Studies: an overview

Again, long time no see!

I continue to be busy but now that I have a couple of mid-terms behind me (and more ahead), I thought I'd write about studying here in Kanazawa University.

I belong to the KUSEP programme which means that I have to get at least 10 credits per semester if I want to complete the programme. Five of these credits must come from Japanese classes, and the remaining five come from other courses (two credits per course). For Japanese classes, you must have a general class (three credits), a kanji class (one credit), and a skill-specific class of your choice (reading, writing, listening; one credit). The credits change a bit if your Japanese skill level is very low but for the rest, this is how it goes.

Before the classes start, there's a placement test to divide the students based on their Japanese skills. It's possible to change the level during the first two weeks if you or the teacher feel like the current level is too high/low, but after that it is not allowed.

North campus. All of my classes are there.

Now, before I started studying here, I was under the impression that the Japanese classes will be completely in Japanese whereas the other classes will be completely in English. If you're under the same impression, I can tell you that you're wrong. The Japanese classes are in Japanese, yes, but I'm only taking one course that's completely in English, and the only reason for the language is that it's being taught by an American. The others spend quite a lot of time talking in Japanese, the amount depending on the person. But on the other hand, my Japanese book has the vocabulary and grammar notes in English. I thought we'd have to learn the meanings through Japanese which would've been much harder so I'm glad it's this way, haha.

As for my studies, I'm taking the following courses:

Japanese C2
Three times a week (two grammar and reading classes + one conversation class; separate exams for the two), three credits. C2 is the middle level, the levels being A/AA, B, C1, C2, D, E, F. A is the lowest level, and the AA course covers both the A and B courses in one semester. For me, the C2 pace feels a bit slow even though there are many new pieces of grammar for me. I'm planning on attempting to cover the D level by myself before the spring semester so that I could proceed straight to E. I haven't yet asked if it's okay to do that, though, but I feel like that would suit me better than continuing to D.

View from the bridge connecting the north and central parts of the campus.

Kanji 4
A kanji test every week, 20 kanji (=one chapter in the book) per test. The placement test placed me in Kanji 4 but the teacher had us take an additional exam during the first lesson. According to that test, I should've changed to Kanji 3. However, I already had a listening class at the same time as Kanji 3, so I asked if I can stay and was allowed to. Kanji are a difficult means of dividing people, anyway, as each textbook has its own order of kanji. If I could decide, they'd be thought in the JLPT order to avoid problems when switching schools. I may not be suited for Kanji 4 based on this book, but there are still some kanji I know even in the last chapter. Makes a whole lot of sense.

Intermediate Listening
For skill levels C2 and D. Watching dramas, learning related vocabulary, reading some parts aloud and so on. The class also includes two drama skits (the first of which was this week), meaning that you pick a short part of one the dramas and perform it (1-3  persons in one group) after practicing. After next week's mid-term exam, we'll watch the first episode of Attack on Titan! I am definitely hyped, it's currently my favourite anime and I can't wait to do a skit on that next year!

A garden connected to a tea room. Visited during the tea ceremony class.

Writing 1
For skill levels C1 and C2. I expected that we'd spend the lessons studying how to write a certain type of essay or e-mail, but half of the time we actually just start writing and go through a model text after that. Lately we've done some small exercises before writing, though. I think this class has helped me a lot with remembering how to write kanji.

Japanese Politics & Diplomacy
The only course I'm taking that has a foreign professor. The classes are basic lectures: the professor talks and sometimes asks a question, we listen. At first the lectures were hard for me to listen to as I've grown accustomed to language classes as well as remote lectures (allowing me to do something while listening, and to take notes on my laptop) but as we got to World War II, it became easier both due to re-learning how to cope with these kinds of lectures and because war history happens to be of great interest to me. Writing notes by hand is really boring, though, but my laptop shuts down if it's not plugged in. (There's a problem with the battery, that's why.)

The garden of Nakamura Memorial Museum.

Law and Society in Japan
In these classes, we're always divided into groups of four or five in which we listen to the professor and occasionally discuss a topic. The means of dividing vary from initials to reversed postal codes. Before starting the actual class, we also tell our small group about our week to practice Japanese (if you're an exchange student) and English (if you're a Japanese student). Our professor is very relaxed and nice. He also likes heavy metal. :D

Japanese History
It didn't say so in the syllabus but as the professor speaks Japanese most of the time, the skill level required for this class is C1. I personally think that a person on a lower level could manage if they worked hard enough but well, it wasn't up for me to decide. Like the law and society classes, the history classes also have occasional interaction between Japanese and foreign students. We're also sometimes asked about the history of our home countries, like we're asked about the situation of our home countries in the law and society class. The history professor is my favourite professor. He's funny, and he even brought a katana to class this week! (It wasn't sharp, no worries.)

The katana our history professor showed us.

Japanese Culture through the Way of Tea
One of the "experience in Japanese culture and society" classes. You can only take one each semester (excluding the budou classes). I originally wanted to take a course on the traditional culture of Japan but as the skill level requirement was D, I couldn't take it. I actually can't stand matcha but out of that, pottery, and education, I figured that the tea course would be the best. Seeing tea rooms and tea ceremony equipment has been very interesting! Listening to the Japanese lecturers is hard, though, and not being able to drink matcha has been a bit problematic. I can force myself to drink it but unless I absolutely must, I won't. Luckily, a German fellow student has offered to drink two out of my three cups so far, so I can always sit next to him when in trouble. :D

Tea ceremony equipment.

And that's about it for my courses! I also participated in a teaching practicum; that is, I was a student for Japanese students studying how to teach Japanese to foreigners. This lasted five classes, with ten different students teaching. Some of the classes were really interesting, others were less, but overall it was a nice support for the C2 course. Though I wish we would've had a chance to speak with the Japanese outside the practice lessons.

I've also noticed some things which differ from Finland. One of these is that in the C2 classes (and in other Japanese classes to a lesser extent), the teachers always wonder why a person is absent if they're not present. I'm more used to teachers just taking a name roll, or not even taking one if they know all the students or if it's not necessary.

Another thing I've noted is how several students repeat words to themselves during class, or even (relatively) quietly react to what the teacher is saying with words such as "Oh, I see!" or "Yes." That can actually be rather disturbing even if they're not very loud. I sometimes sit next to a person who does a lot of this, and I find it very annoying. In Finland, the people who do this do it so quietly that you can't even necessarily hear them. I'm used to people speaking in class to each other when they're not meant to, and that doesn't necessarily annoy me unless I can't hear what the teacher is saying, but somehow this quiet repeating and reacting is very disruptive to me. I'm wondering if it's common among Chinese. I'm not saying that all Chinese seem to do it, but the only ones I've heard doing it have been from or around China.

Tea ceremony confectionaries.

And that's it for today! Hopefully I'll have the time and patience to write about the daily life here before Christmas holidays, as well as about my trip to Tokyo which took place earlier this month. I'd love to get to write more specific entries rather than these general ones but I'd also rather not push myself to write when I'm busy and/or really don't feel like it, so excuse my slow pace. :)