[Pacific Rim French Torrent 2013
Luther Lazaro
The department of Modern Languages and Literature offers majors and minors in Spanish, French, Chinese, and Japanese, and additional language courses in German. About 60 to 70 percent of our students are double majors. Our classes are small and you have the opportunity to get to know your classmates and professor, always using the target language. Our professors are highly experienced in their fields and have traveled widely.
Learning another language is the key that opens the door to new cultures, perspectives and opportunities. It eases and enhances our ability to communicate with each other, and makes it possible to become a more fully-informed citizen of the world. In today's global society, mastery of language is a critical skill for personal and professional fulfillment.
Our students enjoy each other's company inside and outside of the classroom. With clubs and organizations dedicated to helping students explore their love of language, our students have created a vibrant community that amplifies their educational experience at Pacific.
The University has chapters of two national honor societies for outstanding work in a language, literature and culture: Pi Delta Phi for French and Sigma Delta Pi for Spanish. The Jan Good Award is presented to winners of an annually posted essay contest in French or Spanish. The MLL Annual Awards night celebrates achievement in all of the above languages.
Revived in Fall of 2014, Pacific's French Club celebrates la vie franaise through film screenings, cultural events, field trips, and other social activities. Recent activities included a screening La Belle et La Bete (2014), with a costume parade and authentic French desserts, and a screening of Joyeux Nol, in memory of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One. For more information on the French Club and its activities, please contact Dr. Cosana Eram at ce...@pacific.edu.
Modern Language and Literature students graduate with real world language proficiency and a cultural knowledge that give them a unique edge in the global economy as they step into their futures. Our graduates succeed in careers in translation, interpreting, business, international relations, law, education, health professions, technology and finance. Those using a second language in their jobs enjoy an average of 8% higher earnings over their monolingual colleagues.
Our alumni find many ways to pursue their passions and build a successful career using their knowledge of a second language. A recent survey of Modern Languages and Literature graduates found that our alumni are working for companies and organizations that include:
Whatever profession you enter, learning another language opens the door to a new culture, and new way of seeing the world. In our increasingly global society, the value of being able to communicate with people from different cultures and nations cannot be overestimated.
"I did a combination of majors within the Spanish department and the School of International Studies as well as anthropology. I knew at a very young age that I wanted to learn more about the world and globalization, language and how it works. I felt like the School of International Studies would provide that."
The Department of Modern Language and Literature offers language, literature and cultural history courses in Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish. Programs are offered leading to a major or minor in Asian Studies, Chinese, French, Japanese or Spanish. Double majors across disciplines are encouraged. Some literature, civilization, film and interdisciplinary courses are taught in English translation.
The curriculum in Spanish includes beginning, intermediate, and advanced level classes for both native and nonnative speakers of Spanish. Spanish linguistics, Hispanic literature, cimena and civilization courses are complemented by experiential learning opportunities. All courses are taught entirely in Spanish.
The curriculum in French Studies includes beginning multi-media based language classes, intermediate courses that focus on culture and language, advanced language and composition courses, surveys of literature and civilization, theme-based advanced courses that cover French and Francophone literature and cinema, and other cross-listed courses such as the History of French Cinema. All courses are in French unless otherwise specified.
This major allows students to develop their language skills in Chinese or Japanese while simultaneously gaining significant knowledge about the Asian context. Students share a strong interdisciplinary curriculum and choose to concentrate their language study in Chinese or Japanese. The non-language curriculum will be taught in English and includes film, literature, history, politics and religion. The major requires one semester of study abroad in China/Taiwan or Japan. The minimum number of units for the major is 34.
The mission of the Latin American Studies Program at Pacific is to create an academic environment that engages faculty and students in the interdisciplinary study of Latin America and Latinx culture, via invited lectures, films, workshops, round tables, and other cultural events as well as the minor in Latin American Studies. The interdisciplinary minor is intended to provide students with cultural competencies that will develop their knowledge of the region and provide a competitive advantage in any profession.
