I just saw an ad for a full scholarship (incl. room & board) for a summer of study at Middlebury. It's probably pretty competitive, but it'd be worth trying. I did one summer there a few years ago and found it incredibly helpful. The students of Japanese lived in one dorm, ate together, had Japanese tv in the lounge and weren't allowed to speak anything other than Japanese for the summer.

http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/ls/f...ps/kwd.htm

I'm sorry to start a whole thread for this, but maybe it can be useful to post other scholarships as they come up.

How were they able to coerce the students to speak only Japanese when they are constantly surrounded by other foreigners?

Is it for American Citizens only?

I'd like to join.
But I am from the UK, sadly.

I don't know anything beyond what the webpage says about the fellowships, but that doesn't say anything about being limited to Americans. You might email to ask. I imagine you'd have to cover your own transportation costs, though. One of the students in my class was from the UK.

Middlebury requires all the students to sign a pledge saying they will only speak the language they're learning. There were a number of native speaker interns there to help students practice; I imagine they were also on the lookout for people chatting in English.

Makes me wish I could drop everything and go. -sigh-

Sounds like a great way to learn extremely bad Japanese. Two non-natives having a Japanese conversation together = reinforcing unnatural and incorrect Japanese.

Wow, I wish I could go. I'm probably too young. And that's just the beginning of the problems -- I'd still need to get the scholarship. Not exactly easy.

Tobberoth Wrote:Sounds like a great way to learn extremely bad Japanese. Two non-natives having a Japanese conversation together = reinforcing unnatural and incorrect Japanese.

He makes a good point there.

http://www.studyjapan.go.jp/en/toj/toj0302e.html

This program is quite atractive. It has options for high school, undergraduate and graduate students.

I don't see the point in talking to other non-native speakers in Japanese. It seems like everyone will just mimic whoever seems most confident regardless of who is correct. When people are unsure, they agree with whoever seems most sure. Then everyone will start using the bad grammar of whoever seems the most confident. Are they doing anything to counteract this?

I think all the concerns are valid and I myself would rather go to an immersion program in the country itself, but...
In general, the Middlebury programs are extremely well-respected and known for turning out speakers with very high levels of proficiency in short periods of time. They do tons of drilling of pronunciation, etc. It has all the plusses and minuses of classroom experiences everywhere (being with other non-native speakers etc) but it seems a lot of the added benefit comes from everyone trying hard and very good teaching and learning practices. So I guess, if you were going to any program that is not in Japan, this would be the one to go to. (That being said, I only know people who have done it for languages other than Japanese)

I would recommend people going to Language schools in Japan though, it's really amazing for Japanese proficiency. However, I realize this isn't a possibility for everyone. (Everyone from Sweden though, GO! You can borrow from CSN for pretty much every expanse there is.. It's a 150 000KR loan for 1 year, but it's SO worth it.)

It seems good, I would never be able to afford to get out of my own country let alone get enough money to study and learn at another one.
The Idea is appealing enough but I will set it aside for when I'm old enough to actually do it. xD

I just took a look at the courses they offer and they don't really go that high - about equivalent to 4th year at a normal university. The advantage is that it's intensive (4 hours/day classtime) so you get it done pretty quickly (9 weeks per course).

That said, I can't imagine why you'd choose to do this kind of program while staying in an English speaking country, other than the scholarship possibility. Immersion from being surrounded by a bunch of other Japanese learners speaking poorly is nothing like being immersed in Japan.

Jarvik7 Wrote:That said, I can't imagine why you'd choose to do this kind of program while staying in an English speaking country, other than the scholarship possibility........Immersion from being surrounded by a bunch of other Japanese learners speaking poorly is nothing like being immersed in Japan.

Tobberoth Wrote:Sounds like a great way to learn extremely bad Japanese. Two non-natives having a Japanese conversation together = reinforcing unnatural and incorrect Japanese.

Speaking Japanese is better than not speaking it at all, even if the your conversation tends to be unnatural and full of mistakes. Improving your speaking ability requires two things: massive amounts of input, and massive amounts of speaking practice (regardless of what Kazzy says. Look at any bilingual speaker who only speaks to his or her parents in English, even though their parents speak to them in their native tongue. Massive amounts of input, but no practice. They can hardly speak their "native" language)

Assuming the instructors are Japanese, it sounds like you are being placed in an AJATT-like environment. Of course being completely surrounded by other native speakers would be ideal, but the idea is to be forced into speaking Japanese. It is arguably very difficult, or impossible, to gain proficiency in a foreign language when you can always rely on your native tongue when you can't think of what to say.

Whether the environment truely is enforcing strictly speaking Japanese is another question, but the idea is certainly there.

The only reason to consider going to this school is because you might be able to go for free (or you're on parole and can't leave the country). If you're paying money why NOT go to Japan?

It's actually not that hard to get scholarships for study in Japan from what I hear.

I was about to write becuase of the cost; I was sure that doing something this would surely be much less than actually coming out to Japan.

Completely wrong: The 9 week program will cost you $8,995

I couldn't agree with you more, Jarvik.

Jarvik7 Wrote:It's actually not that hard to get scholarships for study in Japan from what I hear.

Really? That's news to me or are you only talking about students?
I've been looking into that for quite a while but couldn't find a scholarship for me at all.
Most of them are for students, meaning people who are still somewhat involved with their college, university, postgrad, PhD or whatever.
I've finished university some time ago and I don't intend to get a PhD, so there seem to be NO scholarships for people like that.
Correct me if I'm wrong. (?!)

chochajin Wrote:Really? That's news to me or are you only talking about students?
I've been looking into that for quite a while but couldn't find a scholarship for me at all.
Most of them are for students, meaning people who are still somewhat involved with their college, university, postgrad, PhD or whatever.
I've finished university some time ago and I don't intend to get a PhD, so there seem to be NO scholarships for people like that.
Correct me if I'm wrong. (?!)

From the ministry of education:
You would possibly qualify for http://www.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/canada_e/C...uction.pdf

The other option is to get a second BA if you have 5 years to throw at it

From JASSO:
http://www.jasso.go.jp/study_j/documents...07_e02.pdf
There are a couple that you could possibly qualify for. There is one listed for JP language institute, research, auditor, or a masters degree, as well as the normal undergraduate ones.

Jarvik7 Wrote:From JASSO:
http://www.jasso.go.jp/study_j/documents...07_e02.pdf
There are a couple that you could possibly qualify for. There is one listed for JP language institute, research, auditor, or a masters degree.

Thanks for the links. But those are only for official universities, not for "normal" Japanese language schools in Japan, right?
And I would have to study "something" alongside Japanese to qualify for those? Sorry, it's a bit confusing.

And I already have a masters degree, so I don't wanna throw away 5 more years for another bachelor *g*

Research & auditors are probably at a normal university, but one of the JASSO scholarships lists JP language institute, which would be something like Yamasa I think.

Seems like it, I'm just not sure what they mean by "pre-college" students.
Anyway thanks a lot