MA in Japanese Program

[Kafka]

Hi everybody.

I have a quick question that I can't seem to find the answer to anywhere online. I'm looking for a good Masters of the Arts program focusing on the Japanese language in North America. Or anywhere I can afford, really. I haven't decided if I'm going to go the route of 'Language and Literature' or straight 'Linguistics' but it will be one of the two. I would like to be able to start in the coming spring semester.

I've found a couple programs so far, but I can't find any information that's not on their department websites. The main three I'm looking at right now are at Hawaii-Manoa, Colorado-Boulder, and Wisconsin-Madison. I would like to apply to Berkeley as well, but they only accept applications for the PhD program.

I would ask the school I just got my BA from to help with this, but the Japanese department was tiny, and no one there can really help me. Even though I've studied in Japan for a year, I'm really worried that my Japanese is good enough to get accepted...

Anyway, if anyone knows of or has heard of any good MA programs out there, I would love to hear about them. Also, if you're familiar with any of those schools I mentioned, that would be great too.

よろしくお願いします。

 

[Emoni]

First, what is your level of Japanese. You said you have only studied it a year. If that is a year of college level classes or so, that is no where even close to enough for a masters program. Even most Japanese/Asian Studies MA's demand 3 years of language study before being considered for the program. I'm sorry but if I'm reading your message right you have no hope of being accepted into a master program with only one year of college Japanese.

Second, you need to know damn well what you want to do when applying to graduate schools. Know your interest then contact the professor in the department and explain your goals and your skills in a SHORT email. This will get you an idea of what you are headed towards and the support you'll get. If you don't have a clear goal you won't get far.

Third and lastly, if you don't measure up on language consider a venue that would gain you more skill. A language school in Japan, JET, studying and taking the JLPT to show proficiency.

Good luck, and keep moving forward. Grad school is hard, these are just the first hurdles and by asking questions you're on the right track.

 

[Kafka]

Emoni,

First, thanks for your reply. Sorry if I wasn't clear in my earlier message, but I said I spent a year studying in Japan, not that I had only spent one year on the language. I've studied for four years at college and graduated top of my class in the department. (Of course, that was only out of four people.)

Also, I know all about how to handle graduate schools in general. I have a general idea of what I want to do there, but I don't know which school is best. At all the schools I've seen so far, the difference between 'Linguistics' and 'Language and Literature' is tiny. They're always the same department. I already have a degree in literature, but I would like to learn more about East Asian language structure in general. I've taken Chinese classes as well.

Anyway, the point is I do speak and read Japanese. Just not at the JLPT level one. Yet.

 

[senseiman]

Sheffield University in the UK offers MA programs in Japanese via distance learning:

http://www.shef.ac.uk/seas/dlc/dlcourses.html

I haven't taken the program, though a few years back I was interested in it and got some information from them. It looks quite good. I've been in contact with one graduate who just finished and he has good things to say as well.

It takes three years part time to complete, so you can work while you do it. You need a minimum JLPT level 2 to gain entry to the program, though from what I've heard you should be closer to level 1 in order to do well in the program.

 

[Emoni]

I knew a few students from Sheffield and wasn't impressed. Not sure if the students were from the Japanese department or not.

Kafka, now that you have explained your level I think you are ok or at least very near ok. What you need now is to consider taking the JLPT 2 at least (1 is still going to be too hard for you... and me!) but most colleges require that level for entrance intro programs at LEAST. Since Japanese is a skill, I'd consider something like an East Asian Studies Major so you don't have just the language but also the knowledge, but of course if you want to really cram and focus on the language...

Next step is this... contact the departments and ask the level they require. You'll know right away. After that, no matter the answer, keep studying and getting that skill up. Taking the JLPT 2 will at least show an official ranking.

 

[senseiman]

With all due respect I wouldn't dismiss a program outright simply because you met some students who may or may not have been in the same program and was not impressed.

Carol Lawson, a Japanese-English legal translator whose credentials are beyond reproach, is a graduate of the program and wrote a fairly balanced review of it here:

JAT Web: Distance Learning at Sheffield

I'm not saying the OP should take it, but it is definitely worth considering.

