Undergraduate Courses
General Course Information
The Japanese Language Program offers a four-year curriculum in the Japanese language as well as Japanese literature courses.
The program maintains four-days-per-week instruction plus a weekly half-hour peer tutor session for the initial four-semester sequence of Japanese language courses (JAPN 10A, 20B, 30A and 40B). For Japanese 105A and 105B, instruction is divided between two weekly 80-minute sessions and one weekly 50-minute session (4 hours total per week). Through these intensive courses, Brandeis students gain strong Japanese language skills and understanding of its culture. JAPN 120A (fourth-year Japanese course) will be a project-based class, and students will collaborate with Japanese students and conduct research together to further develop their advanced Japanese language skills.
The four-semester sequence of Japanese courses 10A through 40B, or its equivalent, fulfills the language requirement for the East Asian Studies major and minor.
Placement
All students who have previously studied Japanese (in high school or university, self-study, or at home) and wish to continue studying Japanese at Brandeis must take a placement test to determine their level of proficiency so the instructor can place them in the appropriate class. The test will be scheduled during the first week of the semester so there is sufficient time to choose and register for an appropriate class. Please contact Professor Hisae Fujiwara when you arrive on campus in the fall.
SAT II test scores in Japanese do not satisfy the foreign language requirement.