MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - Residents of the Middlebury community and visitors to the area can expect to overhear a diverse mix of languages again this summer: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. 

Friday, June 15, marks the beginning of the Middlebury College Language Schools’ summer sessions, known internationally for a rigorous approach to the teaching of languages and cultures.

This year, approximately 1,340 students will come to Middlebury to participate in the Language Schools throughout the summer. During the course of the Language Schools’ 92-year history, more than 40,000 students from all walks of life - including more than 11,000 advanced degree holders - have attended one or more of the schools. Corporate executives study side-by-side with writers, journalists, doctors, lawyers, missionaries, government officials and diplomats. Undergraduates and graduate students from Middlebury College and other institutions also attend the summer sessions to fulfill language requirements or complete degrees.

Under the guidance of approximately 240 faculty members from colleges and universities throughout the world, students of all ages and nationalities live on campus, totally immersed in their target language. Students eat, sleep and drink the language they have come to study, and all agree to abide by the Language Pledge, a formal commitment to speak the language of study and no other for the entire summer session. In addition, the Language Schools host many cultural events that are often open to the public.

Each summer, the college offers three sets of summer sessions for foreign languages. The nine-week session for Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian begins Friday, June 15; the seven-week session for intensive language studies in French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish will begin on Friday, June 29; and the six-week session for graduate-level French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish will begin on Monday, July 2. New this summer is a master’s degree program in Chinese, which students can earn in four summers at Middlebury’s Vermont campus or in two summers in Vermont and an academic year at the Middlebury-affiliated Monterey Institute of International Studies. The Arabic and Portuguese sessions will offer non-degree, graduate-level courses.