This course introduces students to the Japanese language, culture and customs. It begins with the learning of the Japanese Standard Writing System, which is a combination of Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Basic greetings and sentence structures are taught in a progressive manner from recognition to guided and independent reproduction. Apart from grammar explanations, the tasks incorporated in the course include exercises in listening comprehension, reading comprehension and conversational practice through role-play activities. Approximately 40 sentence patterns and 300 words/phrases are covered under this introductory syllabus. A comprehensive range of teaching aids are used to engage students in interactive learning.
Comments
I took this course because I have interest in learning basic Japanese language. Plus I like to watch Japanese anime so hopefully with this course I'm able to understand when watching anime.
Before start of every lesson our sensei will tell us the culture of the Japanese followed by dictation. After dictation, our sensei will teach us. The dictation is spelling test. Starting it will test each character of hiragana and gradually it gets tougher and test hiragana words. This also applies for katakana. For kanji in my opinion is easy since it is similar to basic chinese character.
The composition is quite tough and I used the google translator a lot to complete my composition. For listening test I find it the toughest throughout the course. They will only play the audio once. It was very fast and I barely catch the speech.
Overall I find this course exciting as this is the only module that is different from what I major in and I find every lesson enjoyable.
If you think that by watching anime and Japanese movies will be enough for this course, it is not. If you want to score A in this course you have to practice it every week and not doing it last minute. I have a friend who practice evey week and got A. But if you don't mind getting B+, you can just attend all lesson and just study during study week. I advice take it if you really have interest in leaning Japanese language.
Programme: HSS
This course introduces students to the Japanese language, culture and customs. It begins with the learning of the Japanese Standard Writing System, which is a combination of Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Basic greetings and sentence structures are taught in a progressive manner from recognition to guided and independent reproduction. Apart from grammar explanations, the tasks incorporated in the course include exercises in listening comprehension, reading comprehension and conversational practice through role-play activities. Approximately 40 sentence patterns and 300 words/phrases are covered under this introductory syllabus. A comprehensive range of teaching aids are used to engage students in interactive learning.