I get a good number of emails asking me various things about my course. As I write about it quite a bit (collection of posts available here) it makes sense people are interested. IF you do have any questions or want to ask anything that I don’t cover here, please do feel free to mail me. Today I’m going to try to provide as much useful information as I can, and I will update it when I can.
Bear in mind I did the course from 2007-2011!
Things may not be in date. I’ll try to keep it updated.
Alright, so let’s get kickin’!
1. Am I qualified to take the course? Can I be allowed on it?
You need, ideally, to meet the grades the university specifies (they may change, I advise checking UCAS or possibly Sheffield’s Website to find what they are now). Aside from that however I really don’t know – I get a lot of people asking if I think they will be allowed on the course. If I had my way, everyone would get on it and we’d all sit around drinking Umeshu all day. But as I don’t run it, I advise asking them instead!
2. What exactly do you learn?
Ok, clarity needed here. I do BA Japanese Studies, but I do not do a dual honors degree. Whilst all students, both single and dual honors, take all the core language modules, outside of that I’m not sure which ones they take. I’m also not sure how many of these modules are still running.
Rather than just write out what I did, I will link to posts where I talked about them in the past. So;
- “What I Learned Today” – Covers first part of first year language.
- “Post Exam Thoughts & Semester Two Preview” – Covers first semester of first year and Understanding Japan, a compulsory module for single honors Japanese studies.
- “Year Two Semester 1 Exam Thoughts” – Covers 2nd year Japanese & Japan’s Minorities, an optional module.
- “The Final Exams Before Japan” – Covers second year Japanese language, Postwar Japanese Politics, an optional module, and Contemporary Japanese Society, another mandatory one.
There’s more under the ‘Sheffield University‘ category. These modules change every year – might be worth checking the undergrad modules list of the department.
3. Is it hard?
Yes. Very. The drop out rate is high, the workload is high and for a very long time, the reward is very little. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but we lost about half our year within two years, which sort of shows how cruel this degree is. I honestly believe if you have a good interest in learning it’s doable, although plenty of friends of mine who were much more dedicated than I am didn’t make it, so I don’t know. It’s a very hard question to answer, really. I had my gap year which is sort of why I stuck in there, because I loved it so much. I guess you really need a good reason to study.
4. What do I need to know before I go?
Hiragana and Katakana. Anything on top of that is a bonus, but make sure you have them down. You don’t really need to know any grammar or Kanji, although progression is so rapid it may help to have a grounding before you come.
5. Which universities can I go to for my year abroad?
The university has links with a whole bunch of places, but you don’t get to choose directly. You can specify certain things (Inside/Outside Tokyo, who you’d like to go with etc.) although it’s the universities’ decision in the end.
Hopefully this was useful. If you have any inquiries please either contact me via mail or leave a comment here. I’ll update this post as useful questions come in. Hope to see you at Sheffield some day!
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Hey Mike, this is good. I have a question – what sort of jobs can you get when you graduate? Is Sheffield famous? I want to be a translator so it would be good to know if its a translation course or a speaking one
I was born just round the corner from Sheffield, and I had no idea they did BAs in Japanese! Anywho, great post to show how people can get into Japanese. I’m glad you mention the drop out rate though: all language courses are the same.
I own an interpretation company now and the amount of people that come to work for me that say that they were ready to drop out before they finished is staggering. Having said that, I did language at uni too and I felt exactly the same way for a long time.
My message though: keep at it; the rewards far outway the initial misery of feeling like you’re getting nowhere, I assure you!
As a fellow JS Sheffield student with Mike, I’ll add the following;
1) Listen to N-sensei, she knows her stuff.
2) If you mess your grades up – you go to Kyoto. Well, pretty much.
3) Love the language rather than the “concept” or “idea” of Japan, and you should be fine. You’ll last two seconds if you think the cultural horizon of Japan begins and ends with anime.
4) Burn anything romaji related, otherwise you’ll be taking seven steps back and just two forward. I wrote everything (even notes in hiragana and then kanji.) Now I write Japanese without thinking.
5) If you can, take any modules that Siddle or Tranter teach. They are both legends.
6) Don’t let all the work get to you. There was times last year when it felt all too much and it became necessary to just go out and hammered just to blow off some steam. The degree is very hard but VERY rewarding, and I think the general consesus of everyone (especially after we all did 2nd year, semester II exam at Goodwin) was one of huge relief that we’ve made it this far without dying.
A few things that I want to add:
1) You are asked to learn hiragana and katakana before you go to University. If you cannot be bothered to do it, then I wouldn’t bother doing the course at all. There were a few people in my year who were like that, and they were mostly gone in a couple of weeks.
2) Any classes taught by Hugo (Dobson) are also highly recommended!
3) If you are learning a language you HAVE to be consistent with your learning. You can’t learn something and then think, well I’ve got that down, onto the next thing. If you keep on building on top but forget to maintain the foundations then the whole thing is gonna fall down.
4) The hardest bit to get through is second year – so much stress… but keep in your mind that you will be going to Japan to have what will be one of the best years in your life (probably!), and keep going!
5) Your year abroad is what you make it. If you hang around with other exchange students speaking English all of the time, then your Japanese isn’t going to magically improve just because you are in Japan. If you try to make friends who can’t speak English so you have to communicate in Japanese (whether they are Japanese or other exchange students) then not only will your Japanese improve, but you’ll have a much more interesting time.
6) Try to start doing extra-curricular stuff with Japanese as soon as you can. It’s the best way to improve your language all round – and will help you out a LOT when you get to Japan. I didn’t, and I really struggled for the first couple of months out there (with my language, I was having loads of fun though)
Good luck!!
What can I say, I post about the course and within 24 hours two students have already come in to help :) One thing I didn’t really get across is that there is a great social side to the course – as long as you’re willing to get involved socially, you’ll meet loads of people and have a great network of support, both Japanese and people from other countries too :)
I really wanted to go to shef, but i live about 15mins away so it was too close…but in my opinion (as a 4th year japanese) shef has the best japanese course in the UK. i stdy in Edinburgh, and although the course is alright, i think shef is better in terms of language and course content. btw, i just spent the year at Ritsumeikan in Kyoto, best year of my life….where do they send you guys??
Bob: Thanks for the support :) I’m going to Sophia in Tokyo but they send people all over the place. The majority of the ‘big unis’ anyway. (Excluding, oddly, Tokyo University)
Ah thanks for this, it’s very helpful. I just happened to come across this page quite by accident- it’s a good find! I’m deciding which Uni to go to, and it’s so easy to just hear the good things about the course. It is slightly daunting to hear about the drop rate, but on the other hand, I’m not going to kid myself- it’s going to be hard, and I’m glad you’re so frank about it!
I’m taking a gap year first, to pursue other interests, so could you suggest any textbooks/sources to help me get that headstart on Katakana/Hiragana?
Thanks again- now I just hope I make it through!