About the Program

The University of Houston provides two years of Japanese Study: Elementary Japanese 1501 and 1502 and Intermediate Japanese 2301 and 2302.

Goals

• To develop conversational skills with emphasis on correct pronunciation, accent, intonation and pitch, while learning Japanese writing system.
• To introduce students into Japanese culture by viewing videos and providing opportunities to participate in cultural events in the community.
• To provide students with the qualifications for career opportunities

Curriculum

The Japanese program offers modern standard Japanese courses at Elementary and Intermediate levels. The students will develop communicative competence to interact with educated native speakers of Japanese and learn culturally appropriate behaviors in the context of Japanese societies.

JPNS 1501 and 1502 are designed to help students develop the basic grammatical structures and vocabulary of standard Japanese. The students learn and develop basic conversational skills in Japanese and to read and write Kana and Kanji. Kana, which includes both hiragana and katakana, is a phonetically based writing system. Kanji, a writing system derived from Chinese, is based on symbols that bear concepts and meaning.

JPNS 2301 and 2302 The main objective of these courses is to develop four communicative language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) at the intermediate level. These courses further emphasize practical language structures and vocabulary expansion. JPNS2302 also helps students prepare for career opportunities within Japanese communities.