 

[AJBryant]

I have an MA in Japanese from IU.

Gotta tell ya, in a foreign language field, an MA is nigh useless. If you want to teach, you need a PhD.


Tony

 

[Kafka]

Hey everybody,

Thanks for all your comments! Emoni: Yeah, I'm studying for the JLPT level 2 right now. Hopefully I'll get it before I would start the graduate work. And I'm still waiting for a response from the two different schools I've already emailed...

Thanks for the info on Sheffield, but I'm really not interested in a distance program.

To be honest, I don't care so much about the MA itself. It won't be my last school, as far as I can tell right now. At this point, I just want to learn as much Japanese as possible. My original plan was to go to a language school in Japan, but after looking everywhere, I can't find any way to pay for it. I can't even find an eikaiwa company to sponsor me so I can do it in the evenings. No student loans, either. But with an MA program, I can do another study abroad, and I'm sure I can find some scholarships or work study to help pay for it.

AJBryant: I haven't heard anything about IU yet. How did you like the program?

 

[AJBryant]

I don't want to give you a hard time, but I am possibly the last person you want to ask for an opinion of IU's EALC program.

Sorry, but I just can't do it without using naughty language.


Tony

 

[Kirakira1232]

I don't want to give you a hard time, but I am possibly the last person you want to ask for an opinion of IU's EALC program.
Sorry, but I just can't do it without using naughty language.
Tony

Wow...that bad huh? (What university is IU short for?).

 

[orochi]

I don't want to give you a hard time, but I am possibly the last person you want to ask for an opinion of IU's EALC program.
Sorry, but I just can't do it without using naughty language.
Tony

I'm curious about your opinion.

 

[AJBryant]

Sorry -- IU = Indiana University

 

[Charles Barkley]

You would have to wait a bit for the next round of applications and then for your scholarship to start were you accepted, but by Spring 2010 you could be in Japan on a MEXT government scholarship. Pretty sweet deal.

There are also JASSO scholarships, rotary club scholarship, amnesty international scholarships, etc.

One thing about MA programs is that it is much much harder to receive funding/scholarships than it is for PHD programs.

It seems counterintuitive to me that, despite ones goal being to learn Japanese, one stays in the U.S. I knew I guy here in Japan who was working for NOVA and actually left Japan to go to the US...to study Japanese. He went to the FALCON program at Cornell, which I have heard is really good, but for the amount of money he must have spent, he must have been better off just staying here...

You can always learn a lot of Japanese just by living in Japan as an English teacher. It can be frustrating at times when you would rather be speaking Japanese than English, or when the role of what you actually are conflicts with the role you want to be playing, but you have a lot of free time to go out and learn.

 

[Kafka]

With JASSO you have to already be enrolled at the Japanese institution. These institutions all require the full tuition be paid upfront, and then there's no guarantee I'd even get the scholarship. I've tried rotary as well, but that requires at least a years notice, and there are very few scholarships compared to how many people apply. All other scholarships I've found stipulate that you have to go through a university outside of Japan. Including MEXT. Very counter-intuitive.

I agree with you entirely about being better able to learn in Japan. Unfortunately, I have tried talking to every single job I've found that will sponsor visas. I even spent hundreds of dollars to go to Chicago for an AEON interview. (Which I have to advise people never to do. Huge waste of time and money for every person in my group except one. Plus, the interviewers were jerks.) Every last job has either turned me down or not responded. I've got loads of offers to go to Korea, though... Apparently, the fall of NOVA has left an overflow of jobless English teachers in Japan.

And JET applications are another year away. There's no guarantee there either.

So, this is the last thing that I can think of. Go through an MA program, get a fellowship and/or student loans, and do a study abroad through them. I might even receive the MEXT or other scholarships like it for research.

If I've got something wrong, or anyone has another suggestion, I would love to hear it. After months of brick walls, I'm starting to get depressed about the whole thing.

 

[Ichiro614]

I recommend you also look into Ohio State University's Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (DEALL), my alma mater. OSU's program is especially known for Japanese pedagogy (teaching Japanese), but is also very strong in literature and linguistics. Professor Mari Noda is the co-author of Japanese: The Spoken Language and is an outstanding professor.