<p>Alright, I have my heart set out on this college up until yesturday when I was registering for classes. I want to major in Computer Science with a minor in Japanese but this college only has Spanish, French, Latin, German, Italian, and even Greek. I'm pretty upset. I know I should have done my research but it was my safety school and now it's all I have. I just assumed that if it was a private school, it'll have the courses I need. </p>
<p>Anyways, how do I propose a language such as Japanese to be included in the fall semester courses? Do I have to write a proposal? I also want to study aboard to Japan for a semester or two, but the university is only affiliated with 4 study aboard programs (Spain, France, Italy, Germany) so how do I propose a study aboard program for Japan as well?</p>
<p>Argh. Help please. I don't want to go to this college if I can't minor in the language that I initially wanted, though I have no clue as to what to do next. ]:</p>
<p>Frankly, it will be almost impossible to add a Japanese program to your school before you graduate, let alone to get classes offered by the fall semester. Most proposals like this originate among administrators. You'd have to demonstrate significant student support in order to persuade your school that it's worthwhile to add a program; the proposal would need to be approved by various committees; and the school would need to find additional classroom and office space, hire faculty and staff, and come up with the money to fund all of this. I live near a university that just completed this process and added a Japanese major - fifteen years after the original proposal was submitted, and it has not been easy to get it passed.</p>
<p>At most universities it's possible to design an individual major, if your major isn't offered. However, in order to do that, there needs to be a critical mass of classes in the area in which you want to major. If your school has no Japanese faculty and no Japanese courses, that's not going to be possible. You can certainly take Japanese courses at a nearby university and try to transfer them, but that's really the best you can do.</p>
<p>On the bright side, studying abroad in Japan should be easy to manage. While the college isn't likely to add a study-abroad program any time soon, you can still study in Japan and get credit for it if you find an accredited external program and get it approved by your college's study abroad office.</p>
<p>Thanks for the answer. Do you think finaid will cover the cost of me taking Japanese courses in another university? And how can I find an accredited external program?</p>
<p>Finaid won't cover it, but you may be eligible for aid at the other university.</p>
<p>Talking to the study abroad office at your school is the best way to get started - they'll be able to help you research programs, and can tell you specifically what's required to get approval and credit for your time abroad. Beyond that, there are a few online directories that can help you get started: links [here[/url</a>]. Posting on the CC college forums is a good way to get in touch with students who may have experience with certain programs.</p>
<p>But I was hoping to learn the language before going aboard (I want to study in Tokyo). The thing is, Mercer doesn't have any courses in their university that can enable me to minor in Japanese. That, for me, is a problem. </p>
<p>I talked with a professor at Mercer and he told me that they offered Japanese at one point but he thinks the problem is finding an instructor. I heard Mercer allows their student to get a custom major or minor so I emailed the chair of Foreign Languages and hopefully I'll get good news.</p>
<p>A traditional custom major or minor entails taking classes from a range of other related majors that don't individually suit your needs.</p>
<p>I don't think you can get a custom major when there aren't any classes for it already in existence... but you can study abroad or take transfer credits and try to get that applied to a minor, probably.</p>
<p>I have been doing self study for Japanese, and plan to take the courses next year in college. Are you more concerned in learning the language or getting the minor? I would just take classes over the summer and do self study during the year at school. I have been using the Japanese for Busy People series and it has worked out quite well for me. I also do the language exchange program over skype at Language</a> Exchange Online via Skype on the Mixxer</p>
<p>I tried self teaching myself Japanese but I can't with my busy schedule. I was hoping that if I commit to minor in the language, it would allow me to have time allocated for me to study the language. That, and I really want to minor in Japanese. It's something I wanted to do since I entered high school and found out that Japanese wasn't in the curriculum. </p>
<p>I talked with the Chair of Foreign Language and she said that I could take the courses in another school as a transient student and it would be paid for as long as the school I'm going to is a state school. </p>
<p>The only problem is that the only state school that has Japanese is UGA. The bigger problem is that UGA is about 2 hours away from Mercer. Gas money, anyone? </p>
<p>I'm running out of ideas... I really don't want to go to UGA because of this, but I don't know what else to do. This sucks.</p>
<p>The only language I want to learn is Japanese. I'm sorry if I sound ignorant but I've wanted to learn this language since I was in 9th grade and I'm disappointed that the only schools that offer this language in the whole state of GA is Emory and UGA.</p>
<p>Can someone suggest what I should do? And don't say to pick another language. That is going to be the last last LAST resort. Last. And I mean last. ://</p>
<p>If I understand you, you don't have the option to take the classes at your school or at any other nearby school. That pretty much leaves some kind of self-study during the academic year, although maybe you can go somewhere to take summer courses. An immersion program could be helpful. There may also be someone teaching languages in the area that is not a school. I would suggest asking the department secretary in each foreign language department at your school whether they know of anything like that.</p>
<p>If this is important to you, which it appears to be, and you can't find an affordable summer program, I would suggest that you cut back on your busy schedule and try self-teaching again. Can you afford to take 4 classes instead of 5? Can you cut some extracurriculars? I'd also suggest that you make up a flyer and see whether anyone at the school is willing to join a study group for Japanese. I would then ask each foreign language department to post the flyer in their department and also see about getting them put up in dorms (because students on campus are more likely to be around at whatever time you want to meet than students who live off-campus). You could also see whether there are students from Japan at the school who would be willing to tutor you.</p>
<p>I see that Rosetta Stone has Japanese-learning software. I would suggest that you look into that or alternately find a Japanese text-to-speech program in order to help your accent and your ability to understand spoken Japanese.</p>
<p>For me, it's German and to a lesser extent Spanish (which I took long ago and most of which I have forgotten) and French. There are a lot of texts in German that I ought to be reading, and most of them are not translated into English. So far I haven't cared enough about those texts to stop being too busy to learn another language, but I think I probably will. The key for me is to have accountability to someone other than myself, which is why I'm suggesting finding other people to work with. There are things that interest me enough that I make time anyway, but the early stages of learning a language frustrating and difficult.</p>
<p>Have you checked your local community colleges for language classes?</p>
<p>You could also try looking for community college Japanese courses online. An online course would be pretty much self taught, but at least you would get course credit for it. </p>
<p>Here's one I found through a quick google search (not sure if it's credible or not) Online</a> Japanese</p>