The Foreign Language and Literatures Department has begun offering study in two more languages this semester — thanks to the Internet.

Introductory Czech and Polish are now available.

These languages are taught under the REEES Distance Learning Consortium, aimed at enriching Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies throughout the state and the region.

According to the department’s Web site, www.language.iastate.edu, the consortium is supported by Iowa’s three public universities, with funding from the United States Department of Education’s Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Languages program.

Students watch lectures given by U of I professors live by Internet video conferencing.

Dawn Bratsch-Prince, chairwoman of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, said none of the institutions have the resources to offer the programs individually.

“[This is] the best way to teach the less commonly taught languages,” she said.

Six students are currently enrolled in Czech at Iowa State and four are learning Polish. Bratsch-Prince is optimistic about the potential of the courses.

Chris Anderson, a student in Introductory Polish, said not having a live professor in class is a new experience.

“It’s a bit different taking a class over the computer, not being able to talk to the teacher,” Anderson said.

Both agree the best way to learn is through face-to-face interaction.

“We have found out that in addition to the technology, a foreign language class needs to have personal contact with someone,” Bratsch-Prince said.

To combat the long distance of lectures, Joanna Renclawowicz, a native speaker of Polish, and Barbara Slendakova, a native Czech speaker, aide the students by helping them with assignments and answering questions they have.

“The technology serves as the basis of the class, but the personal contact is something that we realize is also a necessity,” Bratsch-Prince stated.

Overall, the feeling is that the difficulty of the class may be greater than a face-to-face language class.

Bratsch-Prince said although it would be ideal to have a professor in the classroom, it is important to provide access to other languages for ISU students.

The REEES program will expand next year, adding a Serbo-Croatian-Bosnian language course, as well as nine courses that will be taught in English.