JAP-90001 - Module Specification
Language Centre
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

No prior knowledge

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

This module is designed for students with no prior knowledge of Japanese. It will develop basic communication skills in everyday situations such as meeting someone for the first time, talking about family, shopping and telephoning, and use one of the Japanese scripts, hiragana. Students will also be introduced to some aspects of Japanese culture.
Japanese is simpler than you think. It has no gender in grammar, no plurals, no tones, simple pronunciation, consistent grammar and a beautiful ideographic writing system which is very different from English and European languages.
Study Japanese and you can gain access to an incredibly rich and varied culture, and the opportunity to study in one of our Japanese partner universities on either long or short programmes. It can be an excellent stepping stone to studying Korean which has a very similar grammar, and also enables you to read some Chinese characters.

This module is designed for students with no prior knowledge of Japanese. It will develop basic communication skills in everyday situations such as meeting someone for the first time, talking about family, shopping and telephoning, and use of one of the Japanese scripts, hiragana. Students will also be introduced to some aspects of Japanese culture.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Recognise and understand familiar words, basic phrases and sentences related to areas of immediate relevance (e.g. personal information) when people speak slowly and clearly: 1,3
Understand and extract key information from short, simple words and sentences written in Hiragana: 1,2
Interact in very simple, familiar situations, asking and answering simple questions in areas of immediate need, provided the other person talks slowly and clearly: 3
Write simple words, phrases and sentences providing personal information in Hiragana: 1,2
Understand and use simple grammatical structures and rules and develop language-learning strategies: 1,2,3
Recognise and act upon very basic cultural differences as encountered in everyday situations and demonstrate knowledge of common traditions in Japan: 1,2,3

Study hours

22 hours of contact time in class.
40 hours of assessment preparation and completion.
88 hours of guided independent study.

School Rules

Admission to the module must be confirmed through completion of a language level self-assessment form.
Students are only permitted to take one Japanese language module per semester.
Students can only take one absolute beginner's language module (90001), in any one academic year.

Description of Module Assessment