Class of 2012 - Major in Japanese & Linguistics
I have never been as motivated to study any subject as much as I did Japanese, and I don’t think I ever will be. Learning material for tests was never a chore, because I found almost all aspects of the program, from language to culture to history, truly amazing and eye-opening. There was many an evening I annoyed my family with endless facts on the Tale of the Genji and the Tokugawa shogunate, and I'm sure they would tell you as much! Although I was raised in a monolingual household, I have always been fascinated by languages, and Japanese provides excellent exercise for an eager mind. UC Davis' program is home to a helpful an enthusiastic group of professors, and I encourage anyone with an interest in EALC to take it on as a double major, no matter what else you are studying. Japanese has truly given me the tools to think in ways that I never could before, and I am endlessly grateful for the compassionate experience I was provided by UC Davis.