

The Department of  Romance Languages and Literatures welcomes beginning as well as advanced undergraduates to pursue a secondary field in RLL.

Secondary fields are offered in each of our major areas of study (French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish). Each of these options requires 5 half-courses. The requirements for the four options are the same, except that in Italian and Portuguese two advanced language courses may be counted instead of one (as is the case in French and Spanish), since students in Italian and Portuguese are more likely to have started their language study in college.

Students may choose courses exploring any period, genre, or cultural issue. Some courses in related fields offered in other programs or departments (e.g., a course on the history of Latin America, or on Italian Renaissance art) may be counted toward the secondary field. Relevant courses taken abroad or at the Harvard Summer School may also count. For these three options, students will need their RLL adviser’s approval. No independent study course (or supervised reading and research) may count toward the secondary field.

Students who plan to do a secondary field in Romance Languages and Literatures are required to meet once with an RLL adviser for an advising session before they have taken all their half-courses. The Undergraduate Adviser in the chosen language must sign the final form for secondary field credit.