Eleanor Harz Jorden (1920 – February 18, 2009) was an American linguistics scholar and an influential
Japanese language educator and expert. Born Eleanor Harz, she married
William Jorden, reporter and diplomat; the marriage ended in divorce.[1]
Jorden earned her Ph.D. at
Yale University under the direction of
Bernard Bloch in 1950.[2] She was best known for her seminal textbooks on the Japanese language, including Beginning Japanese and Japanese: The Spoken Language. The latter text included Jorden's
JSL system of
rōmaji for transcribing Japanese into
Roman script. Her explanations of the subtleties of
Japanese grammar and usage are still widely referenced today.
Jorden also founded several programs, including the intensive FALCON Program at
Cornell University and the Foreign Service Institute Japanese Language School in Tokyo, Japan.
Jorden, Eleanor Harz & Chaplin, Hamako Ito (1962) Beginning Japanese: Part 1. New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press.
Jorden, Eleanor Harz & Chaplin, Hamako Ito (1963) Beginning Japanese: Part 2. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Jorden, Eleanor Harz & Chaplin, Hamako Ito (1976) Reading Japanese. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Jorden, Eleanor Harz & Noda, Mari (1987). Japanese, The Spoken Language: Part 1. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Jorden, Eleanor Harz & Noda, Mari (1988). Japanese, The Spoken Language: Part 2. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Jorden, Eleanor Harz & Noda, Mari (1990). Japanese, The Spoken Language: Part 3. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Jorden, Eleanor H., with Richard Lambert (1991). Japanese Language Instruction in the United States: Resources, Practice, and Investment Strategy. Washington, D.C.: Natl. Foreign Lang. Center.