J105 Syllabus 2009-2010

竹本

Welcome to the Whitman College Japanese language and culture program. This is a two semester course designed to help you take your first steps into the world of Japanese language and culture. In order to get the most out of this class, you should plan on making Japanese a linguistic habit. Once speaking Japanese becomes a habitual response or action, this will be one habit you will not want to break. To do so, however, you need to expose yourself to spoken and written Japanese in as many ways as possible. My task will be to provide you with as many different experiences as possible. Your task will be to participate fully and energetically. I will be your coach, drill sergeant, and taskmaster. You will work both individually and as a group to explore a different way of thinking, feeling, and communicating.

When you complete the first semester of this course, you will understand and use elementary sentence patterns and words; write the two Japanese syllabaries called hiragana (ひらがな) and katakana (カタカナ); write approximately 70 Japanese characters called kanji ( 漢字 ); and engage in a 20 minute conversation with me in Japanese about yourself and your life at Whitman College.

Good tennis players spend hours and hours practicing. To learn how to play tennis well or to dance easily and naturally, physical training cannot be ignored. I urge you to set up the kind of training schedule that you would follow for jogging or practicing the violin. Practice every day! Practice with a friend; practice in groups. Do not try to "catch up" on weekends or wait for the next break or holiday. You are learning new linguistic habits, and habits are acquired only by habitual behavior.

Dancers remember a wide range of steps, styles, and roles. When they perform them effortlessly, we know that each articulation comes from a spontaneous combination of phrases and sequences, and the performance we see does not represent just a series of memorized steps. But memorable performances do not come easily or quickly. Steps are learned; details are added; then layers of emotion and color appear. At a certain point, dancers absorb the work completely and their movements become automatic, leaving the dancer's mind free to focus on the moment by moment nuances of the performance.

Dancers call this muscle memory. But this kind of fluidity comes after years and years of practice. The body has to acquire and learn the steps first. In the study of Japanese, I will call these first steps, "getting it into the body." That's what I will do. My job will be to get new words and sounds that seem separate and disjunct "into your body." Eventually, these words, with disciplined practice, will merge into phrases and longer sequences. Brain scientists refer to this process as "chunking." As you build "chunks" of phrases and sentences, you must practice converting them into smooth and seamless expressions of ideas and thoughts that you want to express. To start, just memorize the Japanese words and phrases that I introduce to you every day, and use them outside of class: talk to yourself in Japanese; write a short word in Japanese; increasingly plan your day with Japanese words; doodle in Japanese; answer the phone in Japanese; call home in Japanese; teach your roommate Japanese; talk to your dog in Japanese. Speak to your sensei in Japanese.

As a general rule, you will not be able to make up Attendance Quizzes. These quizzes reward those who attend. If you miss a class, pick up class handouts and homework assignment sheets from the table outside my office door.

Late Assignments
Submit late homework assignments so that I can correct and monitor your understanding of important grammar patterns and vocabulary words. If you miss a "big quiz," I will ask you to submit it as a homework assignment for reduced points. If you miss a "test," come see me immediately.

Thanksgiving Break ( かんしゃさい の やすみ) November 21-29

Evening meetings are also possible. Call or email me to set up an appointment. The more times I see you outside of class, the more I can help you examine your study environment and assist you in developing strong and effective study strategies. If you find that a word or a phrase or a grammar point does not "feel right," see me right away.

J105 Syllabus | J205 Syllabus