The Chinese Minor program complements any of the majors at Montclair State University. Our current Chinese minors come from various disciplines, e.g. Psychology, Economics, Computer Science, Justice Studies, Biology, etc. Let’s see below why they love learning Chinese!
Deanna Sylvaince
Business Administration Major, Chinese Minor
I enjoyed learning Chinese in high school, and a semester of taking it in college confirmed that I should get a minor. I was first recommended by my Chinese professor but I was not sure of what I thought of it all until I was told of other people’s stories after getting a minor and how it opened a whole new world of job opportunities. I believe this will allow me to challenge myself for the better and I already can tell that this will be very engaging for me! I am so excited about what this will lead to and how I can use the skills I learned thanks to this minor!
Jasia Hilson
Economics Major, Chinese Minor
Although I am minoring in Chinese, this isn’t my first time indulging into Chinese culture. When I was a teenager, I decided I didn’t want to live in America anymore. I was determined to move abroad, and my journey led me to living in Hong Kong. It wasn’t my original intent to move to Hong Kong but in my time there I absolutely fell in love with the culture and the people I interacted with on a daily basis. College life in HK was totally different from what I was used to—I was a baby freshman venturing out into the world for the first time!
But I gained more of a worldly awareness from my time there and it wasn’t surprising at all when I decided to stay longer. Cantonese fascinated me completely, but I wasn’t quite ready to learn the language then. I was too busy immersing myself in this new culture before I moved north to Shanghai where I taught English to children from the ages of 3-17. It was during that time that I realized that learning Chinese was a goal I wanted to accomplish in life.
For me it is important that I learn from professors that have the same passion in what they do as I do in what I learn. In truth, the minor program in Chinese is why I chose to go to Montclair State. I was more than delighted when I finally started taking classes and found that I could finally learn Chinese in an impassioned environment.
If you want to learn the language and also engage in the cultural aspects of China while doing so, I highly recommend taking the minor in Montclair!