David Leangen, Certificate of Japanese Studies in 2000. CEO, Bioscene Informatics, Kobe, Japan
I obtained a Certificate in Japanese Studies from Bishop's in 2000 while working towards my engineering degree at the Universite de Sherbrooke. At the time, my plan was to do a 10-month work term as part of the Co-op Japan Programme.
As it turns out, I am now married in Japan and own a bioinformatics company in Kobe. Japan has become a major part of my life, and with everything I have going on here now, I don't expect to return to Canada for some time. I have Bioshop's to thank for perparing me for this adventure.
The language courses I took--which comprised essentially 60% of the Japan Studies programme--gave me a foot to stand on. Since I have been busy with work and have never had time to continue formal language studies, it is obvious that without the basics in grammar that I learned at Bishop's, I would never have been able to reach this level of fluency in both written and spoken Japanese.