In collaboration with a number of partners, including Fiji International Telecommunications, Office of Posts and Telecommunications of French Polynesia, APTelecom and Vocus Group, the South Pacific Connect initiative will deliver new international subsea cables connecting Fiji and French Polynesia to both the United States and Australia.
In addition, the South Pacific Connect initiative will construct physically diverse cable landing stations in Fiji and French Polynesia and connect them with an interlink cable. This will serve to connect transpacific routes, improve reliability, add capacity, and reduce latency for users in the Pacific Islands and around the world.
The South Pacific Connect initiative will create a ring between Australia, Fiji and French Polynesia. This ring will include pre-positioned branching units that will allow other countries and territories of Oceania to take advantage of the reliability and resilience resulting from the initiative. This is one of the first projects of its kind in the Pacific, providing the ability to bring redundant international connectivity to a region that is susceptible to natural disasters.
"The Government of Fiji is delighted to partner with Google in achieving this momentous milestone to bolster digital connectivity and resilience. Our shared vision is to pave the way for a more interconnected and fortified digital future not only for Fiji but also for the entire Pacific region and beyond. Through this partnership, we aim to leave behind a lasting legacy of economic growth, skill development, and progress that extends its benefits to all. Fiji expresses its profound gratitude to Google for this collaboration and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to support this transformative initiative, dedicated to fostering peace, prosperity, and a brighter future for our people and the broader global community," said Prime Minister of Fiji, Honorable Sitiveni Rabuka.
"Fintel is excited to be supporting the South Pacific Connect initiative alongside the multinational technology company, Google. This will strengthen Fintel and Fiji's telecommunications hub status and provide the much needed reliable and resilient connectivity between the people of the Pacific and the rest of the world," said Fiji International Telecommunications CEO George Samisoni.
Subsea cables improve internet affordability and reliability, leading to economic development and productivity gains. With more access to digital services, people can develop new skills that open up career opportunities, while businesses and public sector organizations can better serve their customers and constituents. We are excited about what this means for our users and Google Cloud customers in the Pacific and around the world.
Within your chosen countries, (ours being Samoa, French Polynesia and the Cook Islands), you then have to think about island hopping again, as they are all made up of a number of islands. This is also true of Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and so on.
There are flights (and cargo ships) between the Cook Islands, which are fairly expensive considering how short some of the flights are. We decided to visit just two islands, Aitutaki and the main island of Rarotonga, in order to reduce the money spent on travel. In hindsight, I would have liked to have visited Aitu as well, but there is always next time!
As we were writing about the destinations we had some support from the Tourist Boards which helped a lot, but even so, we had to carefully evaluate if our budget would cover the trip, and if so, would we spend all of our money and have to go straight home afterwards (as we were planning to travel for another 3 months).
In 2001 and 2002 I got a flight from England to New Zealand with stops at French Polynesia and the Cook Islands on the way there. Plus on my way home I stopped in Samoa. I missed out on seeing Tonga. I am keen to see more of the islands. I went to Hawaii and Fiji in 1993. I have been back to Hawaii once since then.
Some great ways explain how they can identify the right travel agent for tourism to avoid future problems. Along with this, there are reasons presented why it is necessary. I guess this can be helpful.
Hi, planning a world trip with a difference!! But on my itinerary are the pacific islands. Excellent blog. Really enjoyed it. Just wondering if you can specify how you travelled from island to island? Are there any boats rather than flying in and out of NZ? These are the islands I wish to visit: Tonga, Fiji, Somoa, Cook and Tahiti flying in NZ or Aus
I recommend travelling in the dry season if possible. We travelled September-November and we still had quite a bit of rain even then. I do know people that have travelled to Fiji over the wet season and it has been ok with just a few showers a day, but I think if you can go outside of cyclone season. Have a great trip!
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