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Student experience studying Japanese at summer program
(Story from Anna Grace Johnson)
At Middlebury’s Summer Immersion School, students sign a language pledge to only speak Japanese for two months while studying two semesters' worth of the language through classes. I attended this school in 2024, but when I first began the program, I could barely string a sentence in Japanese. Although it was difficult to only speak and hear Japanese at first, I was overjoyed to be surrounded by so many people who shared my interest in the Japanese language and culture. Through my bonds with others, I learned more about Japanese culture and language than I ever could before. Many of them told stories about what it is like to live in and visit Japan from the people around me. We also had many cultural events, like a summer festival and tea ceremonies.
Thanks to the language pledge, we were practicing Japanese constantly, and I left the program feeling much more confident in my skills. The next year, I studied abroad in Tokyo, Japan, for two months; however, I still feel like Middlebury improved my language skills more than going to Japan. Even after leaving the school, I still talk to friends from the program and consider this experience to be the best moment in my entire college career.
