Description

Japanese is the national language of Japan, a nation that is not only one of Australia's major trading partners, but is also a country with which many young Australians have deep personal ties. Japanese is the most popular foreign language in Australian schools and universities and the depth of the ties between Australia and Japan mean that knowledge of the language will be a valuable asset for many years to come. Studying Japanese as a major can have many linguistic and cultural benefits that reach well beyond the classroom.

Students in this major are encouraged to spend time studying at one of the twenty five tertiary institution in Japan with which the ANU has ties. This can be done either through intensive in-country study in the summer break, through the semester in Japan program, or through a year of study in the Year in Japan program. Competitive scholarships are available to qualified students.

A student may not take a course if that course is a prerequisite for another course which they have already passed.

Students with prior knowledge of the language will be required to take a placement test and may be exempted from the compulsory courses.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Japanese language major students should be able to:

1. express themselves confidently in a polite,      neutral or informal register, appropriate to the genre and the audience.
2. read, comprehend and infer authors’ meaning in      newspapers, magazines, and literary texts in Japanese.
3. engage with authentic media such as television      news broadcasts, movies, short stories and novels by summarizing,      analysing, evaluating and criticizing their content.
4. write texts in Japanese in the appropriate genre,      with correct grammatical structures and thematic vocabulary relevant to      the level of the student
5. Write, perform and record presentations or      interviews in Japanese either individually or in cooperative groups, and      answer questions based on those performances or interviews

Course Lists

The course lists in the "Requirements" section below is a definitive   list and includes all courses that can be counted towards the major,   whether or not they are offered in the current year. For a list of   courses that will be offered in the current year, please see the Summary of Courses page.