Japanese II: Language Proficiency 1

Upon successful completion of this course, students are expected to be able to:

• make themselves understood in modern Japanese in communication on everyday topics with native speakers of Japanese who are not accustomed to interacting with non-native speakers
• engage in conversations in real-life situations (such as expressing their ability to do things, their desires, their regrets, current events, reporting second-hand information, doing and receiving favors, narrating events, and chronologically describing hypothetical situations)
• apply their knowledge of phonetics to speak in an easily comprehensible manner
• present their knowledge of some aspects of the Japanese social etiquette
• demonstrate their comprehension of complex grammatical structures and the emotional content of longer paragraphs and narratives on familiar topics
• display a basic ability to use dictionaries
• write compositions on familiar topics using previously learned and new vocabulary, and grammatical structures they have learned
• write texts with an appropriate organization (for example, to communicate with a variety of people via email or letters using the Japanese letter format).

In the course, the students practice the use of longer sentences and the use of a more nuanced language. This includes potential and volitional forms, some basic conjunctions, some of the conditional forms, offering and receiving expressions and some presumptive expressions. The students work with prepared and unprepared practical activities: role play, interviews, dialogue training, short speeches and different listening exercises. Thereby they apply their knowledge of Japanese grammar and phonetics and develop their vocabulary.
Texts of different types are analysed and are used as the subject for discussions in Japanese. The students also write longer texts by hand and on the computer, and work with different kanji exercises. They write the characters by hand and train reading texts, both authentic texts and prepared exercises, which are written with a fairly large amount of kanji. In addition, they practice the ability to use dictionaries.
Via group and individual analysis tasks, students gain some knowledge of basic Japanese linguistics.

Continuous assessment will be used during the course. Grades will be based on written assignments, recording tasks, class performance, and final exams, in the form of a written and a recorded take home exam, and an online interview test.

Japanese are used as the language of tuition, supported by English or Swedish. Teaching takes the form of seminars, group work and different individual online activities.

The Swedish grades U–VG.

To receive VG on the whole course 15 credits with the grade VG is necessary.

Reporting of grades:

• Module 1: Oral Proficiency (5 cr)
• Module 2: Writing (5 cr)
• Module 3: Language Proficiency and Kanji (5 cr).

This course is designed for students who have passed the JLPT level N5. Students should be able to read and write all of the hiragana and katakana scripts as well as at least 150 kanji and have knowledge of basic Japanese grammar and approximately 800 words and phrases.

The courses Japanese II: Language Proficiency 1 and Japanese II: Language Proficiency 2 replaces the courses Japanese II: Written Proficiency (JP1036) and Japanese II: Oral Proficiency (JP1037).