Recently, more and more people dream about studying the Japanese language as a part of their degree and then going to Japan as an exchange student. However, its growing popularity sometimes might cause disappointment. Those kinds of courses at the universities are very demanding, and students need to spend a lot of time studying and cramming Chinese characters, complicated grammar structures, and cultural contexts.

If you are one of those people who consider taking such a course, ask yourself a question “am I the right person to study this language?”.  There are alternatives for universities with Japanese Studies which also will be discussed in this article.

Japanese Studies might not be suitable for everyone 

If you imagine yourself taking a Japanese major at the university after watching anime or spending 30 hours at the language school, then you should read this text carefully. Many people are fascinated by Japanese culture because of anime or manga. However, at the end of the day, those people tend to drop out halfway through as they realize it varies much from what they have seen in anime. Japanese major consists of many hours of tedious studying kanji, honorific grammar, and culture. You need to be ready for such a dedication. You also should be aware that there are quite a few different modules you need to take during your course. They vary depending on the university, but usually, those are Background to Japan (history), Japanese Culture, International Relations, Politics or Society modules.

Japanese + another language 

There is a great alternative for Japanese-only studies, which might be a combination of two different languages. Japanese Studies itself focuses only on the language and culture aspect. After graduation, you probably will not differ a lot from someone who came to your country from Japan and knows both Japanese and English. For that reason, it is good to have some extra knowledge and experience. One of the courses is Japanese with another modern language such as French, Spanish, Chinese, or Russian. That kind of study might give you a wider range of opportunities for working. You could take a job as an interpreter, translator or work for companies which use both languages you will be studying. The other thing is that you will be focusing probably on the language’s aspects and less on the cultural/historical sides. That also makes it very attractive for someone who is not keen on such a topic. 

Japanese + business 

It is always good to have a plan B. Choosing to be a student of Japanese for the International Business course is a great decision. It gives you a wide range of knowledge as well as an actual opportunity to get a working experience. During such a course not only can you develop your language skills, but also you will be taught how to use many business tools to write company reports, plan effective marketing or expand your product’s market. This knowledge will be extremely helpful if you wish to work at a company with international links (maybe even in Japan!).

 Courses that might be worth looking at: 

If you would like to search for Japanese courses by yourself, you can use this website. 

Japanese as an elective 

Even if you do not want to take a Japanese course, you can probably still learn Japanese at your university. Some courses demand to take an elective module, which means that you have a wide range of modules to choose from. One of them can be Japanese. That can be the way to study Japanese aside from other modules at the university.

Not only language studies 

As you can see, many universities offer different courses related to Japan and the Japanese language or culture. It is worth considering such a degree as you will gain more opportunities and experience in other fields of knowledge. 

Japanese language courses

Regardless of your plans, it might be worth trying a new thing in your life. At the beginning of your journey with Japanese, it might be a good idea to take a course at the language school. Everyone, at every age, with any experience can start learning at our school, which you can read more about just here. 

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