Asian Languages and Literatures

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The Asian Languages and Literatures Department at Pomona College consists of two sections - Chinese and Japanese and may be available to Scripps students.  Please consult with the appropriate department chair (or equivalent) at the home college to discuss specific major/minor requirements. Scripps students who declare this major must complete a senior thesis. In addition to having a faculty major adviser in this discipline, Scripps students must maintain a primary Scripps faculty advisor.

Both Chinese and Japanese sections offer a variety of courses that help students acquire and develop advanced language proficiency and that foster an awareness and understanding of Asian cultures. Courses offered in English translation are often interdisciplinary in approach, introducing historical background, social, philosophical and political issues and other cultural matters. Students are encouraged to broaden their perspectives by taking courses in the Asian Studies Program. Many students participate in study-abroad programs for a semester or more in China or Japan.

The department utilizes three assets that further enrich students’ learning. (1) The Foreign Language Resource Center: a multipurpose space for language learning, teaching and professional development, with an emphasis on technology and an extensive film collection. (2) The Pacific Basin Institute, an entity with an extensive audiovisual library and a mandate to organize and support Asia-related events, lectures and students’ projects. (3) Oldenborg Center: Pomona’s international residence, with a dining hall that hosts language tables during the lunch hour. Students may also elect to live in the immersive environment of Oldenborg’s Chinese Hall or Japanese Hall.

Knowledge about Asia and its languages greatly enhances a liberal arts education by building an understanding of cultures very different from the environment of contemporary Western culture. Proficiency in an Asian language is increasingly an asset in the modern world; graduates in Asian languages and literatures have gone on to careers in business, law, government and higher education, living either in the U. S. or in Asia.

For more information about the Japanese and Chinese majors, minors and courses offered, please refer to the Pomona College catalog.

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