B.A. Bengali (Bachelor of Arts in Bengali) - Course, Eligibility, Syllabus, Colleges, Fees, Career Scope

What is B.A. Bengali?

Bachelor of Arts in Bengali or B.A. Bengali is a three-year-long undergraduate curriculum that deals extensively with Bangla literature and language and the art domain it covers. Particularly, Bachelor of Arts in Bengali is the analysis of literature, verse, and syntax, grammar, semantics, punctuations, in Bengali. Bengali, also known as Bangla, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly by Bengali in South Asia, especially in the eastern region of India, currently separated into Bangladesh and the West Bengal, Tripura, and lower Assam states. It is Bangladesh's official language, and the most commonly spoken.
Also Read: Bengali Course

This language has more than 200 million native speakers worldwide, but it also has a prominent place as the 5th "mostly spoken" language in the world. Bengali is the second most widely spoken language in India. There is some variation between the Bengali language spoken and written in Bangladesh and West Bengal. A dialect is formed by geographical variation in spoken Bengali. Linguist Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay classified these dialects into four main categories – Rarhi, Bengali, Kamrupi and Varendra; but there are also two dialect groups, Jharkhandi, Rajbongsi.

B.A. Bengali Eligibility

• Aspiring students should have passed higher secondary (10 + 2) examinations from a recognised education board of the council. Students should have the Bengali language as their compulsory subject in 10+2, from which they can opt for this subject.

• Generally, fifty per cent of marks are needed however the percentage could differ from state to state and from university to university.

• There is a relaxation of SC, ST and OBC candidates of five per cent of marks.

• Candidates should fulfil the age limit as well, the minimum age limit of this course is 17 years and the maximum limit is 23 years. But there are exceptions though in this criteria. This age limit criteria can also vary from states to states.

Also Read:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Master of Arts

B.A. Bengali Skills Required

Candidates must possess certain skills to follow a course that will help them make the best use of their qualification. Candidates must possess certain skills to follow a course that will help them make the best use of their qualification.

• Grammatical skills: Applicants ought to have comprehensive knowledge of the antonyms, synonyms and figures of speech used in Bengali literature and day to day conversation.
  
  

• Writing skills: Aspiring individuals should always be capable of writing complicated Bengali words differently, without errors in spelling.

• Linguistic skills: The applicant should always be able to communicate with people in Bengali, in both verbal communication and written format. The applicant should also be aware of the syntax, semantics and how the language is originated.

• Reading ability: The students ought to be enthusiastic towards reading Bengali literature, which includes fiction, poetry, prose, essay and novels.

• Critical Thinking: Capacity to systematically analyze various language forms, as well as texts relating to specific social, cultural, political, economic, historical and literary perspectives. In each of the above-listed areas, they need the ability to define, address and present problems.

• Analytical Reasoning: They develop the potential for critical review and interpretation of the Bengali written and oral documents and the ability to generate organized, argumentative writings in Bengali. Builds up the ability to use descriptive signs to grasp the characteristics of different domain writings.

• Multicultural Competence: The applicant should always improve knowledge and comprehension of Bengali culture's values, beliefs, activities in the multicultural sense of literary cultures in India and around the world, and recognize those perceptions within one's multicultural society.

Top Colleges for B.A. in Bengali

• Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata
• Jadavpur University (JU) Kolkata
• Miranda House, Delhi
• Presidency University, Kolkata
• St Xavier's College, Kolkata

B.A. Bengali Subject List

The core subjects of the Bachelor of Arts in Bengali will vary from college to college. There are, however, some common topics covered by all colleges and universities in the Bachelor of Arts in Bengali programme.

1st Year (Semester 1)

Socio-cultural background of Bengali:

• A brief overview of some of the sociohistorical trends.

• Reasons and conditions of individual lives at the then society.

Ancient and Medieval Literature:

• A series of mystical Buddhist poemsCharyapada, which is regarded as the earliest original work in Bengali literature.

• Adaptations from multiple Ramayana incidents in Bengali literature which is named as Mangal-Kavya.

History of Literature (Ancient & Medieval):

• A detailed study of the old, medieval, and modern era.

• West Bengal's history and the development of Bengali literature from ancient times to the present.

Concurrent – Qualifying Language

1st Year (Semester 2)

19th Century Play:

• Research on the dramas of the Bengali novelists.

19th Century Poetry:

• Research on the poetic art of many Bengali poets.

19th Century Fiction & Rhetoric:

• Fictions of the nineteenth century which is known as a renaissance of Bengali literature.

Concurrent – Credit Language

2nd Year ( Semester 3)

Tagore (i) (Novel, Criticism, Autobiography):

• Study the novels, criticism and the autobiography of the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Indian Literature in Translation:

• Stylistic skills involved in translating actual literature from another language into Bengali.

20th Century Literature (Novels):

• Research the literary works of Binoy Majumdar, Mohit Chattopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Prafulla Roy.

Concurrent – Interdisciplinary

2nd Year (Semester 4)

20th Century Literature (Short Stories):

• Short stories of the writers which are mainly based on the then societies.

