General
Background
The Japanese Studies program at York University has been steadily growing since its inception in the 1960's as Japan has emerged as one of the major economic powers in the world. The 21st century is called the century of Asia. Having a good command of any Asian language is an enormous asset in professional opportunities. We offer a comprehensive four-year Japanese language program designed to provide students in various fields with a working knowledge of the language and useful information concerning Japanese people, society, and culture. Learning Japanese with reference to cross-cultural communication is emphasized so that students will be able to adapt to foreign environment without much difficulty. The communicative approach has been adopted to help students to become creative, independent, sensitive and autonomous language learners. Students learn how to make maximal use of their knowledge at their own levels including non-verbal communication skills. CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) has made the instructional materials and other services available over the Internet. Furthermore, TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning) made it possible to offer courses on line using a distance education mode with video-conferencing.Altogether approximately 450 students are enrolled in the program with various cultural backgrounds. Each course is rather demanding, but those who welcome challenges will enjoy and learn much. The class atmosphere is very congenial and anxiety-free. Students take pride in studying Japanese, for they belong to a small but special group of people who share a keen interest in learning the Japanese language and culture.
Honours Minor Degree in Japanese Studies
The Section now offers the honours minor degree program in Japanese Studies.
Students majoring in other disciplines are strongly encouraged to minor in Japanese Studies in order to enhance their future career opportunities. Please consult with the advisers of the Japanese Section for further details.
Experiential Education (EE)
- Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)
Various Japan-related events are scheduled all year around to provide students with opportunities to get hands-on experience. York University has been hosting the Japanese Language Proficiency Test since 1997 as one of the outreach activities for the whole eastern regions of Canada and several neighbouring states in the U.S .
- Speech Contests
Through the outstanding achievement attained by York students in the Ontario Japanese Speech Contest and National Japanese Speech Contest in the past, the Japanese Program at York University has been considered as one of the top programs in Canada.
- Exchange Programs
Students have opportunities to participate in a one-year study in Japan program usually after they finish AP/JP3000.06. We have an exchange agreement with Meiji University, Dokkyo University, Keio University, Waseda University, Nagoya University, Hitotsubashi University and Aoyama Gakuin University.
- Internship and Co-op projects
Currently not available.
After graduation students have opportunities to work in Japan through the JET Program. Many graduates of the Japanese Program were selected to work in various parts of Japan.
Partnership
- The Japanese Section has been assisting the Japanese Program at the Faculty of Foreign Languages (FLEX), University of Havana, Cuba, since 2008, based on the exchange agreement signed between the two universities. This is another outreach project across the border, which involves in faculty training and education.
We welcome you to join our very vibrant Japanese Studies Program with many well-motivated students.
