Although it may seem like it based on the usual content of my blog, my life in Japan consists of more than just eating delicious food and traveling with friends. Foreign exchange students at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies actually have a pretty heavy workload of classes to keep up with. There are two different programs foreign students here can choose: The Japanese Language Program, where there is a heavy emphasis on classes for actually learning Japanese, and the Contemporary Japan Program (or something like that), where classes are more focussed on Japanese culture (and are all taught in English). Before going to Japan, there wasn’t very much information from previous students that I could find, and I only met one girl who had previously studied abroad at my home university, so my knowledge on NUFS classes was very limited, and even a bit misinformed. Because I had heard that the Japanese Language Program was ridiculously grueling, with 3 hours of Japanese classes every day followed by hours and hours of homework afterwards (which wasn’t really true, it turns out), I went with the Japanese culture program. Plus, I had heard that you could still take Japanese grammar and language classes as well, so it all seemed pretty good!
However, I ended up regretting my decision slightly, as Culture students who take the Japanese language classes as well still have almost the same schedule as Language students (without the three credits of kanji or reading they have that we don’t), but we must also take a full load (12 credits) of culture classes on top of that, resulting in around 20 credits in one semester! There’s also the option of only taking the 12 credits of culture classes, though, but culture classes are incredibly easy to the point of mind-numbing boredom.
Here’s a quick description of the classes of my first semester in Japan:
Japanese Grammar Classes
These classes take place 3 days a week (Tuesday through Thursday) for three hours a day (9:00 AM to around 12:20 PM). They’re broken up a bit into two days of our main grammar class where we go through the chapters in our book, learn grammar points and lots of vocabulary, then are tested every three chapters or so. We have a vocabulary quiz with every chapter, which adds up in the end to about two quizzes or tests per week, so there’s lots of studying that needs to be done! We also have a translation class, where we go through a different book, reading a sentence first in Japanese, then translating it into English one student at a time. The last portion of this class is a conversation class, where we are given different scenarios (you have to borrow a friend’s bike to get to the bank during your lunch hour! you have to talk to a professor about missing a major test because of a doctor’s appointment you have!) and have to create little conversations in pairs. These classes are challenging and require a lot of work outside of class, but I feel like my Japanese has gone up considerably since starting them! However, based on my placement test score, I was placed in Grammar Class 5, which was way too difficult for me with my limited vocabulary and kanji skills, but the teachers allowed me to drop down to Class 4 after a couple (painfully stressful) weeks when I asked.
Japanese Pop Culture Through Media
Otherwise known as “the commercial class,” it pretty much just consists of us sitting in a classroom and watching hilarious Japanese, European, and American commercials! We sometimes discuss the commercials from a cultural perspective, considering whether or not they would work in Japan or in our own countries. Aside from that, the major project of the class is making our own PSA about something related to Japanese culture. Sometimes the teacher can be a little hard to like, but this class is actually enjoyable.
Japanese Business
This seems to be a class that people either love or hate. I’m on the hate side. At the beginning of class, the very odd professor (who is apparently some millionaire businessman) gives us handouts about the Japanese Salaryman, and after looking it over a bit, goes off on various passionate tangents. He’s actually a really great teacher, and I wonder sometimes if he practices his somehow calm and cool rants in the mirror before coming to class. Some of his favorite topics include radiation, Burger King, honne and tatemae, the bubble economy of the 1980s, his solid gold hanko, and his gloomy outlook of the current Japanese economy. He even sometimes has lunch with certain select students, who actually wear suits to go sit in the school cafeteria to eat with him.
Japanese Tourism
This class is so painfully boring. It hurts to say that, because the teacher is just so nice. He gives a timid, soft-spoken powerpoint lecture every week, but since he gives out printouts of the slides as well, there’s really no point in paying attention. I usually spend about half the class sharing pained looks with my friend Ronald and the other half finishing homework for my grammar class. I just haven’t really learned anything about the tourist industry of Japan, but at least the teacher is nice?
Food Culture
A class about Japanese food! That should be my favorite class! Right? ….Right? Well, that’s what I thought when I signed up for it. However, the professor is an elderly man who seems to have no energy or life left in him. He speaks in a slow, monotone voice about boring topics, so most students just sleep during his lecture. Luckily, though, there are very few classes when he actually does lecture! There are two field trips (to a sake and miso factory), a few guest speakers, and a few labs where we make food (like tofu and sushi) to spice things up a bit. However, often times these classes run past the 4th period time all the way through into the 5th period time, making them up to 3 hours without any notice or care, which annoyed me sometimes (It was my fourth 90 minute class of the day, so I just wanted to go home!). However, I did end up learning a few new things about Japanese food, so it wasn’t all bad.
Japanese Language and Society
I’m a foreign languages and linguistics major, so this was the number one class that I wanted to take! It’s taught by a Japanese woman who has spent a lot of time in America, even teaching there at times, so it’s actually a serious class with real work. We’re usually given a reading or two to do every week about some social aspect of the Japanese language, and we discuss the topic the next week, adding in our own experiences in Japan or from back home. There are also sometimes smaller assignments, such as recording the greetings we hear in different settings, for example. The final project is a group one, where we can research any topic we want and make a powerpoint about it. A lot of people hated this class and thought it was boring, but I enjoyed the discussion aspect of it and actually having a teacher with teaching experience!
And that’s all for my first semester classes! In total, they add up to 16 and a half hours per week of classes, but since the majority of them require no outside work, I still have plenty of time to mess around (obviously). I’ll write about my second semester classes sometime in the future!
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