BA Sociology and Japanese

Residence abroad support

We offer dedicated financial support packages of up to £2,000 for residence abroad students, based on household income.

You will be automatically assessed for this, based on your Student Finance financial assessment - you just need to make sure you apply for a financial assessment in the academic year in which your residence abroad will take place.

RWS Brode Scholarship

You may be eligible for this scholarship if you fulfill the following conditions:

• your qualifications were achieved at a state-funded school in the UK;
• your total household income does not exceed £60,000 (as verified by the Student Loan Company);
• you achieve high marks in your A-levels (or equivalent qualifications), usually AAB or above;
• you apply to (and remain on) either a single honours Language course, or a dual-language course.

Awards will be made according to a sliding scale, benefitting those who have achieved the highest marks relative to backgrounds.

You will be automatically assessed for this after you have registered on your degree.

You simply need to make sure you allow the University access to your records when applying for your student lLoan (we cannot otherwise assess your eligibility).

Bursaries and Scholarships

• Find out more from student finance
• Eligible UK students can apply for bursaries and scholarships
• Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages
• Many students work part-time or complete a student internship

This is an advanced level language course which builds on skills acquired during a prior residence in Japan and which contains a pathway for students on the Modern Language with Business and Management (Japanese) Degree Programme: all students on MLBM must take this pathway.

BA Japanese Studies and combinations involving Japanese with other languages and area studies degrees and BA Modern Language with Business and Management etc.

Not available as a free choice – but if the level is appropriate the convenor may exceptionally admit students from outside Japanese Studies. 

Building on students’ prior learning including residence in Japan, it aims to broaden students’ vocabulary (in both spoken and written registers), hone their communication and analytical skills and deepen their understanding of grammar and communicative behaviour in Japanese society. There will also be translation exercises between English and Japanese in both directions.

The curriculum helps students hone their communication and analytical skills and deepen their understanding of grammar and communicative behaviour in Japanese society with a focus on broadening their vocabulary (in both spoken and written registers) on a wide range of subjects related to their fields of interest. There will also be translation exercises between English and Japanese. 

This is a course in 3 sections supported by independent study. All students take section A. MLBM students must take section B and all other students take either section B (with permission of the convenor) or section C. Students may (with the written permission of the convenor) attend both section B and section C classes but must register on and fully attend one or the other.

Students are also expected to be able to analyse and articulate their learning needs and make progress through independent study although this is not formally assessed.

A Expressing Yourself in Japanese (2 hours)

B Business Japanese (required for students on MLBM, optional for students on other programmes in place of C) (2 hours)

C Japanese-English Translation: Skills and Issues (required for students not taking B) (2 hours)

4 hours of tutorials per week (including some group and pair-work)  

All students have access to the Language Centre and should use its resources regularly. 

All students are advised to participate in learning partnerships with Japanese students where possible and there are plans to introduce Japanese exchange students on campus to the final year students in Japanese Studies. 

Enhanced understanding of the characteristics of the Japanese language and its usage.

Increased knowledge and skills to monitor and improve students’ own oral and written output.

Further understanding of the skills required for advanced and professional use of Japanese.

Understanding of issues around translation, possible solutions to them and ways to apply them in various situations (e.g. every-day conversations, business scenes, translating prose or newspaper articles, academic contexts etc.).

• Ability to engage effectively with the appropriate resources to confirm their initial understanding of Japanese.
• Understanding of the issues involved in translating Japanese into appropriate English.
• Ability to express their opinions with some grounds for argument, consider the different perspectives of other people, and contribute to discussions in a productive way by proposing solutions or compromises. 
   

• Oral expression on a wide range of topics relating to Japanese society, culture and events or related global issues.  
• Proficiency in reading Japanese texts and viewing and hearing TV and other audio and video material in standard Japanese.
• Writing stylistically appropriate Japanese prose.
• Translation from Japanese into English, and mediating communication between the languages. 

• Analysis of complex Japanese text.
• Mediation of communication between Japanese and English.
• Presentation to an audience in Japanese.
• Accounting for and sustaining an opinion in discussion by providing relevant explanations, arguments and comments.

Assessment task	Formative or Summative	Length	Weighting within unit (if summative)
Oral Examination at the end of semester 2	Summative	15 minutes	25%
Coursework in Japanese Expression	Summative		5%
Business Japanese (section B) or Translation  (section C) task in semester 1	Summative		20%
Written Examination at the end of semester 2 with questions on: Practical Japanese (for all students),  Business Japanese (for those students taking section B), and Translation (for those students taking section C).	Summative	2.5 hours	50%

 

Resit Assessment

Assessment task	Length
Written Exam (75%)	2.5 hours
Oral Exam (25%)	15 minutes

Feedback method	Formative or Summative
Marks and comments for the semester 1 coursework along with comments on in-class performance.	Formative and summative
Students can consult staff individually during office hours

 

Set text:

Students taking the translation class will need the following two texts, both of which are available as e-books through the library catalogue:  

Yoko Hasegawa, The Routledge Course in Japanese Translation (London: Routledge 2012) ISBN 978-0-415-48686-6

Judy Wakabayashi, Japanese-English Translation: An Advanced Guide (New York: Routledge 2020) ISBN 978-0367863340

Any other texts will be notified to students at the start of the course.  

 

Grammar reference books:

 

Particularly recommended for advanced learners is:  

Group Jamashii, Nihongo Bunkei Jiten (Kuroshio Shuppan) グループ・ジャマシイ（編著）『日本語文型辞典』くろしお出版 (Japanese, English, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese versions are available)

The following are recommended as supplementary study materials and aids (many are available in the Main Library or the Academic English Centre Library):

 

• 中祐輔（編著）(2022)『日本語で考えたくなる科学の問い〈上〉〔文化と社会篇〕：探求・活動型日本語教科書』凡人社

• 田中祐輔（編著）(2022)『日本語で考えたくなる科学の問い〈下〉〔心と身体篇〕：探求・活動型日本語教科書』凡人社

小川誉子美、庵功雄 他『上級　日本語文法演習（シリーズ）』スリーエーネットワーク                                                              （⇒全7巻：指示詞・接続詞、複文、テンス・アスペクト、待遇表現、ボイス、モダリティ・終助詞、「は」と「が」、複合格助詞、とりたて助詞など）

増田アヤ子(2011)『マンガで学ぶ　日本語上級表現使い分け１００』アルク

岡本牧子、氏原庸子　他(2008)『比べてわかる日本語表現文型辞典』Jリサーチ出版

目黒真実（監修）(2008) 『生きた例文で学ぶ　日本語表現文型辞典』アスク出版

Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar (Tokyo: Japan Times 1986)  

Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar (Tokyo: Japan Times 1995)

Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar (Tokyo: Japan Times 2007)