Japanese in the Education System

[Starry Starry Fright]

We need more open, general threads in this guild, to get to know our members more. But I digress.

Just feel like going on a little rant about my current Japanese situation here.

Okay, so many of you may have wondered why I am seventeen and in first year university. The way my wonderful Canadian school board works is that our advanced program flies us through the curriculum to finish high school at the end of grade eleven. The problem is, even if we race through our all our cores and finish all our math, science, english and social early, we still don't have enough credits to get out of that place.

Long story short, I am technically a high school senior, who is taking first-year University Japanese for more high school credits, because I am done everything else. This term for me also includes first-year University calculus and chemistry. Calculus and chemistry won't impact the courses I take once I go to University - I will still be going into first-year levels with a little more preparation than most. I thought this was the case with Japanese.

Apparently not.

There are two levels of first-year University Japanese at my future school - Introduction to Japanese One and Introduction to Japanese Two. I figured that by taking the Japanese course, I might get to skip over Introduction One and go straight to two.

Not so. My advisor has just informed me that I will going straight into intermediate second-year university Japanese.

.......... sweatdrop

Oh snap.

That's a bit more of a leap than I was expecting. To be honest, I am more than a little nervous about it, which means this summer, I am buying up every "learn Japanese" program and book that I can find, just to be sure I won't look like a fool in that class.

So those are my woes. Thank you for reading.

Is anyone else looking at taking some Japanese in post-secondary or having some difficulties with their language education?  

[Il Bambino]

Hahaha, I have a sorta-ish problem like that...you see, in america, you MUST take a foreign language. . . but I decided I'd play the whole card of, "Oh, I speak italian, why take a course?"

Well, my guidance counsler was talking about sheduling and what not, and said I need to take a foreign language, and I said, "I already speak italian," and she said that was fine, but in order to graduate from my high school, you need to take a foreign language coarse....or take a test... gonk So yeah.. sad  

[this little secret]

Not in high school but I wish you good luck!
Yeah, like Bambino says, in high you you are required to learn a language.
I want to learn french but I probably will have to learn Chinese.  

[Starry Starry Fright]

You guys have to take a second language? Seriously? Is this standard all across the country? I didn't know that. Since French is one of the official languages, Canadian kids are required to take French from grades 4-6 and then that's it.

Chinese would be kinda cool. My school's only language options are French, Spanish and Japanese. At my university though, there are a TON of languages. If I wasn`t a science major I would take Swahili.  

[this little secret]

Not sure, but I know that my mom was required to learn and some other high schools I know you were required to learn.
Ah, I see that.

My mom says I have to but I want to learn some french, I know some numbers and words. I think the languages in a high school I'm supposed to go to is well, Spanish, Chinese French, and I think another language, Korean or something else, I forgot.

Swahili, I never really heard of many people talking about wanting to take it. I'd probably just take Viet because I need to learn it. Or I'll just carry a Vietnamese pocket dictionary and do whatever.  

[Starry Starry Fright]

knowyourlittlesecret

Not sure, but I know that my mom was required to learn and some other high schools I know you were required to learn.
Ah, I see that.

My mom says I have to but I want to learn some french, I know some numbers and words. I think the languages in a high school I'm supposed to go to is well, Spanish, Chinese French, and I think another language, Korean or something else, I forgot.

Swahili, I never really heard of many people talking about wanting to take it. I'd probably just take Viet because I need to learn it. Or I'll just carry a Vietnamese pocket dictionary and do whatever.

Most Universities will require that you learn it. I know that at ours, all arts students need at least 6 credits in a foreign language to graduate. Doesn't apply to me because I am a science major, but arts credit is always a good thing.

Some people just really love languages. I find that the people who excel at one language have an easy time picking up more. And hey, knowing multiple languages is great for career opportunities. Swahili is something I'd take for the sake of knowing a weird language.  

[Starry Starry Fright]

Excellent news! I just got my final Japanese exam back and ... *drumroll* 100%. I am very pleased.  

[Swim47]

Starry Starry Fright

Excellent news! I just got my final Japanese exam back and ... *drumroll* 100%. I am very pleased.

nice job!!! 3nodding  

[this little secret]

Starry Starry Fright

Excellent news! I just got my final Japanese exam back and ... *drumroll* 100%. I am very pleased.

Congrats~  

[neverendingsolitude]

Starry Starry Fright

knowyourlittlesecret

Not sure, but I know that my mom was required to learn and some other high schools I know you were required to learn.
Ah, I see that.

My mom says I have to but I want to learn some french, I know some numbers and words. I think the languages in a high school I'm supposed to go to is well, Spanish, Chinese French, and I think another language, Korean or something else, I forgot.

Swahili, I never really heard of many people talking about wanting to take it. I'd probably just take Viet because I need to learn it. Or I'll just carry a Vietnamese pocket dictionary and do whatever.

Most Universities will require that you learn it. I know that at ours, all arts students need at least 6 credits in a foreign language to graduate. Doesn't apply to me because I am a science major, but arts credit is always a good thing.

