Japanese College course in Ireland...

takoyaki

Hi all,
I speak fluent Japanese and have not problems on Hiragana and katakana but needing more study on Kanji.
I am studying from books and study cards at the moment and alls going well, but I would love to do a degree course related to Japan... I am not too keen on doing business studies and Japanese which is offered in Cork and Dublin....also has anyone taken the Japanese language proficiency test? 宜しくお願いします　:D

FruitLover

I'd recommend Heisig's method over any other method of learning kanji. It's not perfect, but it's a damn sight better than the rote memorization method that's taught in most formal courses.

I find shōnen manga and children's books quite good for getting comfortable with kanji and learning the readings (through furigana). Again, rote learning of readings is no fun, and IMO not as effective as learning in context.

The JLPT is nonsense in terms of a real language test, but it could be used as encouragement and milestone marking, plus it could be handy if you go looking for a job in Japan some time.

hibby

I'm doing JLPT3 this December. I agree to some extent that it is not a very good test of real-world competence. However it is an excellent motivation to do a bit of study every day. If I didn't have an exam to prepare for I know I wouldn't be studying.

This is the first time the JLPT has been available in Dublin. When I did 4-kyuu I had to travel to London.

I have a couple of good books for the grammar section. I have a kanji book but my kanji is good enough for Level 3 at this stage. My weak point is vocabulary. I have nothing for the listening comprehension.

DCU Language School offers a series of very focused preparation classes in the months leading up to the test.

takoyaki

ありがとう、

I have been learning the kanji by writing them over and over again, learning the 音読みと訓読み then giving myself regular tests..however it can get monotonous at times so any new material or different method would be great- will check out the Heisig's method:)

when I was taking lessons in Japan there were some 'Gaijin sans' also studying Japanese. They had been living there for nearly twenty years but repeatedly failing the JLPT- So I always imagined its was a tough test..

I have heard that the structure of the test is going to change ( not Dec) with the addition of writing -essay style:eek: _ better get cracking!

keiran110

As far as i know theres not a college course in Cork with Japanese? UCC do a ten week course only doing it once a week.
College of Commerce do a similar thing.

You could try do cultural studies with Japanese in DIT i think?? Somewhere in Dublin anyway. In limerick theres business with Japanese also.

Heisigs method is very quick and useful. I use this method. The only limitation is that it only teachs single kanji and not compounds as you would find them in the real world.

FruitLover

takoyaki wrote: »

I have been learning the kanji by writing them over and over again, learning the 音読みと訓読み then giving myself regular tests

This does not scale well. I'd recommend Heisig's method in combination with an SRS such as Anki.

keiran110

FruitLover wrote: »

This does not scale well. I'd recommend Heisig's method in combination with an SRS such as Anki.

+1

Thanks for adding this! I forgot to mention a recommendation for Anki. In my opinion, easily the best SRS going. I use it for all my college work as well as Japanese.
Definetly worth checking out for those interested in learning kanji and kana

hibby

I don't know what an SRS is but I'm off to google SRS Anki.

shindig-jp

Possibly my favourite Kanji 糞

keiran110

hibby wrote: »

I don't know what an SRS is but I'm off to google SRS Anki.

let me know how it goes for you!

Phil D

The internet is great for it. TBS has streamed news stories with the articles written beside it. TBS放送. Which means you don't have to spend time looking up the reading in a dictionary. Good luck

hibby

keiran110 wrote: »

let me know how it goes for you!

Going well so far. I downloaded Anki and I started setting up the JLPT3 verbs. There are 359 verbs on the syllabus and I have set up cards for around 150 of them. I put the kanji reading (where available) on the front and the kana reading and English meaning on the reverse. I've only used it for a few days so I'm not sure if I've learned much yet.

One tip - my verb list is in kana order, so all the verbs beginning with "a", then "e" and so on. This doesn't work very well for flash cards, so I changed the settings to display new cards in random order, instead of in the order they were created.

If I do ever get around to creating the full set of JLPT3 verbs, I'll share it on the net.

keiran110

thatd be savage if you could share them!
Best of luck!

FruitLover

Hopefully you're adding the verbs as part of example sentences, rather than on their own...

pervertedcoffee

If you want to study Japanese without business in college UL offers a number of courses that incorperate Japanese, their BA Joint Honours (which I'm studying atm - with English, New Media and Cultural Studies and History) and Languages, Lit and Film, as well as Teacher training and Apllied Languages. So never fear Business needn't be an issue.

hibby

FruitLover wrote: »

Hopefully you're adding the verbs as part of example sentences, rather than on their own...

No, just the verbs. I don't know if I'll finish the project now though. Only 15 days until the exam, so I need to concentrate on studying grammar, etc.

takoyaki

pervertedcoffee wrote: »

If you want to study Japanese without business in college UL offers a number of courses that incorperate Japanese, their BA Joint Honours (which I'm studying atm - with English, New Media and Cultural Studies and History) and Languages, Lit and Film, as well as Teacher training and Apllied Languages. So never fear Business needn't be an issue.

Thanks for the info Pcoffee, thats interesting..how are you finding the course?
Is the Japanese being taught at beginners level? Japanese tutour?
*Arigato*

pervertedcoffee

Yes, the course begins with the lecturer assuming you know nothing. The class has been progressing really well - and even though I did Japanese for my leaving cert I've never been bored. Our lecturer is amazing; funny and enthusiastic, it really makes a difference. Also, if you have previous experience in Japanese you are allowed join in with the second year classes if your timetable allows for that.

We have six hours of Japanese a week, three lectures, three tutorials. Two of the tutorials are taught by a native Japanese speaker and the third deals with Japanese culture.

I love my course, especially Japanese. I'm delighted I took it up. If there's anything else you want to ask - feel free to do so! Or if you prefer you can e-mail Geraghty Sensei herself. You'll find her e-mail on the UL website (I'm not sure I can post it here). She'll be happy to fill you in and you can tell her you were talking to one of her first years, Amy-san.

takoyaki

hibby wrote: »

I'm doing JLPT3 this December.

Hibby san how did you get on with the test ?
Be interesting to hear your thoughts ...