Zena Almeida-Warwin ’28, Dannhi Nguyen ’27 and Jonna Sobeloff-Gittes ’25 cultivated their language skills in intensive, immersive environments this summer as participants in the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program.
The highly competitive eight-week CLS program provides American students the opportunity to learn languages of strategic importance to the country’s national security, economic prosperity and engagement with the world.
More than 500 undergraduate and graduate students participate in the fully funded program each summer, staying with host families or roommates to familiarize themselves with everyday life in their adopted city.
Almeida-Warwin, Nguyen and Sobeloff-Gittes traveled to Brazil, South Korea and Latvia, respectively, and agreed upon returning that language and cultural immersion are vital to becoming global citizens.
Reconnecting with Brazilian culture
Having lived in Brazil until she was 8, Almeida-Warwin was thrilled to return as a Critical Language Scholar to burnish her Portuguese.
Already a heritage speaker—someone who can understand and speak the language almost fluently, but lacks formal instruction—the Brooklyn, New York, native embraced the lessons on reading, speaking, phonetics and listening comprehension she received at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.
On top of classroom learning, a handful of excursions were organized for students, including a trip to Tiradentes, Minas Gerais, a colonial town representative of Brazilian nationalism and identity.
In her spare time, Almeida-Warwin hiked, played beach volleyball, explored museums and historic neighborhoods, and attended cultural events with her peers.
“I was primarily located in Bahia growing up, not Rio, so it was very transformative to experience the city as an adult,” she says. “I gained a newfound appreciation for Rio. It’s a very active city, a gorgeous city, and its people are very kind, social and engaging.”
Almeida-Warwin says she left Brazil this summer with a greater affection for Brazilian Portuguese, a romance language she calls “very positive, flamboyant and airy.”
“Speaking the language, there’s almost an anticipation that you’re always happy,” she adds, “and with the climate and the people, it’s hard to be unhappy. I love how use of the language and its slang, specifically in Rio, urge the common person, even tourists, to be happy, open-minded and sociable.”
Slowing down in South Korea
Nguyen, a politics major by way of Louisville, Kentucky, traces her interest in learning Korean to her plan to practice international law.
She took four semesters of Korean courses at Claremont McKenna College and lived in the Korean Hall inside the Oldenborg Center for Modern Languages and International Relations as a sophomore. Nguyen says eating at Oldenborg’s language tables did wonders for her conversational Korean.
“Inside the classroom you practice Korean, but it’s lecture-based,” she adds. “Oldenborg was a good space to use the skills I learned in the classroom in a more casual, relaxed setting.”
Over the summer, Nguyen studied the four major skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea, and she used Korean in academic and non-academic settings.
“I was using Korean 24/7, which was really helpful in improving my language skills,” she says. “I found a lot of errors and mistakes that I was making before and became more confident as a person.”
Nguyen visited Seoul, South Korea, during a travel weekend, and while she found the capital city more accommodating to English-speaking tourists than Gwangju, she says she coveted her immersive experience in her host city.
“I really appreciated the slow pace of life in Gwangju,” she adds. “It’s a great city to be in, especially if you’re learning a language. What I found very valuable in Gwangju was that English wasn’t commonly spoken, so I had to rely on Korean in every interaction.”
“That’s what contributed to the improvement of my language skills.”
‘A natural fit’ in Latvia
Sobeloff-Gittes, a recent graduate with a degree in international relations, did her thesis on nuclear nonproliferation as it relates to Russia and Eastern Europe. With that expertise and a family originally from Russia, accepting a Critical Language Scholarship “was a natural fit,” she says.
Sobeloff-Gittes studied in Daugavpils, Latvia, a Russian-speaking city whose residents assume everyone in town speaks the language fluently, she says. While she took Russian courses in college, living in Latvia challenged her to put coursework to action.
Her weekdays at Daugavpils University were split by lunch breaks where she and others ate at restaurants and cafes whose servers recited their set menus in Russian.
“They would talk for 30 seconds, and I’d have no idea what any of it meant,” she says. “I would always have to ask someone to translate for me. But my goal was to be able to order on my own.”
Sobeloff-Gittes says conversations with her host mom, classmates and language partner cultivated her conversational Russian. Watching movies in the language helped too, she says.
“It was all really great practice.”
Sobeloff-Gittes returned to those Latvian restaurants and cafes throughout the summer, and by the end of her time abroad, she says she could mostly understand what the servers were saying before ordering for herself.
“That was a good feeling,” she says.
Sobeloff-Gittes recently started a research fellowship at the Center for Nuclear Security Policy within the MIT Security Studies Program. After a summer of immersive instruction, she hopes to use her boosted language skills as needed in professional settings.
“I feel really fortunate to have had this opportunity,” she says. “This kind of program is so important for equalizing access to these experiences abroad. Language immersion is so important, especially when it’s combined with cultural experiences.”
“I feel really grateful for the opportunity.”