Some people just really love languages. I find that the people who excel at one language have an easy time picking up more. And hey, knowing multiple languages is great for career opportunities. Swahili is something I'd take for the sake of knowing a weird language.

That's mostly true I suppose. I'm at the top of my English class (just got through with 8th grade, going to 9th in Sep.) and I'm easily at the top 5 in my Spanish class (not counting the Mexican kids who already know it). My method of learning starts out by learning words, looking at a sentence and slowly translating it... I look at a language like a puzzle. Once I figure out how its set up, it gets so very easy to understand. Of course, I haven't started really looking at Japanese yet, so I'm still very lost.
And yay! My dads getting me Rosetta Stone <3 ahaha! That should make things very easy...
Maybe once Im done with Japanese I can move on to Korean or Chinese... or maybe Khemer(? The Cambodian Language) so I can tease my ninja in his own language >:3  

[Starry Starry Fright]

neverendingsolitude

Starry Starry Fright

knowyourlittlesecret

Not sure, but I know that my mom was required to learn and some other high schools I know you were required to learn.
Ah, I see that.

My mom says I have to but I want to learn some french, I know some numbers and words. I think the languages in a high school I'm supposed to go to is well, Spanish, Chinese French, and I think another language, Korean or something else, I forgot.

Swahili, I never really heard of many people talking about wanting to take it. I'd probably just take Viet because I need to learn it. Or I'll just carry a Vietnamese pocket dictionary and do whatever.

Most Universities will require that you learn it. I know that at ours, all arts students need at least 6 credits in a foreign language to graduate. Doesn't apply to me because I am a science major, but arts credit is always a good thing.

Some people just really love languages. I find that the people who excel at one language have an easy time picking up more. And hey, knowing multiple languages is great for career opportunities. Swahili is something I'd take for the sake of knowing a weird language.

That's mostly true I suppose. I'm at the top of my English class (just got through with 8th grade, going to 9th in Sep.) and I'm easily at the top 5 in my Spanish class (not counting the Mexican kids who already know it). My method of learning starts out by learning words, looking at a sentence and slowly translating it... I look at a language like a puzzle. Once I figure out how its set up, it gets so very easy to understand. Of course, I haven't started really looking at Japanese yet, so I'm still very lost.
And yay! My dads getting me Rosetta Stone <3 ahaha! That should make things very easy...
Maybe once Im done with Japanese I can move on to Korean or Chinese... or maybe Khemer(? The Cambodian Language) so I can tease my ninja in his own language >:3

Well done, I made the school's top mark in Japanese, so I can see where you're coming from with your Spanish mark. Learning Japanese is a little more complicated because you have to learn a new alphabet along with new words... I find that flashcards and writing out the symbols work just fine.

If you own a DS, I really recommend the game "My Japanese Coach". It's actually a really great tool to help you learn, I was pleasantly suprised.  

[Aratariel]

Do you have any idea where I might find "My Japanese Coach" for a DS in Korea?
I think I may have to purchase a copy online.

My gripe with Japanese education, being in Korea, is that there are plenty of academies that offer courses... in Korean.
As a non-native speaker of Korean, I feel that those courses would be far too difficult for me.

 

[Starry Starry Fright]

Aratariel

Do you have any idea where I might find "My Japanese Coach" for a DS in Korea?
I think I may have to purchase a copy online.

My gripe with Japanese education, being in Korea, is that there are plenty of academies that offer courses... in Korean.
As a non-native speaker of Korean, I feel that those courses would be far too difficult for me.

I'm not entirely sure where one goes to find video games in Korea sweatdrop I'm about as far away from there as it is possible to get without leaving the planet.

When in doubt, eBay.  

[flightyPrick]

Starry Starry Fright

You guys have to take a second language? Seriously? Is this standard all across the country? I didn't know that. Since French is one of the official languages, Canadian kids are required to take French from grades 4-6 and then that's it.

Chinese would be kinda cool. My school's only language options are French, Spanish and Japanese. At my university though, there are a TON of languages. If I wasn`t a science major I would take Swahili.

Here in texas we have to take 2 years of foreign language to graduate, so could be everywhere. (je parler le francais, that being what I had to take.) (mais j'aime le francais~) My school doesn't offer Japanese as a class D< (texas fml).  

[Starry Starry Fright]

Cascade-kun

Starry Starry Fright

You guys have to take a second language? Seriously? Is this standard all across the country? I didn't know that. Since French is one of the official languages, Canadian kids are required to take French from grades 4-6 and then that's it.

Chinese would be kinda cool. My school's only language options are French, Spanish and Japanese. At my university though, there are a TON of languages. If I wasn`t a science major I would take Swahili.

Here in texas we have to take 2 years of foreign language to graduate, so could be everywhere. (je parler le francais, that being what I had to take.) (mais j'aime le francais~) My school doesn't offer Japanese as a class D< (texas fml).

Funny thing is, I'm an Acadian, and I speak almost no French. My ancestors would be disgusted. razz

Canada teaches Japanese just about everywhere now, it seems. Our Asian population is massive compared to yours though, so I suppose it makes sense.

University of Texas probably offers Japanese though.