I'm graduating next year, and once I've done that I'd like to spend a year studying Japanese at a university in Japan (preferably Tokyo, but if that's not possible it's alright). I'm not studying Japanese and I'm not at a university that is partners with anywhere relevant, so exchange has never been an option for me. I know that Keio and Wasada have programmes with what I'm looking for - one year long, and open to anyone, not just students at partner institutions (like Sophia's is). However, I'm not so hopeful in getting into those two, and even so, I'd like to apply to as many as exist to give myself the best chance of making this happen.

So, is there anyone who's either aware of a list of such programmes, or can name a few of the top of their head?

I've gone on a few rants about my general disappointment with studying Japanese at a Japanese uni, here is my last rant:

http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?p...#pid107738

If you are set on language study in Japan, my suggestion is to find a good language school. I knew a few people who made major leaps in relatively short time spans.

fakewookie Wrote:I'm graduating next year, and once I've done that I'd like to spend a year studying Japanese at a university in Japan

I'm not familiar with this area, but I was just wondering if you mean like going into a program for a Master's degree in 国語?

Because that sounds like an interesting route that I haven't heard much about, although in the U.S., and I'm sure in the U.K. and elsewhere, you can get a MA in English at most any major university. Even though I'm Japanese, I once considered going into a graduate program in English, when I found while working as a teaching fellow, that I enjoyed grading term papers.

oregum Wrote:I've gone on a few rants about my general disappointment with studying Japanese at a Japanese uni, here is my last rant:

http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?p...#pid107738

If you are set on language study in Japan, my suggestion is to find a good language school. I knew a few people who made major leaps in relatively short time spans.

I can't apply to Sophia anyway, but I'm sure that not all such programmes are necessarily as bad an experience as you had. I've heard nothing but good things about Keio in particular.

As for language schools, that's probably what it would come down to if I got rejected from every university I applied to, but it's certainly not preferable for me. The main reason is that I want to be in a place with Japanese people around me all the time, which a language school of course can't provide. I want to join clubs and do all that stuff, as well as attend lectures on separate topics (such as politics or economics, which Keio provides) in Japanese. Really, the classes aren't that big a deal.

Besides, one paragraph of that rant is dedicated to how awesome Sophia is.

Mushi Wrote:

fakewookie Wrote:I'm graduating next year, and once I've done that I'd like to spend a year studying Japanese at a university in Japan

I'm not familiar with this area, but I was just wondering if you mean like going into a program for a Master's degree in 国語?

Because that sounds like an interesting route that I haven't heard much about, although in the U.S., and I'm sure in the U.K. and elsewhere, you can get a MA in English at most any major university. Even though I'm Japanese, I once considered going into a graduate program in English, when I found while working as a teaching fellow, that I enjoyed grading term papers.

I'm not looking for a degree, and I imagine something like that would be far too advanced for me. I'm just looking for classes in Japanese aimed at non-native speakers, at universities other than Keio and Waseda. However I'm starting to think that maybe this isn't that common.

fakewookie Wrote:I've heard nothing but good things about Keio in particular.

Shadowing the same sentence again and again. And again. And again. It was fun for the most part, but sometimes it was mindnumbingly boring.
Still, as far as language courses go it's a pretty good one I guess. There's a wide array of optional courses and all the teachers are great, fun people to be around.

fakewookie Wrote:I'm not looking for a degree, and I imagine something like that would be far too advanced for me. I'm just looking for classes in Japanese aimed at non-native speakers, at universities other than Keio and Waseda. However I'm starting to think that maybe this isn't that common.

I have a feeling that most universities will be looking for students who *are* looking for a degree... I get the impression that the way the system is set up is that "Japanese for the non-native speaker who just wants to improve their Japanese and isn't trying to study anything else" is mostly handled by language schools. Maybe I'm wrong, though; I haven't looked into this really.

What I've heard from several sources is that in general, language schools offer superior education in Japanese. You get more lesson time, faster progression and more effective schooling. However, there are reasons to pick a university over a language school anyway. For one, you get to actually study at a university, which actually has japanese students, after-school activities etc. At a language school, you just get to befriend a lot of koreans and chinese and there's no activities. Another issue is cost. A university is generally a lot more expensive than a language school, but if you're getting some university-specific scholarship or it's some form of exchange program, that's a better solution.

I went to Nagasaki Daigaku for a year in undergrad. I was on the Monbusho scholarship, and I was registered as a normal student (that is, I was taking three or four classes a semester on literature, linguistics, or art taught in Japanese) plus one class of Japanese as a second language along with the other exchange students. It was a good program but very focused on reading essays and writing essays, and while I got a lot out of it I don't necessarily think it did me more good than a Japanese class anywhere else would have.

Tobberoth Wrote:What I've heard from several sources is that in general, language schools offer superior education in Japanese. You get more lesson time, faster progression and more effective schooling. However, there are reasons to pick a university over a language school anyway. For one, you get to actually study at a university, which actually has japanese students, after-school activities etc. At a language school, you just get to befriend a lot of koreans and chinese and there's no activities. Another issue is cost. A university is generally a lot more expensive than a language school, but if you're getting some university-specific scholarship or it's some form of exchange program, that's a better solution.

I also don't have direct experience with language schools, but have heard of and seen the results. I've met people who were conversationally fluent in under 6 months.

The people who had the best results, found Japanese friends, bf/gf, moved in with Japanese roommates, etc. Classes were complementary.