Dream Upon a Dream
I enjoyed Tim Johnson's fall magazine story, "The Foreign Student." Sounds like things have not changed much since I attended the Japanese School in 1986, although the sports seem to be more organized now. When I was there, we played pick-up Ultimate Frisbee with the Russian School.
Shortly after we all signed the "Pledge," someone told us to watch out for the day when we saw our first dream in Japanese. Mine came during Week 8. To this day, I actually still remember pieces of it, not to mention my surprise and elation when I woke up the next morning.
Shortly after finishing the course, I moved to Japan and am still here. Over the course of the 20 years since I first took Japanese 101 in 1984, it has been interesting to see that my progress in Japanese always seems to come in sudden, discontinuous, and abrupt steps. After seeming to make no progress at all for weeks or months (in the beginning) or years (now), you suddenly wake up one morning and find your Japanese has overnight become dramatically better than it was before. Since you would typically think that language progress would be more of a steady, linear progression, I have always wondered what lay behind this discontinuous, step-like progress and whether it is peculiar to certain languages, or indeed a normal phenomenon for everyone.
Robert A. Cornell Jr., Japanese '86
Tokyo, Japan
Of Stress and Snores
What a flood of memories came back to me while reading the article, "The Foreign Student," by Tim Johnson in your fall issue! I took the "Pledge" the summer of 1969 at the French School and the pressure was on! I absolutely had to make it through that summer with grades of B or better in order to attend the master's program in France. I had already given up my job and my apartment to attend the summer program. I had to succeed, and the threat of expulsion from the program for a slip of the tongue in English loomed large over us all.
One of the most momentous events in history occurred that warm July: the landing on the moon. We all watched in a small TV room and listened to those famous words: "The Eagle has landed!" None of us could say a thing! It must have been the quietest room in the entire U.S.! Finally a Frenchman said: "Vive l'Amérique" to our collective relief. All summer in the middle of the night I told my snoring roommate: "You're blowing up, you're blowing up" instead of "You're snoring" because I mixed up the first letter of the verb "ronfler" (to snore) for "gonfler" (to blow up). I couldn't understand why she kept right on snoring. Although the stress seemed unbearable at times, I learned more French in two months than I had learned throughout high school and college. The following year in France, completing my master's was, comparatively, a breeze!
Barbara Filing Almstead, M.A. French '70
Devon, Pennsylvania
The Year of Languages
I enjoyed the article "The Foreign Student," hot out of the mailbox, from the fall 2004 issue of Middlebury Magazine. Having attended the Language Schools twice in the mid-seventies, German level one and the Spanish graduate school, I could feel for the two types of experiences that Mr. Johnson had with his disparate degrees of language proficiency, as well as the reactions that he received from various students and teachers, at different times during the summer.
I smiled at the elevation of the language pledge signing to legendary ceremony. Indeed, a story floated around that a boy from the Spanish School had fallen in love with a girl from the Russian School, and when off campus disobeying the language pledge, they were unfortunate victims in a car accident. The next morning at the hospital, a get well card in Spanish was there for the boy, but the notice of expulsion was coldly placed on the Russian student's side table. Thus, the idea continued that the Russians were more serious and the Spaniards were more emotional and had more fun (akin to the Portuguese experience described in the article).
I also remember Roger Peel telling us at orientation in Dana Hall, that we would be like porcupines that summer. Porcupines? We needed each other's warmth to survive and had to get close to each other, but not too close because our quills would become entangled. He also told us that if we did fall in love in another language, beware because we might not be in love anymore when we reverted back to English at the end of the summer. I agree with the idea that students at Middlebury learn more language in their immersion setting than do students in other programs in the U.S. and abroad.
Languages during the school year were not of the same intensity. Of the extracurricular activities I fondly remember, I can point to the Château's 50th anniversary, when Stephen Freeman cut the cake amid jugglers and troubadours, and to the Spanish plays in the "Zoo," including La Celestina and Bodas de Sangre. In the dining room at the "Chât" you could order food in a dozen different languages, eat family style from the cuisine of Eleanore, the best cook on campus!
Finally, I would like to encourage all the linguaphiles out there (and I know you abound) to do something special for 2005: The Year of Languages (whether with your family, at a school nearby, or the community where you live). Make it a point to tell others about the benefits of being multilingual. You are never too old to learn a language! For more ideas on how to promote this national initiative, started by ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), go to www.yearoflanguages.org.
