I know this is an old post, but for whoever might come across this thread in the future with similar ideas, as mentioned by various posters before me going overseas to ordain and train is no easy task. It would be easier to take advantage of the few opportunities that do exist in the US.TMT wrote: ↑Sun Sep 20, 2020 6:02 pm Im interested in the possibility of learning Mandarin or Japanese, if that would provide opportunity to move to a country where the dharma is more established. What I mean is, if I wanted to ordain and live in a monastary theres almost no options here in america. My concern is that lets say learning Japanese through Rosetta Stone wont help you understand Dharma Terminology used in Japanese.
The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas offers monastic training for both men and women, including full ordination in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya lineage, and you will have access to excellent resources and teachers in English. However, the monastic life is strict and challenging. You can live there for a while as a lay volunteer or attend the practice sessions as a guest to see what life is like. Monastic life is also working life, you will be busy with work pretty much all day outside of sessions.
Sravasti Abbey has an Exploring Monastic Life programme annually for people who are interested, and they offer monastic training and novice ordination in the Dharmaguptaka lineage, although their teachings and practices are primarily Gelug (they usually go to Taiwan for the full ordinations). The community is primarily nuns (as far as I know).
Deer Park, Blue Cliff, and Magnolia Grove Monasteries in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition also offers monastic training and full ordination in the Dharmaguptaka lineage. You should be able to join these communities with only English fluency.
These are the places that I know of with structured programmes for those interested in monastic life in the US that you could join without having to learn another language, I am sure there are others out there too. There are even more options for good monastic life in the US if you spoke Chinese.