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Why Study Languages?
The ability to use another language and effectively function in other cultures is key to being a global educated citizen in the 21st century.
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Our Students
Yale-NUS students are curious about the world and its many cultures. Learn why our students decided to pursue the study of another language.
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Our Faculty
Our language courses are taught by experienced faculty with many years of teaching experience.
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Our Students' Experiences
Yale-NUS students continue their study of another language through internships, study abroad opportunities, and involvement in student organisations.
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Latest Events
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- Senior Lecturer, Chinese & Linguistics
- Hu Jing
What do you enjoy the most about teaching Chinese at Yale-NUS?
Teaching Chinese at Yale-NUS College has been a dream come true. Because of the high quality of the students, I constantly learn from them while teaching. In pre-modern China, people believed that “the mutual stimulation of teaching and Learning教學相長” was the ideal intellectual setting (Book of Rites 禮記). So do I. The pre-modern Chinese also developed a pedagogical model which parallels modern scholarly methods: “Read ten-thousand volumes and travel ten-thousand miles 讀萬卷書行萬里路” (Dong Qichang 董其昌: “Principles in Painting” 画旨). My students have benefited from opportunities provided by Yale-NUS College, allowing them to study Chinese in the language’s native land.
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- Class of 2019
- Gabriel Lek
Why did you decide to study a language at Yale-NUS?
In high school, I was excited about the literary devices English authors used to manipulate the sound of their voices, and spent my days attempting to replicate their styles. But I realized I could not really understand the way the English language works as I have never had to puzzle my head over subjunctives or verb-preposition conjugations. I wanted to figure out its rhythms, and the best way to do that is to relearn the language in working through another.
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- Senior Lecturer (Spanish) & Deputy Director of Language Studies
- Eduardo Lage-Otero
Why is learning another language central to the Liberal Arts experience?
One of the goals of a Liberal Arts education is to foster critical thinking and lifelong learning. Learning a new language provides students with the tools to do just that as they work on their majors and minors. Many students study a language as part of their major (e.g. Anthropology, Global Affairs, Literature), others need it to conduct research for their capstone projects (e.g., History, Philosophy), while others study a language as part of their personal development and to complement their goals in the major. Whatever the case may be, learning a new language is an adventure that will transform your life, much like a Liberal Arts education.
Why study Sanskrit?
Learning Classical Sanskrit gives students an entryway into one of the world’s oldest textual traditions. Not only can they read the भगवद्गीता (Bhagavad Gītā) and रामायण (Rāmāyaṇa) in their original language, along with other profound works of literature and philosophy, but in learning Sanskrit, students become acquainted with the phonetic and lexical underpinnings of the Indo-European language group. Many classical and modern languages are related to Sanskrit, and the skills involved in learning a complex grammar and system of representing sound changes are immensely helpful for other fields, including computer science, logic, and linguistics. But most of all, Sanskrit is sound and meaning beautifully constructed together, which is why the language is called संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), or “well-made”!