The growing number of lawyers with Japanese language skills highlights the need to prepare lawyers for the types of socio-linguistic challenges they will face in legal practice, business and policy settings. In this self-paced tutorial, students with at least 3 years tertiary-level Japanese language training (or equivalent) will gain the necessary skills in reading and interpreting a variety of Japanese legal documents, including cases, statutes, regulatory instruments, corporate documents and contracts. Students will learn the 'language of the law', incorporating not only the grammar and lexicon of law, but also legal translation theory, the sociology of legal language, and the legal/political/economic/cultural context of Japanese legal texts. Students will also acquire research skills necessary to find Japanese legal sources. Depending on linguistic ability, students may complete either a portfolio of language-related assessment (eg, a major translation and word bank) or a theory-based project (eg, a research essay on gendered language in Japan and Australia).Students will not be assessed on linguistic competence.

Asian Law

None

You have great flexibility in determining the assessment scheme in this course. The only assessment that all students must undertake is online participation (20%). Your chosen assessment scheme must suit the learning outcomes you have articulated. There is some variation in the available assessment options and their weighting, but the following is indicative of the range of assessment options you may select: