Multilingual Event Puts Students to the Test in Japanese and Chinese
At a live event, there’s no telling what someone might say next.
That’s what makes the 30th annual Mini-Monterey Model Event such a great opportunity for interpretation students to put their skills to the test. It’s also a chance for other students studying languages to challenge themselves.
At the most recent “Mini-Monterey,” 12 students studying foreign languages gave professional presentations in Chinese and Japanese, with Conference Interpretation students providing simultaneous interpretation.
“This is a unique signature learning experience that only the Middlebury Institute can provide,” said Enya Dai, head of Chinese Language Studies, who has coordinated the event for several years.
The “Monterey Model” is a collaboration between the translation and interpretation programs and Language Studies, which provides content-based language instruction to students across multiple policy and management programs. The languages and topics vary by year. In 2021, students presented on human rights topics in Spanish, Arabic, and French.
Ian Driscoll MANPTS ’23 and Sarah Blackwell MAT ’24 emceed the event, with Ian speaking Chinese and Sarah speaking Japanese.
Students presented on topics ranging from eating vegan to dating, Machiavelli to house arrest.
