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 minor can have many linguistic and cultural benefits that reach well beyond the classroom.

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.

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.