Dr Hua Xiang 601b, Pethick-Lawrence House

No previous knowledge required. All students welcome but they should: Demonstrate commitment to regular attendance, completion of homework and completion of all assessments. Dedicate at least two hours per week for coursework in addition to classes. Students do not need to be experienced language learners to take this standard course.

Course Aim: To develop the ability to use Japanese effectively for purposes of practical communication at survival level. To deal with a range of different social situations by using limited language skills. To read and write Hiragana and some Katakana. To develop language skills to meet the needs. of differing but familiar situations and topics. To establish the skills, language patterns and attitudes required to promote and facilitate further study of Japanese.

Communicative Content: Asking for and giving personal information and opinions. Talking about present and past actions. Expressing frequency. Talking about recent events in the past. Asking and describing locations. Making telephone calls (e.g. clients etc.). Describing people and places. Shopping and purchasing etc.

Structural Content: This course finishes up to Lesson 14 of the textbook. Verb “DESU” (affirmative, negative, past and non-past). Particles: WA, NO, MO, NI, GA etc. MASU-form (affirmative, negative, past and non-past) of verbs of motion, existence, action, giving and receiving. Demonstratives. Interrogatives. Numbers and counting system. Adverbs, adverbial expressions. I/NA-adjectives (affirmative, negative, past and non-past).

16 hours of classes in the AT. 22 hours of classes in the WT. 2 hours of classes in the ST.

This is a 40 hour-course. Please refer to the LSE timetable for course teaching arrangements.

Japanese for Busy People I Kana version (revised 3rd edition) available from The Japan Centre,14-16 Regent Street, London, SW1Y 4PH .

Continuous assessment (70%) in the AT, WT and ST.
Oral examination (30%) in the WT and ST.