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Native vs non-native Japanese teachers

I see, thanks for the info and the tip CC1. I suppose its different in Japan than over here.
 
Please don't misunderstand me, I attended an American University! Unlike some of the others here in the forum, I am in no way prepared to attend a Japanese University!
 
Ah! Well, it must be different in the university you attended.

I presumed it was a Japanese university since you listed you were from Ishikawa... Gomen nasai!
 
Hmm, sounds like they might use the Genki book that I do. They don't even touch romaji.

Have you learned Hiragana and Katakana yet? That is what you should learn first if you haven't already. If you already have... damn. Whatever class you are going to take is going to probably be quite easy for you compared to some of the others in the class as you will be quite prepared. As for your plans... have you considered Asian Studies (East Asian Studies) as a major or masters? It is kind of a combo of Asian/Japanese language, history and sometimes ethnic and social classes.
 
Emoni ~ Actually, our textbook for Japanese 1 (and 2) is going to be Japanese for Busy People ~ Book 1. I have looked at it at the bookstore and it has the lessons in both hiragana/katakana and also romanji - so the instructor has to decide whether to teach the kana in Japanese 1 or to just do it with romaji.

I have learned quite a few hiragana and a few kanji characters - so I have done a bit of preperation. I will continue to do so.

I want to attend the University of Tokyo and my major is going to be Humanities - with a specialization in history-focus on Japanese Studies- and a specialization in Japanese History. So you could say my major would be Japanese History.
 
Ya, My teacher kept thinking we were japanese students. We are american, prone to slacking off and not doing homework. Sigh how lame are we?
 
You are all so lucky to have a japanese course at your community colleges. I don't have one so I have to read books and order tapes.e
 
Whew, Hiroshi. That isn't a small goal. Good luck to you. It sounds like you are a hard worker, so you've got a shot. I'm going to Waseda in Tokyo next fall through a study abroad program, and even that isn't easy to pull off. Full enrollment in Tokyo University... Not a small thing.

Good that you have a head start. Cross your fingers that Romaji isn't used at all, as it doesn't help and creates a crutch for those who are truly trying to learn the language. Of what you are studying, learn all of Hiragana if you can. The Kanji is easy (at for Japanese level 1 that is...), and not important to know right away. The Hiragana is the base for your writing at this point.

Few tips on writing. Say the sounds (correctly!) as you write the characters. Also, pay very close attention to stroke order, as it is far more important than you might think, not only in the character looking right, but for kanji later on. If you have spare time after finishing Hiragana, work on studying the vocab from the first few chapters that you will be using to save some time.

Don't give up and good luck on making it to the University.
 
CC1 said:
I have never seen a Japanese I class where you would read or write any kanji? Usually they start out with romaji and work you into hiragana and then katakana. Are you sure that you will be learning kanji?
Click to expand...
At my university, we started learning kanji by about the 3rd week of class. And we started out with kanji like 窶嚢窶｢ﾃ問?ｹﾃ and ﾅ陳､窶ｹ窶?ﾅｽﾂｺ. I know there are other universities out there that use the same textbook we did and have a similar syllabus, so it's not unheard of.
 
Emoni-san ~ Yeah, I know. Its very difficult to get in but I plan to get in. I do have other choices too (Keio, Waseda, perhaps even Kyoto) so I'm not going to just quit if for some reason it doesn't occur. Thanks - I think if have the Japanese teacher she might go a little harder on us with the writing - which I am hoping for. Anyhow, if it is romaji, I'll practice kana on my own. Thanks for your kind words! ^^
 
Let me know how your progress goes. I'll be doing the study abroad at Waseda (gotta pass one more test, and set up loans and finalize the application) in Fall if everything goes as planned. Remind me and if you have any questions when I get back, I'd be glad to answer them. You sound extremely serious and determined, something that is quite rare for someone starting Japanese study.

Remember, if you have any questions on Japanese itself (and you WILL I promise), don't forget about the language board. I've been helped a great deal myself by some of the posters on and off when I ran into trouble from people like Eliz and Golgo (he got banned though...).

Good luck. Don't give up. Doesn't sound like you plan to anyway!
 
I have both a Finnish teacher and a Japanese teacher ^^ (and yes, I do consider myself lucky ). Our Finnish teacher teaches us grammar (my first language being Finnish) and the class our Japanese teacher teaches us is more about conversation, culture etc. She speaks Finnish, too, though. We even had to make a speech this fall after studying japanese for about three months -_- I really like both classes, though.

But yeah, I have to agree on the fact that even if you do have a native speaker, they might not teach you in the way you want them to. I studied mandarin Chinese last year a little bit and I had two teachers on two different courses and both were native speakers. The first one spoke Finnish to us and would encourage us to speak and told us things about the culture as well, whereas the second teacher who spoke English to us never really encouraged us to speak even though she spoke a lot of Chinese to us - more than the first teacher. It was relaly weird, though, because I somehow learned to speak a lot more on the first course even though the teacher really didn't expect us to learn anything at all! I still have no idea hwo he did it... So it depends on the teacher, the same goes for the teachers who aren't native speakers. You just have to know how to be inspiring and that's one of the trickiest things in teaching *_*
 
Emoni-san ~ Thanks! Are you going to take classes in full Japanese? That sounds like fun. I will check it out, thanks for your inspiration. I shall keep you posted. ^^

Miu-san ~ I see - I love Finland. Mandarin is different, because its really so much harder and I would take that class with the native teacher no matter what, since the exact pronounciations matter so much more than in Japanese (the tones, etc.) I do think that the Jpanese teacher will be a little bit more strict than the American teacher but I'm ready for it. Thanks for your help!
 
