The Department of italian language has been taught at the Translation and Interpretation Faculty since 1946. The Department of the Italian Language was established in 1972. The Department provides students with a solid linguistic background by teaching all aspects of oral and written communication of the Italian language (as a Second/ Third Language). The academic staff offers courses to students who seek a degree in Translation/Interpretation and

   Translation Studies at MSLU's Translation and Interpretation Faculty as well as to students who_pursue their degrees in Public Relations and Regional Studies at MSLU's Institute for International Relations and Social-political Sciences. In 2000 the Department members began to teach Italian at MSLU's Linguistic Lyceum.

   The Department provides a solid foundation in such academic disciplines as Theory of Phonetics, Theory of Grammar, History of the Italian Language and Introduction to Roman Philology, Lexicology and Stylistics of the Italian Language. The academic staff also provides translation and interpretation classes as well as a course in Partial (area-restricted) Translation Theory. Successful students have an opportunity to enroll in simultaneous interpretation course.

   The students of the Department write interim academic papers and graduate projects on current issues in translation of political, scientific, technical and literary texts as well as on lexical and stylistic challenges of translation/interpretation.

   The Department had encouraged its alumni to help create a Centre for Italian Language and Culture, which was opened on October 7, 1999. The Centre is used for classes, round table discussions and film viewings. In 1995/1996 the Department began to offer fee-paying, evening courses in Italian.

   The Department members are engaged in research and instructional support activities. The Department maintains close cooperation with the Italian Institute of Culture, which operates under the directorship of the Italian Embassy in the Russian Federation, and the School of Modern Languages for Translators and Interpreters at the University of Trieste, which offers annual internship programs for the students and the members of the Department.

   The Department maintains relations (established in 1997) with the Sapienza University of Rome. In 2000 the Department established relations with the League of Cooperatives network of Syracuse (Sicily), the University of Turin, the University of Perugia. In April, 2003 the Department established relations with the regional government of Sicily.

   In 1998 the Department set up a student jury for the Grintsane Kavur literary award (Turin). There are only 12 student voting centre`s for this prize in the world.
The current head of the department is Dmitriy Vasilievich Ryabtsev, (appointed in 1993), Associate Professor, graduate of the Moris Torez Institute of Foreign languages, Department of Translation and Interpretation (1971).