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Academic Advising
What Can I Do With a Major in East Asian Languages and Cultures?
According to a recent report of the Modern Language Association (MLA), Japanese ranks sixth in the most studied foreign languages in American colleges and Chinese, the seventh. This trend reflects the importance of the current political and economic relationship between the U.S. and Asia. The U.S. and Japan, being ranked first and the third in the world economy, are important trading partners. Japan is the third largest export and import market in the U.S., while the U.S. is the number two trading partner (export/import) of Japan. China also has close economic ties to the U.S. China is the United States' second largest trading partner, largest source of imports, third largest export market and largest foreign investor of U.S. Treasuries. The U.S. is China's largest single trading partner and the largest export market. The U.S. is the number one foreign investor for both Japan and China.
An EALC major will provide a solid foundation for students to prepare them for such job markets. The major will also provide a strong academic background to students who wish to further pursue their academic degrees in Asian Studies or related fields.
Interests
The program caters to students who are interested in Asian languages and culture, becoming fluent in another language and developing an understanding of and appreciation for cultural differences.
Program Strengths and Unique Features
The program provides intensive studies in the languages and cultures of East Asia, where students can choose either a singular focus either on Japan or China, or a combination of both countries. Because of the long history of political, economic, and cultural interchange between the two countries, dating back thousands of years, it is advantageous for a student studying in one area to possess some knowledge about the other.
The focus of the program is on languages and cultures. Since languages are part of their cultures, we cannot study one without the other. In addition to the focus on the studies of languages and cultures, the program also provides area studies as "related hours," which provide a broadly based background on the three concentrations.
Courses are taught in Irvin Hall, which also houses the interactive language resource center that is available to all students. The resource center serves the language departments by actively implementing computer assisted language-learning technology into foreign language education. The center acts as a repository of foreign language related material and multimedia resources. Moreover, it serves to promote technological advances related to foreign language education through workshops, individualized assistance, conferences, and regular announcements.
Opportunities - Study Abroad/Experiential
We value the experience of studying abroad and encourage our students to immerse themselves in the cultures that they are studying. The Japanese program has the long history of exchange with our partner university, Kansai-gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. We also send students to universities in central Japan and Tokyo areas through an exchange consortium. The Chinese Program offers a summer intensive language workshop in Tianjin, China, has exchange programs with Liaoning Normal University in Dalian and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, and provides variety opportunities and financial aids for study abroad through the Confucius Institute at Miami University.
Opportunities - Student Activities
Events sponsored by student organizations like the Japanese Culture and Language Club and the Association of Asian American Students always draw a great number of participants and spectators from across campus, as well as from outside campus. The weekly Japanese and Chinese Language Tables provide regular opportunities for social and cultural exchange between American and Asian students. Students focusing on China may take residence at the Chinese Language Floor in one of Miami's residence halls to actively participate in a living-learning community.
Opportunities - After Graduation
Miami graduates with the Japanese major and minor have taken jobs in various areas that are directly and indirectly related to Japan, such as computer software companies, airline companies, the military, educational institutions, and publishing companies, etc. JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program), the Japanese government sponsored English teaching/cultural exchange program, is one of the most popular postgraduate career opportunities among our students. We typically send 3-8 students per year to Japan through this program. Miami is ranked fifth in Ohio out of 39 participating universities in terms of the number of applicants for this program. Overseas Internship programs like JET strengthen our students' linguistic ability and cultural knowledge and make them highly marketable for specialized jobs in international corporations, U.S.-Asia joint businesses, government jobs, and non-profit organizations such as the U.S.-Japan friendship societies; there are 33 American/Japanese government sponsored organizations and many more private organizations. Many Miami graduates with a Chinese major and minor find jobs in business, school and government, and some of them choose to go to graduate school.
Note: This data is based on the Japanese/Chinese minors since the EALC major is a newly created major in 2006-7 and there is no data available yet.
Sources of Additional Information
- German, Russian, and East Asian Languages with Arabic and Hebrew
(172 Irvin Hall, 529-2526, EALC Major adviser, Dr. Mieko Ono) - * Curriculum Requirements
* Career Opportunities - Career Services (200 Hoyt Hall, 529-3831)
- * Career Resource Center
* Career Counseling
* Career Assistance Center
* Computerized Career Development Program
* Dictionary of Occupational Titles
* Occupational Outlook Handbook - Arts and Science Academic Advising (146 Upham Hall, 529-3031)
- * Miami Plan & College of Arts and Science Requirements
- * Course Selection
* Career Decision Making - Office of International Education (216 MacMillan Hall, 529-5628)
- * Study and Work Abroad Advising
* Resource Library
Developed by the College of Arts and Science Advising Office and the academic departmental offices with adaptations from Liberal Arts and Sciences - Skills - Career Opportunities, Career Planning and Placement Office, University of Michigan.