News and Events

• Experiential Learning  [Recent]

   Japanese language education at Linfield stresses the connections between language learning in the classroom and real life applications of Japanese language skills. An experience at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is translating into solid skills for Linfield College language students.

   Six students and a Linfield faculty member are translating the descriptions of planes and helicopters from English into Japanese for Evergreen. The translations will be compiled into a book and available for guests to borrow as they tour the museum.

   "This is a rare opportunity for students," Chris Keaveney, Linfield professor of Japanese, said. "I wanted the students to see that translation requires tremendous skills and concentration."

   Japanese majors at Linfield also have the opportunity to participate in an internship at the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima during their year in Japan.

   A Japanese minor is completing a paid internship as a counselor at a two-week Japanese language immersion camp called Aozora Gakko at the Sheridan Japanese School in Sheridan, Oregon.

•Speech Contest Winners [Spring 2011]

   For the second consecutive year, Linfield students placed first and second in Division 2 of the Toyama Cup Speech Contest, a Japanese language speech contest for all university and college students of Japanese in Oregon. And for the second year in a row, the first place winner form Linfield, Rebecca, also won an all expenses paid trip to Japan to serve as a cultural ambassador in Toyama Prefecture. 

Please go to Department of Modern Languages page on Facebook to view the award-winning speeches.

•Japanese Senior Summit [Spring 2011]

   One Linfield student participated in the first second Japanese and Japanese Studies Senior Summit, an event that brought together seniors majoring in either Japanese or Japanese Studies from Linfield College, Willamette University, Pacific University and Lewis and Clark College. The summit this year was hosted by Willamette University in Salem. The participating students gave presentations about their research, participated in a tea ceremony workshop and demonstration, and had formal and informal discussions about their future plans and what they hope to do with their major. Linfield’s lone representative, Tiffany, spoke in Japanese about the relationship between cellphone fiction and women’s literature of the Heian period.

Please go to Department of Modern Languages page on Facebook to view the slideshow.

•Japanese National Honor Society [Spring 2011]

   Linfield College introduced a chapter of the Japanese National Society. One of our graduating seniors, Tiffany, received a recognition from the Society for academic excellence in Japanese classes.

•Scholarships and Fellowships [2011]

   A Japanese major, Leah, is completing a year’s study in Japan at Doshisha University supported by a generous Boren Scholarship. All six of our students have received JASSO Scholarships from the Japanese government to support their study at Kanto Gakuin University in Yokohama. In addition, two of those students, Katelyn and Gaby, also received highly competitive Bridging Scholarships from the Association of Teachers of Japanese. A recent Linfield graduate who majored in Japanese received a prestigious Fulbright Grant to research generational differences in language use among the Japanese speaking community in Lima, Peru.

•Our Graduating Senior Majors [2011]

  Our two graduating senior majors, Matt and Tiffany, were both selected to serve as ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) in the JET program.

•Japanese Language Assistant [2011]

  The Japanese program is also very pleased to welcome Ms. Nao Okumura as Linfield’s first Japanese language assistant via the ALLEX Program. While assisting the Japanese instructors, Ms. Okumura will be pursuing a degree in Sociology.

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•Speech Contest Winners [Spring 2010]

   Linfield students placed first and second in Division 2 of the Toyama Cup Speech Contest, a Japanese language speech contest for all university and college students of Japanese in Oregon. The first place winner, Lily, also won an all expenses paid trip to Japan to serve as a cultural ambassador in Toyama Prefecture. 

Please go to Department of Modern Languages page on Facebook to view the award-winning speeches.

•Japanese Senior Summit [Spring 2010]

   Linfield hosted the first annual Japanese and Japanese Studies Senior Summit, an event that brought together seniors majoring in either Japanese or Japanese Studies from Linfield College, Willamette University, Pacific University and Lewis and Clark College. The participating students gave presentations about their research, participated in a tea ceremony workshop and demonstration, and had formal and informal discussions about their future plans and what they hope to do with their major.

Please go to Department of Modern Languages page on Facebook to view the slideshow.

•Scholarships and Fellowships [2010]

  One of the students, Lily, a senior who minored in both Spanish and Japanese at Linfield, received a Fulbright Fellowship to pursue research about language use among Peruvians of Japanese descent. Another student, Leah, was awarded a prestigious Boren Scholarship to fund one year of academic study at Doshisha University in Japan. Three seniors, Amy and Kyle, and one recent graduate, also named Kyle, all of whom minored in Japanese at Linfield, were chosen to serve as ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) n the JET program this year.