Japanese

This course focuses on translating short English texts (up to two pages) from various genres into Japanese. It teaches the basic skills necessary to begin translating texts from English to Japanese, further examining British and American culture, society, and literature. Translation consists in reproducing the reception language to the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style; translation should preserve somewhat the beauty of style and the flowing cadences of the original. This course aims for the class to create an accurate and reliable Japanese translation on the basis of the translation rules they learn each week. 

This advanced Japanese course is designed to improve communication skills needed on a business setting. A theme concerning Japanese culture and society is chosen in context of "business" and students are split into groups to engage in activities, discussion, and group work concerning the selected topic. The course aims to widen student perspectives and deepen their knowledge regarding various issues related to Japan and Japanese society, while acquiring skills needed in a Japanese business setting. The program offers various theme courses and students may take multiple sections. 

The course aims at instructing Japanese daily expression and fundamental grammar. Meanwhile, teachers in this class will instruct students in the basic knowledge of Japanese from a perspective of the pragmatic linguistics and the cognitive linguistics as well as the application of Japanese. The teaching approach to this course would combine instructions with related practice. At the same time, the language lab facilities would be utilized to continuously train students in Japanese pronunciation and tone further. Students are provided in this class with basic grammar and sentences as well as daily vocabularies ranging from 2000 to 2500 words. They also may be equipped with abilities to listen, speak, read, write and translate which will prepare them for Japanese language, culture and literature further. After that, students can reach at an intermediate level of Japanese.

This course is designed for students with no or little previous contact with the Japanese language. It provides a balanced grounding in grammar, vocabulary and oral/written expressions.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to (1) : Express thoughts on very familiar topics with simple Japanese; (2) Turn their Japanese skills into actual communication for immediate needs; (3) Read and write Japanese words or simple sentences, and (4) Deepen knowledge of Japanese culture.

This course is mainly aimed at students who have never studied Japanese, or who have studied it only a little, and who will be staying in Japan for about one semester (six months). The aim is to learn kana, basic grammar, and vocabulary, focusing on conversation situations for daily life in Japan, and to develop comprehensive Japanese language skills in the four skills of reading, listening, speaking, and writing.

Students acquire listening skills necessary to university life through viewing lectures and videos on a variety of topics. Students will learn to take notes/memos and ask the instructor questions. 

Eligibility: B2 level in the CEFR/JF Standard for Japanese-Language Education (approx. N1 in the JLPT). 

Learning Objectives 

• Understand lectures and conversations that are fairly complex in terms of both content and language. 
• Synthesize audio and written/visual information, and take notes recording important information.
• Explain heard information in their own words using materials and notes as reference. 

This course uses postwar Japanese films and animation (anime) as the principal texts and investigates their relationship with contemporary Japanese culture, society and politics. The course introduces the various genre and representative film and anime, together with specific critical writings on these works. The focus is on the relationship between the films and the audience, the impact of the dominance of films and anime in present day Japan and worldwide, and the various social and cultural issues such as violence and globalization that are closely related to the movie industry.

Building upon the basis of Japanese 5, this course enhances skills and strategies to discuss complex topics such as social, cultural, and historical issues based on authentic materials. Students learn how to summarize long and complex texts, how to structure essays and skills to understand media materials. Students attain a good all-round proficiency in the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and can communicate with others in Japanese while handling more elaborate situations.

In addition to the 160 basic kanji characters taught in K150, students will learn to read, write and type 160 new characters. They will become familiar with various methods of kanji learning and expand their vocabulary of words that contain kanji.
Eligibility: Students who have learned about 160 kanji characters and are at least A1 level in the CEFR/JF Standard for Japanese-Language Education (N5 in the JLPT).
Learning Objectives:
・Understand the meanings and readings of 320 kanji and words using those kanji.
・Write 320 kanji vocabulary words with the help of example models.
・Type short sentences containing the 320 kanji on a smartphone or PC.

This Japanese course chooses a different theme concerning Japanese culture and society to discuss each week. Students are split into groups to engage in activities, discussion, and group work concerning the selected topic. The goal of the class is for students to widen their perspectives and deepen their knowledge regarding various issues related to Japan and Japanese society. The program offers various theme courses and students may take multiple sections.