Japanese Language Education

Learn Japanese at APU

Students can apply and enter APU as an English-basis student regardless of their Japanese language ability. After enrollment, they are required to take courses up to intermediate level to acquire the basic fundamentals in Japanese for everyday life.

APU also tailors courses to match each student's individual goals with courses such as advanced Japanese, Japanese for academic purposes, and career Japanese.

What makes APU's Japanese classes unique is the opportunity to learn and improve together with classmates from diverse backgrounds and environments. Through this experience, students can learn about each other's cultural differences while simultaneously enhancing their intercultural competence.

Japanese Courses

The courses below are offered to meet the varying Japanese proficiency levels and Japanese study needs of APU students. English-basis students take a placement test just after enrollment to ensure they start their studies at the appropriate level (01 – 07 as shown in Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Overview of Japanese Program Courses

Placement Test◆English-basis International Students
Required courses						Elective courses
01		03		04		05		06		07
Foundation Japanese Ⅰ・Ⅱ	▶	Foundation Japanese Ⅲ	▶	Intermediate	▶	Pre-Advanced	▶	Advanced	▶	Career Japanese Language and Culture in Japan
02
Foundation Japanese Ⅱ						Kanji and vocabulary Skills		Language and Social Topics in Japan Japanese Communication Skills
						Japanese for Self-expression Japanese Immersion				Japanese Linguistics for Japanese Language Education Japanese Language Teaching

										◆ Japanese-basis International Students

Required Courses

Japanese courses up to the intermediate level are required to ensure that students acquire the language skills needed to handle various situations in their daily life. Until all required Japanese courses are completed, the university will continue to automatically register and assign students to their classes. Although the same course may be offered at different times or by different instructors, the university will select all the courses for students, and it is not possible to change or cancel the ones that students have been registered for.

Course Registration Patterns

When beginning from Japanese Foundation I, students will be registered for both Japanese Foundation I and II. (8 classes per week)
When beginning from Japanese Foundation II, students will be registered for Japanese Foundation II only. (4 classes per week)
When beginning from Japanese Foundation III, students will be registered for Japanese Foundation III only. (4 classes per week)
When beginning from Intermediate, students will be registered for Intermediate only. (4 classes per week)

^*Note that Japanese (for English-basis students) or English (for Japanese-basis students) language study is not mandatory for third year transfer students. If you wish to apply for transfer admissions, please refer to the Application Handbook from our Download page.

Elective Courses

After completing the Intermediate level, students can choose to register for other courses depending on their own proficiency level or goals. Furthermore, by taking highly advanced courses such as Career Japanese, Language and Culture in Japan, or Japanese Language Teaching, students will acquire the necessary language ability to handle various situations, including academic activities and job-hunting.

Japanese Instructors

Hiromichi Terajima _{Aichi Prefecture}

Masters of Language Education and Information Studies at Ritsumeikan University Graduate School
Specialization: Japanese Language Education, Corpus Linguistics

At APU, we aim to nurture world citizens who can overcome cultural and value differences with others and work together to change the world for the better.

When you hear the words "Japanese language study," you may imagine that the course is designed to improve your skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. However, APU's Japanese language course aims to cultivate active learning attitudes and critical thinking skills through a variety of learning activities, and to nurture students with Japanese language skills, intercultural competence, and autonomous learning skills.

If you share these educational goals, we hope you will enroll at APU! We, the faculty, will do our best to help students grow through the Japanese language courses and expand their future possibilities.

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Tamaki Sumida _{Hiroshima Prefecture}

Ph.D. in Education at the Hiroshima University Graduate School of Education
Specialization: Japanese Language Education

What are your expectations of APU? Meeting people from different countries and regions of the world? Learning a specialized field that will broaden your horizons? Experiencing different cultures in a new country? We are sure there are many things you are looking forward to, but please add learning Japanese at APU to your list of expectations!

At APU, we offer courses according to the Japanese language level of each student and provide instruction that will help you develop and improve your ability to communicate in Japanese and connect with others through your Japanese language studies. In addition to connecting with your fellow students in the classroom and on campus, your life at APU will be even more fulfilling if you can use your Japanese to connect with people in the community, which is the foundation of your life.

I look forward to studying with you all. I’ll be waiting for everyone here in Beppu!