Ohio State University Gets $9.6M State Department Grant for Asian Language Programs

From http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2012/11/01/ohio-state-gets-96-million-us.html

OSU gets $9.6M State Department grant for Asian language programs
by Carrie Ghose
November 1, 2012

The U.S. State Department has awarded a three-year, $9.6 million grant to Ohio State University’s Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures to set up and run four language institutes in Asia to immerse U.S. students in the culture of the language they’re learning.

The department and National East Asian Languages Center will set up institutes in China, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. Ohio State professors Galal Walker and Mari Noda won the grant, and said in a release they expect the program to sustain itself with fees from Asian universities at the end of the grant period.

Walker has worked at Ohio State to develop students’ cultural knowledge along with language fluency, which he said is critical to effective business communication.

“We have proven that with the proper training in Chinese language and culture and sufficient amounts of work, Americans of all backgrounds can reach the highest level of capabilities for building successful China-related careers,” he said in a release.