Japanese Beginners (Part 1)

Whet your appetite for learning Japanese with part 1 of this lively and interactive beginners course. You’ll be able to converse, on a very simple level, in just 10 weeks – ideal if you are planning a holiday or chatting to Japanese natives.

In Part 1, you’ll learn key phrases, useful for travel, work or social settings, including introducing yourself and talking about your occupation. You’ll also become familiar with Japanese customs, important in everyday interactions.

You’ll be introduced to Hiragana, a component of the Japanese writing system, and various types of verbs.

Classes are relaxed and structured, using a variety of games and activities to consolidate your learning.

This is the first of three beginners modules, taught at progressive levels. If you enjoy the course, you can enrol on part 2 to continue learning.

We recommend emailing our Japanese tutor before you book who can answer any questions and help you to find the right level: t.ogura@city.ac.uk.

Who is it for?

This course is perfect for total beginners who want to try learning Japanese before committing to the full year.

Timetable

This course takes place one evening a week for 10 weeks.

Benefits

• 10-week introductory class, you’ll quickly get to grips with the basics
• Learn from qualified native speakers
• Add a certificate from a London university to your CV.

Topics covered

From this first beginners module, you will gain enough knowledge to travel confidently in Japan. You’ll learn helpful phrases for introducing yourself, travelling and shopping.

• presenting yourself and others: greetings, nationality, occupation
• communication in context: at work, shopping, travelling
• daily routine and weekend activities
• numbers, dates and times
• Japanese culture in context: greetings and Hiragana writing.

Grammatical structures

• phrases using '”o be”
• introduction to essential particles
• word order
• various verb types
• negatives
• future and past tenses
• interrogative using nani, doko, itsu, dare.

You will be awarded an official City, University of London certificate on completion of the course if you attend over 70 per cent of the classes. The course is not formally assessed or accredited.

Assessment

You may be informally assessed to evaluate your progress.

Teaching

Our native-language tutors make the course fun and interactive, with an emphasis on listening and speaking the language required in everyday interactions. You’ll also learn about aspects of Japanese culture and way of life.

Class activities will include role-playing, pair and group work, work on pronunciation and intonation and grammar in context. The lessons feature the use of audio clips and videos.

You’ll also be set exercises and reading texts as homework.

This course is for complete beginners to Japanese.

If you already know some basic Japanese, you may want to start on part 2 or part 3 of the Beginners Japanese course.

Enrol on the complete Japanese Beginners (full syllabus) course (parts 1, 2 and 3) to get the best price.

English requirements

You will need a good level of spoken and written English to enrol on this course.