Christi Rentsch de Moraga '76
Marlborough, Connecticut
Short Shrift
It's unfortunate that Tim Johnson's remarks contrasting the Defense Language Institute in Monterey with the summer Language Schools at Middlebury were given short shrift in his account ("The Foreign Student," fall 2004). The need to establish which methodology produces the most effective learning is more than merely determining bragging rights. Public schools across the country are facing increasing pressure to teach English to growing numbers of foreign-born students in order to meet the provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. As a result, whatever conclusions can be drawn about the relative merits of both approaches can be enormously helpful.
I saw firsthand the need for evidence-based policy during the 28 years that I taught English at the same high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest. To a large extent, anecdotes constituted the basis for decisions made about training teachers and teaching students. Whoever argued loudest and longest usually prevailed. By the time the truth eventually emerged, it was too late to remedy the damage done to all concerned.
Walt Gardner '57
Los Angeles, California
I Don't Feel Well
In "The Life Aquatic" (fall 2004), Ashley Padgett's otherwise admiring (and admirable) account of the character and work of Sarah Fangman gets off to a jarring start by telling us that Fangman "feels somewhat nauseous."
To my no doubt antiquated ear, the appropriate word would be "nauseated." I'm relying on my 1969 edition of The American Heritage Dictionary, in which the following note appears at the end of the definition of "nauseous": "employment
of nauseous in the sense of nauseated (experiencing nausea) is considered unacceptable by 88 percent of the Usage Panel."
I'm well aware that word meanings do shift over time. But I doubt that a 2004 Usage Panel would give majority approval to the use of "nauseous" as a synonym for "nauseated."
Paul Davis '44
Princeton, New Jersey
Editors' Note: While we feel sick to our stomachs at the thought of making such a mistake, we're compelled to point out thatMerriam-Webster's Dictionarystates that it's acceptable to use "nauseous" when meaning "affected with nausea." The dictionary states: "Current evidence shows these facts: nauseous is most frequently used to mean physically affected with nausea, usually after a linking verb such as feel or become." Though this explanation may not be palatable for some, we stand by our usage.
Recollections of W. Storrs Lee '28
Your obituary of W. Storrs Lee (fall 2004) was greatly appreciated. He interviewed me (and presumably was responsible for my admission) to the Class of 1954. Perhaps a further note is worth recording.
In September of 1950, we had become enmeshed in the Korean War. There was talk of the draft and who would be exempt. Our understanding was that freshmen in the upper half of their class would be exempt. Those in the lower half were draftable. This was terrible news for the men, as at that time the women far outshone the men in grades. Only a few men would make it into the top half.
Dean Lee, ever the historical scholar, unearthed the fact that there were two colleges at Middlebury: Middlebury College and the Women's College at Middlebury. This meant that half the men could be in the top half! This is my recollection, and it is bolstered by no facts. Any contribution by real historians would be welcome.
Hart Peterson '54
Scituate, Massachusetts
Editors' Note: According to the College Archives, talk of a "Women's College at Middlebury" surfaced in the 1920s; it was carried as far as an architectural plan designed by York and Sawyer of New York in 1931. Had the Great Depression not intervened, there's a reasonable chance it would have been built at its proposed site where Forest, Carr, and Battell Halls are today. Although no separate physical plant was created for women, the 1950 catalogue lists a Dean of Men (Storrs Lee), and a Dean of Women (Mary Williams). Furthermore, in the list of those awarded degrees in the previous year, there are separate lists of degrees awarded to men and to women. (The comprehensive fee was different for women and men, as well.) So, while there were never two separate schools, there was a tradition of a women's college and a men's college.
New Areas of Study
Re: the letter "Sacrifice for a Few?" The College is suited to give important education to all citizens—including serving members of the armed forces. A Peace Institute could offer the following areas of study:
Philosophy and religion could teach about the dilemma faced by privates and generals when asked to obey immoral and unlawful orders based on assertions that the Geneva Convention does not apply to combatants facing U.S. troops.
Language Schools could provide total immersion training in the language of the area where our soldiers are sent. Perhaps this would avoid the problems of having, for example, a non-Arabic-speaking occupation force.
Geography and environmental studies could provide in-depth reviews of the environment and society and culture of the area where preventive war is being fought. They could also look at the relationship of the American economy resource consumption and foreign policy.
Political science, history, and religion/ ethics could debate and review the notion of "preventive war," the UN Charter, the U.S. Constitution, the Judeo-Christian ethic, and the religions of the area of conflict.
Jon Berger '67
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
LETTERS POLICY
Letters addressing topics discussed in the magazine are given priority, though they may be edited for brevity or clarity. On any given subject we will print letters that address that subject, and then in the next issue, letters that respond to the first letters. After that, we will move on to new subjects. Send letters to:
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