IML: Spreading Language with a Purpose

The Institute of Modern Languages ​​(IML) of the University of Dhaka, established in 1974 in accordance with the 6th Statutes of the University of Dhaka with a view to providing facilities for the study of modern languages, has been playing a pioneering role in spreading foreign language education in Bangladesh. Currently, IML has been offering 4-year long non-degree courses in 14 languages i. e. Arabic, Bengali (for foreigners only), Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. It also offers 60 hour-long short courses in different languages. These courses are open not only to the students of the University of Dhaka, but also to all citizens of Bangladesh who need to gain competence in any of these languages. Many businessmen, diplomats, professionals, and research scholars have been learning different languages at IML and utilizing their acquired knowledge and skills in these languages in serving the interests of the country.

Many distinguished foreign language teachers from China, Russia, Japan, France, Turkey, Spain, India and Saudi Arabia joined IML to teach their mother tongue to our students. Dr. Tsuyoshi Nara (Japanese), Valentina Jinovieva (Russian), Heugen Schultz (German), Ali Reza Soltani (Persian), Dr. Monique Couloud (French), Mrs. Jennifer Becket (English), Mrs. Balen Morales (Spanish), Ms. Hiroko Kasuya and Mr. Kei Shirai (Japanese), Dr. Michael Dobbin (English), Lee Jee Yeu (Chinese), Dr. Metin Akkus (Turkish), Cuk Yun Mee (Korean), Dr Poonom Gupta ( India), Amparo Porta Rivas (Spain), Moncho Iglesias (Spain) are only a few of these distinguished foreign faculty members. Each year a new group of foreign teachers come to IML as a part of the collaborative exchange programme to teach foreign languages.

During the academic year 2015-2016, IML has initiated 4-year long BA (Hons.) in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and BA (Hons.) in French Language and Culture (FLC).The following year, IML has introduced BA (Hons.) in Japanese Language and Culture and BA (Hons.) in Chinese Language and Culture.

In addition, IML has been offering MPhil and PhD degrees in English and Linguistics on a regular basis. The names and duration of the available courses and their duration are as follows:

Since the academic year 1983-84, the Journal of the Institute of Modern Languages has been regularly published bilingually in English and Bengali (ISSN: 1992-8971). In terms of content, it is the oldest and the leading research journal on foreign language education in Bangladesh. Although the journal was originally available in printed version, some recently published issues have been made available online for free reading and downloading from IML website (https://iml.du.ac.bd/).

IML has been carrying out an array of co-curricular and extracurricular activities since the beginning of its establishment. One of the significant events is “Alokito Shokal” introduced in 2018 by the then Director, Professor Dr. Shishir Bhattacharja. In this event, distinguished speakers give lectures on various topics, not limited only to language teaching and learning. Students and faculty members along with guests from outside have been sharing knowledge and viewpoints through this event. The distinguished foreign speakers include Prof. Dr. Prashant Pardeshi, Dr. Yasunari Imamura, Dr. Li Ping, and Dr. Chris Tang. Apart from the aforesaid activity, some other co-curricular and extracurricular activities such as the annual picnic, Ikebana Workshop, Hiroshima Day, Handwriting Competition, Japanese Language Speech Competition, Chinese Spring Festival, Japan Festival, publishing of souvenirs of various language programmes, etc. have been organized on a regular basis.