LAJ1201 Japanese 1

This course is designed for students with no prior knowledge of Japanese. We aim to develop Japanese competence through handling various language tasks in daily life situations using basic linguistic and socio-cultural knowledge. Students will also learn how to read and write Hiragana and Katakana (Japanese scripts), as well as approximately 60 kanji (Chinese characters). Students with prior knowledge must contact the Centre for Language Studies to take a placement test.

 

LAJ2201 Japanese 2

This course builds upon the basis of Japanese 1 and aims to develop basic linguistic and socio-cultural skills and expand the repertoire of the daily topics and situations with simple structures. While more emphasis is placed on the development of oral communication skills, students will also learn how to read short passages and write short compositions. Approximately 100 new kanji characters will be introduced.

 

LAJ2202 Japanese 3

Building upon the basis of Japanese 2, this course develops students' linguistic knowledge and socio-cultural skills and expands the repertoire of daily topic and situations for students to have better communication. Complex structures such as noun modification, transitive/intransitive verb sentences and conditional forms are introduced. Approximately 140 new kanji will be introduced. With this knowledge of characters, students will be able to understand and write simple and short essays.

 

LAJ2203 Japanese 4

Building upon the basis of Japanese 3, this course aims to further develop students' communication skills on daily topics of general interests. It enhances students' socio-cultural awareness and enables them to communicate meaningfully in appropriate manner using more complex grammar structures including passive forms, embedded questions, and a limited set of polite expressions. Approximately 150 kanji will be introduced, and students will be able to write short coherent texts and understand various types of texts including some formal ones.

 

LAJ3201 Japanese 5

Building upon the basis of Japanese 4, this course aims to equip students with skills and strategies to discuss fairly complex topics such as current social and cultural issues. Students will also learn how to express their thoughts in writing with supporting evidence in a convincing and organised manner. By the end of this course, students will be familiar with the language to the extent of being comfortable in using it as a medium of communication (oral, written, listening, and reading) with native speakers in various situations.

 

LAJ3202 Japanese 6

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

 

LAJ3203 Business Japanese 1

Students will be taught the specialised vocabulary and communication styles found in the Japanese business world, including both the written and the oral forms of communication. The ability to read, understand and write minutes will be emphasised. Students will also be introduced to the language-related work style found in the Japanese business environment.

 

LAJ3204 Business Japanese 2

This course is for students who wish to use their Japanese knowledge in their future careers. The aim of this course is to cultivate students’ general comprehension of Business Japanese and to provide them with practical communication skills and strategies, which they can use to communicate effectively and appropriately in a variety of business-related settings including job interviews. Students will also become familiar with knowledge and skills essential for global business such as business documents, emails, reports as well as business manners and etiquette.

 

LAJ3205 Media Japanese

This course aims to provide students with further training in language skills and communication strategies to engage in authentic discourse involving various genres and media materials such as newspapers, films, TV programs and the Internet. Students will be taught to comprehend media texts such as newspaper articles, blog entries, and drama, etc. They will also engage in project work. Topics cover a wide variety of social and cultural issues in Japan, including popular culture and current affairs.

 

LAJ4203 Media Japanese 2

This course aims to equip students with advanced skills and strategies to critically read, understand, and analyse authentic discourse materials published in print and/or via online media. Topics range social and cultural issues in Japan including popular culture and current affairs. Students learn how information is delivered through each media and then create their own media to express their original materials in Japanese. Through this course, students’ ability to express in Japanese, media literacy, and critical thinking skills will be enhanced.

 

LAJ4205 Japanese for Contemporary Society

Students are to read a wide variety of Japanese texts written by people living in the contemporary society in Japan and to discuss the topics brought up in those texts solely in Japanese. Students also learn how to give presentations and write short essays in Japanese on the topics related to their own majoring fields through project work in which they exchange their ideas and opinions with not only classmates but also Japanese university students. Having acquired such advanced skills, students are expected to be graduates who can make a positive contribution to contemporary society

 

* Workload: A-B-C-D-E
The components are as follow:
A: no. of lecture hours per week
B: no. of tutorial hours per week
C: no. of lab hours per week
D: no. of hours for projects, assignments, fieldwork etc per week
E: no. of hours for preparatory work by a student per week

E-Learning and Links

Language Links
e-RAION Job Portal e-RAION Immersion Portal NIHONGO e な Department of Japanese Studies