Tagore (ii) (Novel, Criticism, Autobiography)

• Study the novels, criticism and the autobiography of Rabindranath Tagore.

Concurrent – Discipline Centred I

3rd Year (Semester 5)

Post Tagore Poetry:

• Research the literary works of Nirmalendu Goon, Joy Goswami, Bimal Guha, Naresh Guha, Amitabh Mitra, Arun Mitra, Premendra Mitra and other poets.

History of Literature (19th & 20th Century)

• Study of the Bengali literature of the 19th and 20th century and its influence on the society.

Bengali Linguistics & Prosody:

• Speech elements which are not individual phonetic segments but are the attributes of syllables and larger speech units.

3rd Year (Semester 6)

Literary Theory & Criticism:

• Literature review and analyzing the expressions in which the reader's attention.

Prose (Non-Fictional):

• Study of technical writings that is focused entirely on detailed analysis and examination.

Concurrent – Discipline Centred II

B.A. Bengali Admission

Admission to this course is primarily focused on both merit and entrance examination based approaches. Almost fifty lakhs students take up this course across the country. Applicants with an interest in the Bengali language and its related fields are appropriate to take up this course.

• Some institutes/colleges undertake an entrance test accompanied by a personal assessment round to evaluate the applicants' eligibility to enter the B.A Bengali programme.

• Applications for enrollment are available on the college's official website as well as the college's admission centre.

• Some universities take students based on the marks they have obtained in their 10+2.

• Some of the entrance examinations are listed below:

1. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) entrance exam

2. Banaras Hindu University (BHU) entrance exam

3. Jadavpur University (JU) entrance exam

B.A. Bengali Fees

The Bachelor of Arts in Bengali or B.A Bengali course fee can vary from institution to institution. Over the total 3-year period, the average programme fees vary from Rs. 1,000 to two lakhs.

Career Options in B.A. Bengali

Bachelor of Arts in Bengali course offers an approach to the Bengali language by focusing on written and spoken Bengali in practice. This programme includes tenses, script and sounds, the morphology of the verb and adverbs, form and case of noun words, adjectives, conjunctions and the basic structure of sentences. This course gives candidates a platform for discussing research articles related to Bengali. This course helps applicants to communicate with speakers in Bengali and gain comfort with the script in Bengali culture and literature. By learning a language through interactions, some conversational skill is developed and role-plays dealing with a range of real-life situations. This course even gives applicants a fundamental understanding of Bengali and the experience of using Bengali in daily life.

Content Editor: Content editor oversees all of a publication's day-to-day functions, including a trade publication, magazine, newsletter, or scholarly journal. Editor-in-chief supervises all of a publication's staff, or unit, and assures that each issue is published on deadline. Some editors in chief worked up to this top place by beginning as authors, and as associates or executives of editing.

Letter Translator: Letter translators must read the letters or reports, write and edit documents, consult clients, prepare abstracts, use machine transcription software and maintain communications. They will work in translation agencies, industrial and commercial companies, the civil service, foreign bodies including the U.S. (United States) and the EU (European Union). Some of them are self-employed or function as a freelance writer, and have been paid for translation for every word.

Tour guides function for tour and cruise vessels, travel guides are hired by the tourist offices, private contractors, cruise lines, and hotels as temporary employees, or full-time professionals. Guides can take road trips or cruises, walking tours, across famous places, national forests, galleries, historic communities, or other area attractions. They would have to be able to remember times, historical details, and observations and afterwards provide enjoyable and insightful knowledge to tourists.

Language Interpreter: Bengali Interpreters are responsible for managing telephone calls and rendering the interpretation of the Bengali conversation with the respective language or English speakers. They help in translating non-Bengali speakers and work in Hospitals, Insurance, Education, Banking, Politics, Travel and Tourism, Electricity, Legal, Police departments, and General Business.

News Reporter and writer: A news writer researches the story and gets the evidence and checks completely. A reporter converses with the general public and with government figures. They take their thoughts and feelings into consideration and produce a newspaper article.

Account Manager: Account managers are liable for maintaining a large number of accounts, developing relations with potential clients, managing team performance, supervising account managers' work, and reaching high revenue targets. They even oversee multiple customer accounts and also reach objectives and strong revenue goals while supporting other employees.

Expected Salary after B.A. Bengali

The students in this discipline may pursue higher studies, that appears to be a much more promising suggestion for the students, or may join any profession in the different levels of publishing companies. Students from Bengali literature background can also opt for journalism as their profession and this can be a very promising career for any candidate. Now if say about an interpreter or a content editor even they can earn a handsome amount of salary.

Basically we can say that, students completing their B.A in Bengali can go for several job options. But it is also noteworthy that students might get higher posts after pursuing the master's degree. Not only higher studies but also experience can help students earn their desirable position and wages. Salary packages varying from position to organisation of an employee. The minimum salary of a candidate can vary from two lakhs to eight lakhs per annum depending on various factors. The undermentioned salary figures are only for reference purposes. Actual salaries may vary depending upon the geographical location of the job, employer & the interview and other factors as well.