MLO 5: Cultural Internalization and Language Immersion
5.1. Students demonstrate that they have actively immersed themselves in authentic Japanese cultural and linguistic environments and have internalized the language and cultural experience, from which they have developed a personal understanding and new perspectives of the community.
MLO Reflective Narrative
The goal of MLO 5 is to allow students to deepen their understanding of Japanese society and culture through immersion. Typically, in order to gain this experience, Japanese major students would apply to study abroad at a university in Japan for up to a year. However, because I began college in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was unable to apply for this experience. That being said, I still took JAPN 420 - Maximizing Study Abroad Experiences, which gave me a sense of what to expect if I ever decide to immerse myself in Japan. While I'm still unsure of whether or not I'll choose to work and live in Japan at this moment in time, I do still strongly believe that learning through immersion is still one of the best ways to absorb knowledge and is an irreplaceable experience for anyone who chooses to do so. I hope that I will be able to travel to Japan sometime in the near future to test my abilities and gain a better understanding of the land and the people who live there.