Overview of Japanese Language Curriculum for Foreign Students

OKIU’s Japanese language curriculum aims to train internationally minded professionals who will be able to contribute in the areas of international exchange and cooperation. Students in our program have utilized their newly acquired Japanese skills in a variety of ways: to enter our undergraduate or graduate programs, to enroll in other Japanese universities, to find work in Japan, or to work in Japan-related fields in their home countries.

Japanese Classes Offered by Level

Level	Course (1st and 2nd semesters)	Credits	Number of Students (estimate)	Content
Beginner	Beginning Japanese IA, IIA	2	3	Using the popular Minna no Nihongo textbook, students will learn basic sentence patterns and how to communicate in real-life situations.
	Beginning Japanese IA, IIA	2
	Pre-Intermediate Comprehensive Japanese IA, IIA	2		Through a study of Japanese culture, students will learn to improve their reading and listening skills.
Intermediate	Intermediate Japanese Grammar I, II	2	20-25	Students will work to broaden their grammatical competence and to improve their functional ability in Japanese.
	Intermediate Japanese Listening Comprehension and Conversation I, II	2		Students will learn to improve their communicative ability while increasing their vocabularies.
	Intermediate Japanese Composition I, II	2		Focusing on the writing of paragraphs and summaries, students will learn to write logical and well-organized essays.
	Intermediate Japanese Culture and Society I, II	2		Students will deepen their knowledge of Japanese and Okinawan culture and society.
Advanced	Advanced Japanese Seminar I, II	2	10 or 20	Students will learn to conduct research and make presentations.
	Advanced Japanese Writing I, II	1		Students will learn how to organize and write an academic paper.
	Advanced Japanese Grammar III, IV	1		Students will work to improve their grammatical competence in various situations.

Students studying Japanese at OKIU fall into one of the following categories:

Regular Undergraduates: These are foreign students who have passed the entrance examination and are enrolled in one of the ten departments of our four colleges. They take specialized and general classes along with Japanese students; however, they may feel the need to improve their Japanese in order to write reports or make presentations. All credits from advanced Japanese classes count towards graduation, and some departments accept credits from Japanese classes towards fulfilling the foreign language requirement. For these reasons, most foreign undergraduates decide to take Japanese classes.

Temporary International Students:These are students who enter the university by submitting an application in January and passing an interview in January. (Applicants are also required to take the Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students, and must be able to change their visa status to "ryugaku" upon entrance.) Most of these students take intermediate-level classes.
Students in this category, specifically seek entrance to OKIU's undergraduate programs after completion. Students will have the opportunity to improve Japanese language skills for one year, and apply to undergraduate programs provided.

Foreign Exchange Students: OKIU has made exchange agreements with ten overseas universities. Students from four of these universities study at OKIU on a one-year study program. These students take both general and Japanese classes.

Other: Researchers from our sister schools, scholars studying on the Fulbright program, and others are allowed to study Japanese at OKIU when deemed necessary. We are also currently considering plans to open the door to those in the local community in need of Japanese study.

Summer Japanese Language and Culture Study Program

Students from three of our sister schools (Hannam University, located in South Korea; Tunghai University, in Taiwan; and Macquarie University, in Australia) study Japanese language and culture for three weeks in July. Each year, approximately thirty students participate in this program.

Minor in Teaching Japanese to Speakers of Other Languages

　For students who hope to work as Japanese teachers in the future, OKIU’s Department of Japanese Language and Culture and OKIU’s Department of British and American Language and Culture both offer a Minor in Teaching Japanese to Speakers of Other Languages. Students can choose to do their practice teaching at OKIU, at Fujian Normal University (in China), or at Tunghai University (in Taiwan).

International Exchange

• Japanese Language Curriculum
• Interviews

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