East Asian Languages and Cultures

Why study Chinese? Why study Japanese?

Some surprising facts

The sign on Woodworth House, home of East Asian Languages and Cultures department (left, Chinese; right, Japanese)

Since the events of 9/11, most American colleges and universities have placed increasing emphasis on promoting diversity and international perspectives within their institutional outlook. How do we promote global understanding and diversity here at Connecticut College? Can our curriculum truly reflect such values and meet the contemporary demands of ever-changing world?

The EALC department at Connecticut College offers you a unique opportunity to study and immerse yourself in East Asia and to become the kind of educated, global citizen on which our interconnected world depends. Through the study of Chinese or Japanese language and culture, you will develop a more balanced world view, and ultimately, will find a much broader range of potential career paths opened up to you.

How long before I'm speaking Japanese or Chinese? According to the Foreign Service Institute, achieving proficiency in Chinese and Japanese requires significantly more time for English-speaking learners than it does in the Romance languages such as French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Thus, students who undertake the study of either language at Connecticut College should expect to invest substantial energy and effort into this endeavor.

Tek-wah King giving instruction on the development of Chinese characters.

What are the rewards of the study of Japanese or Chinese? Dedicated students will find their hard work and perseverance amply rewarded. Those who complete the intensive four-year sequence in either Chinese or Japanese, work closely with EALC's dedicated language teachers, and take advantage of study abroad opportunities will be well prepared to put their language skills into use in the 'real' world beyond Connecticut College. Many of those who participated in the program were selected for internships in China or Japan. Furthermore, while facing a fast changing contemporary world and highly competitive job market today, EALC graduates with proficiency in Chinese or Japanese will find open doors to many challenging and exciting career opportunities and be uniquely well-positioned for jobs in government, international relations, business, finance, tourism, entertainment, human rights, international law, translation, teaching and much, much more.

Some surprising facts

Chinese has a relatively uncomplicated grammar. Unlike French, German or English, Chinese has no verb conjugation (i.e., tense inflection) and no noun declension (e.g., gender and number distinctions). For example, while you have to memorize different verb forms of “see/saw/seen” in English, all you need to do in Chinese is just to remember one word: "kan.

While you have to distinguish between "cat" and "cats" in English, in Chinese there is only one form: "mao." Also, the basic word order of Chinese is “SVO” (subject + verb + object), which is exactly like that of English.

Finally, remember these two facts: currently Mandarin Chinese is spoken by over 1 billion people around the world, about one fifth of the global population; each year more and more non-Chinese native born students around the world are studying Chinese with enthusiasm. If they all can learn it, so can you!

Japanese has a simple, accurate grammatical system that is completely systematized. There is also no definitive or indefinite article. And, did you know that Japanese is full of borrowed, transliterated vocabulary that makes mastery of sophisticated word fairly easy? The following are some examples, koohii (coffee), aisukuriimu (ice cream), konpyuutaa (computer), iimeeru (email), Amerika (America), rooraa bureedo (roller blades), intaanetto kafe (internet café), Happii baasudee (Happy Birthday), and so on. Finally, Japanese pronunciation is not difficult. It has only FIVE vowels and fewer consonants than many other languages.

Find out what our students have to say about studying Chinese and Japanese at Connecticut College.