Japanese II: Language Proficiency 2

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

• communicate and make themselves understood to a great extent on everyday topics by native speakers of Japanese who are not accustomed to interacting with non-native speakers
• convey suggestions, commands, respectful advice, offers and requests
• carry on conversations with socially superior people, thereby using the appropriate polite expressions (honorific, extra-modest, and humble expressions) in given situations
• present their knowledge of some aspects of modern Japanese culture and society that closely relate to the way one is expected to talk
• apply their knowledge of syntactic structures to produce grammatically and semantically fairly complex sentences
• demonstrate their comprehension of simple authentic texts using dictionaries and intelligent guesses regarding unknown words, loan words, or compound words
• display their knowledge of the structure of dictionaries by demonstrating their ability to find relevant Japanese vocabulary on various subjects
• write compositions on familiar and unfamiliar topics with learned and new vocabulary and grammatical structures they have studied
• write texts of an extended length with coherent organization.

In the course, the students practice the use of sentences of greater complexity and the use of a more nuanced language, especially different forms of formal language. They work with prepared and unprepared practical activities: role play, interviews, dialogue training,
short speeches and different listening exercises. Thereby they deepen their understanding of the cultural and social role of the language.
Texts are analysed and are used as the subject of discussions in Japanese. The students also write longer texts by hand and on the computer, and work with different kanji exercises. The students write the characters by hand and train reading texts, both authentic texts and prepared exercises, which are written with a large amount of kanji. In addition, they practice in more depth the use of dictionaries.
Via group and individual analysis tasks, they broaden their 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).

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).