Advice on starting a new foreign language in college ? (Japanese)

Student Lounge College Life
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hey all, just wanted to start a small discussion or input of tips regarding starting a foreign language in college. I’m planning on taking japanese in college as i go into my freshman year, but currently know nothing about japanese. Also, the only introductory course offered is a 6 credit intensive introductory japanese course (if that makes a difference).

  • Advice on whether to start it freshman year, sophmore year, summer, etc ? Or just go ahead and start in the fall freshman year, because i know itll probably be time consuming so i'll try to center my scheduele around it. I thought I should start freshman year because the classes will probably be easier than later on and ill have more time to dedicate to learning the language ... or should i take a lot of gen ed credits now and language later? .. thoughts?
  • Start studying before i begin classes to get a head start? Or will it not matter much? because I'd rather spend time now on work instead of studying beforehand, but the pace of the class might be fast/hard since its 6 credits ... thoughts?
  • any other advice you can think of regarding starting a foreign language in college.

thank you all :smiley:

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I find language classes to be tedious, since they are held more frequently throughout the week at my school.

If you want to start a language you know nothing about, I would try to get a headstart in the most basics of basic. Any time you start, it’ll be structured the same, so just try to take it when you deem best. If you can start in the fall, then I would do so.

Quick note: if you haven’t started class registrations, make sure you add the Japanese language course first. From what I’ve seen and heard, Japanese is usually the first (or close to it) language class to fill up. I’ve had friends try to take that class all year with no result. Be warned.

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I began Hebrew in the fall of my freshman year, without knowing a single word or even the alphabet. It turned out to be the most rewarding and enjoyable class I took because I could really see my progress. Going in, I couldn’t speak or write a word. Now after two semesters, I can speak conversationally and write stories.

If you’re taking the very first intro class, I wouldn’t think you would need to get a head start. The professor will start at the very beginning. My class met 5 days a week, so it was very intensive, but meeting the full 5 days was really helpful because it meant I was speaking the language every morning.

I would recommend taking it at the beginning of your freshman year. Is taking a language a requirement? How many semesters do you need? It’s a lot easier to get all your general requirements out of the way earlier so your latter years you can really just focus on your major.

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I began Japanese my freshman year, and I barely knew the language other than greetings and a couple of words and phrases I picked up from watching anime. I definitely recommend learning your kana (that is, hiragana and katakana) before you go into Japanese class. If you know your kana, then beginning Japanese will be a breeze and you wouldn’t have to spend time learning them because you’d already know them. Don’t worry about learning the kanji because those are usually taught a little later.

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I agree that the most important preparation you should do is memorizing hiragana and katakana. The website realkana.com is pretty simple to use.

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Start prepping now

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Thanks all :smiley: also language isn’t a requirement but im really interested in learning in Japanese and the culture so I plan on going for a minor in Japanese studies.

The class meets three days a week for about two hours each day, so I guess it’s pretty intensive and will cover a lot right?

The instructor is also TBA so I’m not sure if it’ll be a good one or not…

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-Start your freshman year;! I’m still bitter about bad advice I got from an academic advisor my freshman year! (My college had a special year-long exchange program with a college in Japan; it’s part of the reason I decided to go there in the first place. I had taken French in high school and tested into the last semester of French, but I was planning on switching to Japanese in college. My advisor told me to finish French instead so I could get my language requirement out of the way and then start Japanese second semester. Well, I assumed he knew what he was talking about, so I took French 202 freshman year first semester. Bad! Because Japanese 101 wasn’t offered in the spring, so I had to wait until fall sophomore year, and THEN I found out that you had to have two years of college-level Japanese before you could do the exchange program. BUMMER. I ended up not finishing the Japanese sequence or studying in Japan at all, which I still regret.)

Anyway, lots of great exchange/study abroad programs DO have this requirement, so it’s best to start early!

-Start studying early if you can/have the time. It’s not necessary, but it will make it easier. This is particularly true in Japanese since you will need to learn katakana and hiragana (kana) and, eventually, kanji. The earlier you start memorizing the kana the easier it’ll be when you need them to start reading!

-Two hours a day 3 days a week is definitely an intensive class. So yes, they will cover a lot each week. You might also be required to spend time in a language lab completing assignments.

