Preparations for study in Japan

Author: Edutraveller
Date written: 04/18/2003 12:35:57 PM
Last edited: 2003/05/25 16:52:46
Keywords: Study in Japan, Preparations for study, Japanese language study, Studying Japanese in Japan, Japanese

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Preparations

There is plenty you can do before coming to Japan that will make your stay more comfortable and less of a shock. Seasoned travellers will find this information fairly obvious, but if this is your first time abroad, you might find some handy pointers here.

1. You: The first thing to remember is that you will need a slightly open-minded approach. That means not taking anything for granted. If you come from a Western background, that means not assuming that everyone eats the equivalent of cereal and toast for breakfast. Fish? Rice? Soup? Well, they're different, but what you think of as "soup" is probably different too. Try to abandon the preconceptions before you come. This is difficult, but necessary. The most obvious things to all Spanish or Americans are not necessarily obvious to all Japanese and vice versa.

2. Language: Language will be your biggest barrier, but also the most interesting part of your trip even if it isn't the main focus. Check the travel guide for details about the language and its history. Before you come, you can learn the basic stuff that you can do on your own: katakana, hiragana, as many kanji as you can; when you are here, you don't have to waste valuable lesson and practice time that you could be spending on conversation.

3. History and Culture: Learn a little about the history of Japan before you come. It will help you understand a little more of the Japanese culture and society, and the national character. It will also be useful when choosing where to go - you should realise that there is more to Japan than Tokyo, which although an exciting city, is repeated on a slightly smaller scale around the country. There are dozens of cities of over one million inhabitants in Japan - you don't have to go to Tokyo to find the bright lights. There is also plenty of countryside to choose from - learn a little about the geography of the country before you decide on a final location.

Learning Japanese

No one claims that Japanese is an easy language to learn if they know anything about it. It isn't, and it will take you longer to learn to a high level than would for example French if coming from the background of another European language. However, it is eminently possible to learn and the corresponding rewards are if anything greater in terms of satisfaction, the cultural horizons opened up and the potential gains to your career.

For general details of the structure of the language, see the travel guide. This section mentions some of the simple ways in which you can increase the amount of Japanese that you learn and how to maximise your study while in Japan.

1. Writing: You should start with learning the basic characters for writing Japanese. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, you need to be able to read, or you will never reach an advanced level in Japanese. Because of the fundamental differences between Japanese and alphabet-based languages, it is simply not possible to truly understand the language without being able to read it. Secondly, and even more importantly, it is much easier and faster to learn accurate pronunciation if you know hiragana and katakana - or even just one of them. The reason for this is that Japanese is a syllabic language: see the language section for details.

Even if you don't learn all the kanji, learning the hiragana and katakana will help you immensely and speed up your language acquisition hugely. If you are seriously thinking about study in a Japanese university, then of course you will have to learn the written language as well.

2. Pronunciation: As mentioned above, Japanese is a syllabic language, which makes it important for those not from such a linguistic background to learn the basic script. The vowels and consonants are pronounced roughly as in Italian, with clear, non-diphthong tones. That is, "a" is pronounced more like the "a" in father, and not at all like the "a" in may etc. If you learn initially from romanized Japanese texts, try to keep this in mind. If you can, try to minimise your natural accent as much as possible, and keep to the pure tones. Again, the only real solution is to have a native-speaker correct you.

3. Vocabulary: You should try to learn as many words as you can before you come, of course, but again, as you get to be slightly more than an absolute beginner, you will find that you need to know more kanji. Try to learn both together from the start, and you will make your life easier later on - tying the concepts that you learn to the character is highly important for when you start reading more complex texts and coming across new words. Even if you can't read them aloud, you may be able to understand their meaning - one of the quirks of Japanese.

4. Grammar and conversation: Even if you hate it, Japanese has a lot of grammar that you need to learn by heart. It isn't too difficult, but there is a lot of rote-learning, particularly at the higher levels. However, Japanese grammar is fairly straightforward and there are minimal exceptions. As with any language though, you learn grammar properly by using it - so make sure that you are getting plenty of practice not just reading and writing (although there are both vital) but also conversing with people. A few hours of conversation a day will see your grammar and vocabulary increase hugely, much more than double the time just buried in books.

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