JAPN 1001: Elementary Japanese I

3 Credit Hours

Introduction to Japanese language and culture stressing progressive acquisition of effective communications skills in both the written and spoken language and an understanding of the practices and products of Japanese culture.

Course Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

Present and exchange information about everyday life in Japanese conversational settings while applying basic sentence structures, vocabulary, and intercultural knowledge.
Explain the Japanese writing system.
Write short passages in hiragana, katakana, and 29 basic kanji and demonstrate reading ability by identifying and summarizing main ideas, supporting details, and linguistic characteristics.
Demonstrate an understanding of intercultural issues such as customs, practices and significant aspects of Japanese culture (e.g., greetings, currency, and housing, and levels of politeness) by identifying and describing appropriate cultural behavior, analyzing the underlying rationales of cultural differences and practices, and applying this knowledge to communicative tasks.
Identify, evaluate, and synthesize information about cultural aspects and apply different cultural perspectives to analysis of current ethical issues.
Analyze and interpret a variety of literary and cultural texts related to Japanese culture, in both Japanese and in English translation.