I don't want to be the naysayer here, but if your motivation is that tenuous to require a hypothetically slightly more "strict" class environment, it doesn't necessarily sound like the kind of attitude that's going to get you into Tokyo Daigaku. And if your mind was already that made up, why even bother asking for our advice ? :sorry:
 
Yes, I'll be learning Japanese as far as possible. I'm headed for a Doctorate in Asian Studies with a focus on Japanese related material. Currently I'm working for a double major in Japanese and Asian Studies, then will transfer. At Waseda is where I plan to take half my unit load in language courses.
 
I think that everyone has done a really good job of giving you some ideas to work with. My Japanese teacher was a native of Japan - and it was really interesting. He threw in a lot of Japanese culture in the course and we got to correspond with some of his students back in Japan - answering questions for each other. It was really neat. We ended up learning hiragana, katakana, and a little kanji too. For a beginner's course, it was hard work! But I loved it! ^^

I'm maxing out my Japanese here at college. Beginner I & II ... then Intermediate I & II ... and then I'm going to be studying at a Japanese University in Tokyo for my Junior year ... which will give me a minor in Japanese. ^0^ yay! I'm excited. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with my minor though. I'll be a pre-law philosophy major ... with a minor in Japanese. haha I think I might get into some IR work or something. I want to be involved with Japan somehow tho ...

yeah so now I'm rambling ...

Good luck, Hiroshi! Whatever you choose, I'm sure you'll do great! ^o^
 
I may as well throw in my 2 yen here...

I took Japanese I and II (taking place sophomore and junior years of high school). My teacher was a native Japanese woman from Kamakura who came to the US and has been living here for about 17 years now, I believe. I doubt having a native teacher has helped any more with the language than a non-native teacher. She was really good though, or I was just really studious (the latter probably being more likely). Anyhow, there were some people that did pathetically in the class, and others that flew through it like it was nothing. I don't believe it matters about the teacher, just how much you yourself are willing to put into it. If you really want to learn the language, you will.

At my school we started out with hiragana and sentence structure. We threw a few kanji in, but only after we knew hiragana backwards and forwards and inside out. Katakana came next; probably the second semester of Japanese I. My teacher didn't stress any one part of Japanese; we had to be able to do it all. Speak it, read it, and write it. I absolutely loved it! By the end of Japanese II we had about 100 kanji under our belts, we could speak basic Japanese well (the ones who put effort into learning, that is), we knew the proper greetings, we could read quite a bit, we could write properly. It was well rounded, and if I decide to continue my learning in college I think I'll be set up just fine.

So just stay focused, don't get discouraged, and don't lose sight of your goal. Try to be as well rounded as you can in your studies and I think you'll get the most out of it. Good luck there, Hiroshi
 

Well, I was referring more to the teaching style and not the tones... But you're right about that.

And about Japanese teachers: I think that it's not that Japanese teachers would be be more strict, they just expect you to work on your own. They expect you to do your homework, learn kana quickly and study kanji. It's the same with all languages - if you want to learn it, you have to work for it. My Japanese teacher is a really nice person and doesn't give you bad marks if you hand in your paper a day later if you've had a problem but she really expects us to learn things and remember them after the test.

I don't think anyone wants to discourage you or put you down, though - you just need to work if you want something It took me a long time before I learned to study (I've always been a lazy student and still am lazier than I should) but afterwards I've noticed how gratifying it is when you see that you actually learn things better by working.
 
Emoni-san ~ Interesting. ^^ I want a doctorate in Japanese Studies at Tokyou Daigaku.

miu-san ~ I see. Naturally, it does depend more on the student in the end than what teacher. The teacher has toe xpect you to remember since if you forget here you'll probably forget in Japan.

Eito-san ~ I see. Interesting. Have you started Japanese 3 yet? I got your PM btw.. see you on AIM!

ooFishoo-san ~ Good luck! What university are you going to shoot for?

And lastly..

Elizabeth.

Hmm... I don't think you read through my posts carefully. Why don't you go back and try reading them again? But I'll save you the trouble and say it again here. My mind was never made up. I was asking if it would be better for a Japanese or a non-native teacher to teach the language.. above I said basically maybe it would be better for the native indeed because she might be able to give a more tenious agenda. Which you responded to above with your comment. The last line pretty much was uncalled for though.. as my mind was never made up.

?
 
i had non-native japanese speaking teachers throughout my early japanese studies and i turned out okay...
 
Hiroshi66 said:
... Have you started Japanese 3 yet? ...
Click to expand...
No, I won't be able to. They decided at the last minute not to offer Japanese 3 at that school. You can imagine how annoyed I was. But oh well. I changed schools anyway, so I would have missed it had it been offered. I seem to be doing okay studying on my own though, and I can take as much time as I want and make my own learning schedule.
 
Okaeri man ~ I see. What level are you at?

Eito ~ That sucks. Yeah, I guess it was okay since you switched schools anyways.
 
being australian it may be different from the american way, but i'll be doing 5th year uni japanese this year. the official title is japanese for research purposes.
 
well i'll just clarify - 4th and 5th year japanese are taught by native speakers (also half of 3rd was for me). i think it's important once you get to an intermediate/advanced level you have a native. but as has been said before there are advantages in having a non-native teach you in the early stages. the main one being that they will (hopefully) give clearer explanations. it depends on the individual teacher of course, but there shouldn't be any disadvantage in choosing a non-native speaker over a native speaker for japanese 1.

i major in electrical engineering, for better or for worse. i do better in japanese though
 
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