MLO 1: Language and Communication
Learning Outcomes:
1.1 Students are able to communicate effectively in Japanese in three modes: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational; and in a culturally appropriate manner in a variety of social and professional settings and circumstances at the Intermediate-High level of language proficiency, according to the ACTFL Guidelines.
1.2 Students gain competency in the Japanese language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and discourse, and compare and analyze the structural differences between Japanese and English.
Courses taken:
JAPN 312 - Japanese for the professions
JAPN 401 - Structure of Japanese Language
English Lecture C - Linguistics
Reflective Narrative:
1.1 Before leaving for Japan, my professor, Dr. Saito-Abbott, suggested that I should take the Japanese for the professions class. She insisted that it was going to enhance my communication skills, while increasing my vocabulary. I must say that I was hesitant, to say the least, at first; I was already taken another class that I considered necessary at the time and the schedules were in conflict. I opted for Dr. Saito-Abbott's class in the end. Her class was really challenging since I was still taking JAPN 201 which was intermediate level for us in the department, while her class was an advanced class taught completely on Japanese. I struggle adapting at first, keeping the pace was difficult and there were many kanji and new words that made it harder for me to keep up with my classmates. However, after several classes and dedication to my studies, I managed to catch up. Through this class I greatly improved my interpersonal skills since we were continuously interacting in class through role play sections that the professor assigned to us. I also had the opportunity to enhance my interpretative skills since we were often asked to watch videos in and answer quizzes based on the information contained in such videos. Furthermore we had to create a final video using all the knowledge acquired throughout the semester, which was not only challenging but rewarding at the same time.
By the time I went to Japan, the vocabulary and cultural understanding I possessed were enough to give me not only self-confidence but also the possibility to impress my Japanese friends a couple times since the knowledge this class provided me with is even difficult for some Japanese people.
1.2 During my last semester at CSUMB I had the opportunity to take Dr. Sekine's JAPN 401 class, which main focus was on the structure of the Japanese language while comparing it to the English language. We studied two different phonetic alphabets which applied to each country, going over the sounds that we have in both English and Japanese made it easier to pronounce in a more correct manner. As we advanced through the semester, we also studied pronunciation and intonation so we could get a bit closer to the one used by native Japanese speakers. Shadowing was a useful tool to achieve this, since we were encouraged to listen to Japanese recordings while repeating in an almost simultaneous fashion what was being said. Furthermore, while I was studying abroad at the University of Shiga Prefecture, I had the opportunity to take a class which focus entirely on Linguistics. Professor Koguma showed us the semantic contrast between seemingly paraphrase-able expressions in both English and Japanese. They were both very helpful classes to accomplish my goals of improving my Japanese proficiency and obtaining my B.A.
JAPN 312 Final Project
1.1 Students are able to communicate effectively in Japanese in three modes: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational; and in a culturally appropriate manner in a variety of social and professional settings and circumstances at the Intermediate-High level of language proficiency, according to the ACTFL Guidelines.
1.2 Students gain competency in the Japanese language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and discourse, and compare and analyze the structural differences between Japanese and English.
Courses taken:
JAPN 312 - Japanese for the professions
JAPN 401 - Structure of Japanese Language
English Lecture C - Linguistics
Reflective Narrative:
1.1 Before leaving for Japan, my professor, Dr. Saito-Abbott, suggested that I should take the Japanese for the professions class. She insisted that it was going to enhance my communication skills, while increasing my vocabulary. I must say that I was hesitant, to say the least, at first; I was already taken another class that I considered necessary at the time and the schedules were in conflict. I opted for Dr. Saito-Abbott's class in the end. Her class was really challenging since I was still taking JAPN 201 which was intermediate level for us in the department, while her class was an advanced class taught completely on Japanese. I struggle adapting at first, keeping the pace was difficult and there were many kanji and new words that made it harder for me to keep up with my classmates. However, after several classes and dedication to my studies, I managed to catch up. Through this class I greatly improved my interpersonal skills since we were continuously interacting in class through role play sections that the professor assigned to us. I also had the opportunity to enhance my interpretative skills since we were often asked to watch videos in and answer quizzes based on the information contained in such videos. Furthermore we had to create a final video using all the knowledge acquired throughout the semester, which was not only challenging but rewarding at the same time.
By the time I went to Japan, the vocabulary and cultural understanding I possessed were enough to give me not only self-confidence but also the possibility to impress my Japanese friends a couple times since the knowledge this class provided me with is even difficult for some Japanese people.
1.2 During my last semester at CSUMB I had the opportunity to take Dr. Sekine's JAPN 401 class, which main focus was on the structure of the Japanese language while comparing it to the English language. We studied two different phonetic alphabets which applied to each country, going over the sounds that we have in both English and Japanese made it easier to pronounce in a more correct manner. As we advanced through the semester, we also studied pronunciation and intonation so we could get a bit closer to the one used by native Japanese speakers. Shadowing was a useful tool to achieve this, since we were encouraged to listen to Japanese recordings while repeating in an almost simultaneous fashion what was being said. Furthermore, while I was studying abroad at the University of Shiga Prefecture, I had the opportunity to take a class which focus entirely on Linguistics. Professor Koguma showed us the semantic contrast between seemingly paraphrase-able expressions in both English and Japanese. They were both very helpful classes to accomplish my goals of improving my Japanese proficiency and obtaining my B.A.
JAPN 312 Final Project