Japanese Language and Literature
Discover the language of the world’s third largest economy.
Japanese is the language of more than 100 million people, who are heirs to an exceptionally rich tradition that has spurred innovation in literature, engineering, chemistry, linguistics, and more. It is the language of the world’s third greatest economic power, of one of the most important trading partners of the United States, and of a literary tradition in which many of the key works were written by women.
UMass Amherst is the only public institution of higher education in New England to offer BAs in Japanese language and literature and Japanese language and linguistics. The program gives students a sound command of Japanese and a thorough understanding of the significance and context of the literature, culture, and civilization. Our faculty is transhistorical and interdisciplinary in its approaches to their topics of interest. They offer courses in literature, religion, linguistics, second-language pedagogy, politics and diplomacy, popular culture, women’s studies, gay/queer studies, and film studies. Our students go on to careers in translation and interpretation, international business, government service, teaching, and academia, among other fields.
Alumni spotlight
In the spotlight
“At UMass, learning Japanese was pretty much the only thing I cared about, and I spent nights and weekends memorizing kanji. After graduation I applied for the JET Program, which provided me with a visa and a plane ticket to go to Japan, where I could continue learning the language.”