The ability to communicate with Japanese speakers and appreciate Japanese culture gives you a huge advantage in a wide range of careers. Whether on the job or in your community, your Japanese language competency and cultural understanding can help you establish valuable connections in the inter-dependent global community.
The B.A. in Japanese Language and Culture prepares students to be active participants in an ever-shrinking and increasingly interdependent world society by developing students’ literacy in global matters, multiculturalism and cultural diversity, as well as guiding students to achieve a formidable level of language proficiency (intermediate-high level according to the ACTFL guidelines in Japanese) to be able to communicate effectively in Japanese with well-rounded Japanese cultural knowledge in such areas as history, literature and social sciences.
The program prepares graduates for successful careers in teaching, business and technology, travel, tourism, governmental and nongovernmental agencies, and for graduate study in Japanese studies, linguistics, Asian studies, translation and interpretation, TESOL, or focused international disciplines such as policy, management, and business.
In order to graduate, you will also need to complete your general education and university requirements.
Complete ALL of the following courses:
Complete TWO of the following courses
Complete TWO of the following courses:
Complete FOUR of the following courses (only one 200-level course):
Complete ONE of the following courses:
Compete ONE of the following courses:
Though only one course is required, students are encouraged to take two courses (one in Fall and one in Spring) in the same year they are working on their Capstone projects.
Students are strongly encouraged to enroll in JAPN 420: Maximizing Study Abroad: Strategies for Language and Culture Use prior to their Study Abroad experience.
1.1 Students are able to communicate effectively in Japanese in three modes: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational; and in a culturally appropriate manner in a variety of social and professional settings and circumstances at the Intermediate-High level of language proficiency, according to the ACTFL Guidelines.
1.2 Students gain competency in the Japanese language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and discourse, and compare and analyze the structural differences between Japanese and English.
2.1 Students develop a comprehensive understanding, appreciation and knowledge of Japanese culture: perspectives (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), practices (patterns of social interactions) and products (both tangible and intangible, for example, art, history, literature, music).
2.2 Students develop analytical and critical thinking in areas such as how Japan’s cultural background influences modern Japanese life, how to compare their own culture with the Japanese culture, or how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness.
3.1 Students describe concepts of culture and use that understanding in their comparison of the target culture with the second culture.
3.2 Students will analyze and make connections among the ways of thinking and perspectives, behavioral practices and cultural products of a second culture.
4.1 Students become familiar with appropriate research methodologies and are able to apply such in their studies.
4.2 Students will use appropriate technologies in research and studies relative to Japanese language and culture.
4.3 Students will collect, manage and analyze current and emerging technology-based resources to develop and produce their scholarly work.
5.1 Students demonstrate that they have actively immersed themselves in authentic Japanese cultural and linguistic environments and have internalized the language and cultural experience, from which they have developed a personal understanding and new perspectives of the community.
Students are strongly encouraged to enroll in JAPN 420: Maximizing Study Abroad: Strategies for Language and Culture Use prior to their Study Abroad experience.
WLC's Japanese program has exchange agreements with:
* Study abroad at these Universities is conducted through CSU International Programs.
These pathways are examples of how you might complete all the requirements for your degree in an order that makes sense given prerequisites. They are meant to give you a general sense of what your education will look like.
Your own unique situation and a number of other factors may mean your actual pathway is different. Perhaps you'll need an extra math or language class, or one of the courses we've listed isn't offered in a particular semester. Don't worry — there is flexibility built into the curriculum. You'll want to work closely with an advisor and use the academic advisement report to take all that into account and develop a pathway that's customized for you.
In the meantime, use this example as a starting point for choosing classes or discussing your plans with an advisor. Your advisor is your best resource when it comes to figuring out how to fit all the courses you need, in the right sequence, into your personal academic plan.
* This FYS class is just an example. The FYS class you choose might meet a different GE area, so you would have to adjust your actual pathway accordingly.
If students participate in a study abroad program during this, or any, semester(s) to meet MLO 5, courses studied at the Japanese university will be counted toward the degree. For detailed information, please see MLO 5.
If students participate in a study abroad program during this, or any, semester(s) to meet MLO 5, courses studied at the Japanese university will be counted toward the degree. For detailed information, please see MLO 5.