Bachelor of Arts (BA)

BA English Language and Japanese

Investigate the sounds, words and grammar of the English language in combination with Japanese study.
  • Duration: 4 years
  • Year of entry: 2025
  • UCAS course code: QT32 / Institution code: M20
  • Key features:
  • Study abroad
  • Study with a language

Full entry requirementsHow to apply

Fees and funding

Fees

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £26,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

For information regarding available scholarships and bursaries, please see our funding  pages.

Course unit details:
Japanese Language 6

Course unit fact file
Unit code JAPA51060
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 3
Teaching period(s) Full year
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

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.

Pre/co-requisites

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. 

Aims

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 in both directions between English and Japanese. 

Syllabus

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)

Teaching and learning methods

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. 

Knowledge and understanding

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.).

Intellectual skills

  • 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 and vice versa.
  • Ability to write an essay or report which develops an argument systematically with appropriate highlighting of significant points and relevant supporting detail.  
  • 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. 
     

Practical skills

  • Oral expression on everyday matters and on a wide range of topics in the Japanese news relating to Japanese society, culture and events.  
  • Ability to explain articulately and in detail the content of research while showing data, etc., and respond flexibly to questions.  
  • Proficiency in reading Japanese texts and viewing and hearing TV and other audio and video material in standard Japanese and becoming able to recognize certain features of dialect in both speech and writing.
  • Writing stylistically appropriate Japanese prose.
  • Translation from Japanese into English and from English into Japanese, and mediating communication between the languages.

 

Transferable skills and personal qualities

  • 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.
  • Writing essays or reports which develop an argument systematically with appropriate highlighting of significant points and relevant supporting detail.  

Employability skills

Other
Communication and presentation skills. Collaboration skills through teamwork. Problem-solving through reading and translation. Time management. Information and technology use: exploit and contextualize a broad range of demanding materials in the target language and for a variety of purposes, also recognizing implicit meaning. Writing skills. Mediation and negotiation skills in professional contexts.

Assessment methods

Assessment task  

Formative or Summative 

Weighting within unit (if summative) 

Oral Examination at the end of semester 2 

Summative 

30% 

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 

50% 

 

Resit Assessment

Assessment task  

Written Exam (75%) 

Oral Exam (25%) 

Feedback methods

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  

 

Recommended reading

Set text:

Students  doing 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.  

All students are advised to use the following materials for their own self-study. They are available in the Academic English Centre Library.  

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)         

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Tutorials 88
Independent study hours
Independent study 112

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Jonathan Bunt Unit coordinator
Nozomi Yamaguchi Unit coordinator
Mamiko Noda Unit coordinator

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