-As you might know, Japan has a rich history of entertainment media that is widely available in the U.S./Western world. If you don’t already, you might want to start consuming some Japanese media - watch Japanese television shows, movies, maybe anime, and listen to some Japanese music (like J-pop). My interest in Japanese culture was what made me want to take Japanese classes, so I had been watching and listening to Japanese media since I was around 12 (and had an interest in it earlier than that). Let me tell you it was tremendously helpful when I started the classes, because I had been listening to Japanese pronunciation for years and was familiar with some words/constructions/idioms before I even started taking the classes.

If you’ll be attending college in a large city (or even a medium-sized city) your town might have a Japan society or other cultural nonprofit that offers Japanese conversation opportunities with other language learners or native speakers. Once you get to/past the intermediate level, that’s a good opportunity to practice your speaking and listening. Sometimes they also have cultural presentations, like movie screenings, speakers, and other historical and cultural things. (In fact, your language classes might require you to do stuff like that. My husband took Spanish and he was required to do interviews with native speakers and go to Spanish art exhibits and things like that.)

Also, if you are a mnemonics kind of person, [url=<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Kana-Pict-o-Graphix-Mnemonics-Japanese-Hiragana/dp/1880656183/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436751075&sr=1-1&keywords=hiragana+mnemonics%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://www.amazon.com/Kana-Pict-o-Graphix-Mnemonics-Japanese-Hiragana/dp/1880656183/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436751075&sr=1-1&keywords=hiragana+mnemonics]this[/url] book was instrumental in me learning kana very quickly. I still remember most of them and it’s been 10 years since I’ve taken Japanese 101. There’s also one for [url=<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Pict-O-Graphix-Over-Japanese-Mnemonics/dp/0962813702/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_y%5Dkanji%5B/url”>http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Pict-O-Graphix-Over-Japanese-Mnemonics/dp/0962813702/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_y]kanji[/url] - still helpful, but a little less intuitive than the kana one, I think.

Also, [url=<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/GENKI-Integrated-Elementary-Japanese-English/dp/4789014401/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436751049&sr=1-11&keywords=hiragana%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://www.amazon.com/GENKI-Integrated-Elementary-Japanese-English/dp/4789014401/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436751049&sr=1-11&keywords=hiragana]this[/url] is the textbook we used and it was excellent! If that’s not the one you use in class it might be useful as a supplemental textbook.

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Thank you so much! :smiley: @juillet

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Interestingly enough, I’m also starting a language from scratch and considering minoring in it! The only difference is that the class I’m taking is 5 credits and the language is Chinese.

I’m an incoming freshie, and chose to immediately begin with language. I have four years ahead of me to fulfill all the GE units; so I don’t think it’ll really hurt to just start off with a language class. Besides (as mentioned by another post), if you plan to study abroad, there may be language requirements involved with that. You’re better off prepared earlier than not.

Personally, I bought the book ahead of time (still waiting for it arrive) so I could look through it, perhaps start memorizing some characters in advance since language classes in college are quite fast paced. Like Chinese, the Japanese language requires a pretty intense level of memorization because of the kanji involved in writing. I’ve also been queuing up Chinese films and shows to watch whenever I’m bored, just to get into the habit of listening to the language.

Good luck on your studies! :slight_smile:

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UPDATE: Decided to start with Japanese first semester, and continued for second semester of freshman year. I studied a bit before the year started, but they treat the class like everyone is a complete newcomer to Japanese (of course) and it was very much doable for me and a couple new friends I made that had no prior experience with the language, and got an A both semesters. Of course, it took more time out of class to study than the average class, but that’s to be expected with any language course. I’m glad I started freshman year, because I’ve decided to pursue a minor in Japanese which would’ve been a lot harder if i’d waited, since not all classes are offered every semester. Also, I plan on studying abroad Junior year and it would be of more benefit since started studying the language earlier.

Just my two cents to anyone coming into college as a freshmen looking to take up a new language, if you have the willpower and time anything is possible

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@aryaofstark Good for you! Japanese is a challenging language. You will enjoy any future trip to Japan so much more because of your language foundation.