Please help with my college admissions personal assessment. A person who speaks two languages is bilingual, a person who speaks three languages is called trilingual, what do you call a person who only speaks one language? Joshua Walker. That is, until I became immersed in learning foreign languages. It was when I took my first Japanese course at Los Angeles City College that I learned how speaking a new language can open the world to you. Throughout my youth, I often felt like an uncharted island in a vast sea of normalcy. Not only was I conspicuously large, I also had a problem expressing myself effectively. Learning a foreign language changed this. When I speak Japanese, I can be as confident and calm as any one else. It is through learning Japanese that I became absorbed in an interesting new culture.
I have spent six semesters at Los Angeles City College. One semester was spent tutoring students in the Japanese one class, another working part time in the school's language lab. I decided to go to Temple University's Japan campus because it is time to truly immerse myself into a new culture without a safety net. This was biggest factor in my decision to attend Temple University's Japan campus. I strongly believe that in order to learn effectively, one must be completely defenseless, away from their comfort zone. Due to this notion, I've commuted to Los Angeles City College, every day, from the distant town of Rialto, California.
At Temple University, I hope to enhance my language skills even further in order to someday become an interpreter in the world of business. I will help people who are in a position I was once in, people who are unable to express themselves successfully. I believe I will be able to achieve these goals through Temple University's Japan campus. |