Japanese 2 (Level 5)

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 5
• Convenor: Michael Tsang
• Assessment: vocabulary and grammar tests (15%), reception skills (15%), a writing composition (15%), a final examination including oral test (35%), 1000-word reflexive essay in English (15%) and class participation (5%)

Japanese 2 builds on Japanese 1. You will aim to make yourself understood in simple social and work situations, including talking about hobbies, describing past activities, conveying your intentions and communicating your opinions. Through guided practice you will increase your listening comprehension in face-to-face situations. Using the approximately 280 basic kanji characters you will have acquired by the end of the course, you will read texts that you may encounter in everyday life and some business settings, and compose messages and basic documents.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• make yourself understood with a reasonable level of accuracy in a variety of everyday situations and some work situations such as describing people, describing past experiences, asking for a favour or giving directions, quoting someone’s statement, expressing regrets and gratitude, talking about one’s intentions, expressing conjecture
• begin to understand the difference between and manipulate dictionary and polite forms
• understand communication exchanges concerning various familiar subjects spoken in face-to-face situations and via electronic media with reasonable accuracy
• begin to understand essential points of some public announcements or information
• understand various less complex texts which you may encounter in everyday life and some business situations with reasonable accuracy
• begin to understand the main meaning of relatively simple but semi-authentic materials written in hiragana, katakana, and basic kanji
• formulate messages and texts in various everyday situations with relative ease and creative basic documents in some work situations with reasonable accuracy
• use hiragana, katakana, and read and write approximately 280 kanji.