Subject Area: Japanese Studies

The course introduces the Japanese sound system, basic greetings as well as a number of basic Japanese structures and vocabulary expressed in Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries that are essential to basic Japanese communication. This course is for those who have no or almost no knowledge of Japanese. The following five social/cultural topics will be covered: 1. Greetings and meeting new friends; 2. Asking about things around you; 3. Daily routines; 4. Locations; 5. Likes and dislikes. On each topic, while studying the language, you are challenged to discover different approaches to viewing the world around you linguistically and culturally, and are given the opportunity to understand current sociocultural issues in Japan. You are also introduced to learning routines necessary to succeed in the fast pace learning of a foreign language.

This course is a beginners-level language course. All students who have had some experience with the language, either as a heritage language or through previous instruction, must fill in the placement questionnaire available at https://hal.arts.unsw.edu.au/students/courses/language-placements. You will not be permitted to enrol in a language course that is too easy for you. If this occurs, you will be requested to change your enrolment.