[skip to content]

Department of the Languages and Cultures of Japan and Korea

J2: Japanese

Course Code:
155901215
Unit value:
2
Year of study:
Year 2
Taught in:
Full Year

This course follows the J1: Elementary Japanese course and will develop further the language competence in preparation for the study abroad in Japan in Year 3. 

The course introduces further grammatical basics of Japanese, through a combination of skills based classes, including the use of audio-visual materials and VLE. At the end of the second year, students have all the tools necessary to progress to the guided reading of literary and non-literary text, and are equipped with confidence to interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity. By the end of the year student should have knowledge of around 1000 Chinese characters.

Prerequisites

Objectives and learning outcomes of the course

At the end of the course, a student should be able to demonstrate…

  1. knowledge and understanding of intermediate Japanese grammar
  2. knowledge and understanding of a wide range of Japanese vocabulary
  3. knowledge and understanding of the appropriateness of a wide range of Japanese structures and expressions in a given context
  4. the ability to understand and to produce passages written in Japanese of medium length on everyday and some specialized topics
  5. the ability to understand spoken Japanese and to engage in short spoken discourse on everyday and some specialized topics
  6. the ability to translate from and to Japanese of medium length with use of appropriate language on everyday and some specialized topics

Workload

Total of 22 weeks teaching with 8 hours classroom contact per week. Weekly classes are divided into 2 hours of grammar, 2 hours of practical (listening and speaking), 1 hour each of reading, writing, translation, speed reading classes. The classes are taught by a team of teachers from the Japan Section.

Method of assessment

One three-hour written exam (35%), one two-hour written exam (25%) and one 1.5 hour practical exam (20%) taken in May/June. Continuous assessment (20%) will comprise of assignments, class performance, weekly quizzes, and termly tests.

Suggested reading

The reading list for this course will be made available from the convenor at the beginning of the course.