Elementary Japanese I

Corequisite: LAJA 100 or consent of instructor. See the "Foreign Language Placement Policy" on the Global Languages and Literatures Department website. This course is an introduction to Japanese language and culture. This course is the first in the three-semester sequence of Japanese language courses designed to develop basic spoken and written communication skills in modern Japanese. In this course, students will begin to develop the ability to use Japanese in a culturally coherent manner and learn how to interact comfortably with native speakers of Japanese through speaking and writing. Focusing on the dynamics of communication across cultures, students will engage in multicultural communication and learn to recognize the forces underlying the ways that individuals from other cultures express their ideas in their native language, in comparison with students' own native language. Emphasis will be placed on respecting human similarities and differences, recognizing sociocultural influences on individuals' worldviews, and comprehending the diverse factors that establish and maintain cultural norms, including power, privilege, age, class and gender. Students who wish to continue working towards proficiency should plan to take the next courses (LAJA 102 and LAJA 151) in the sequence.