Our Courses
Studying the Japanese Language
1. PEAK Japanese Language Courses
The Mission of the PEAK Japanese language courses is to support and assist students to develop academic and professional level proficiency in Japanese as far as they can during their time at the University, and to gain a substantial understanding of Japanese culture and society.
Duration: Our Japanese language courses will welcome all incoming students on the International Program on Environmental Sciences (ES) and the International Program on Japan in East Asia (JEA). The Japanese language courses are required for freshmen and sophomores (for three semesters) on both ES and JEA. Students in JEA will be required to take additional Japanese language courses in their fourth to sixth semester.
The Aim of these courses is to meet international students’ academic needs in all four-language skills, namely speaking, listening, reading and writing. This well-balanced language learning formula is accomplished only when students take all the mandatory and elective classes at each level.
Stream: The Japanese language courses are divided into three streams: Stream 1 is designed for students with little or no previous background in Japanese, Stream 2 for students whose proficiency is Pre-Intermediate to Intermediate, and Stream3 for Pre-Advanced to Advanced proficiency levels. The stream that students can take will be based on a placement test.
Achievement: Provided that students take all the mandatory and elective classes, the achievement level at the end of the sophomore year is as follows:
Those who begin the language training for the first time are expected to attain (at least) a level of proficiency equivalent to the Japanese language proficiency test (JLPT) level N4 or higher.
Those who are placed in a higher-level stream are expected to attain the JLPT level N2 or higher.
Class Size: The courses will be conducted in small classes where every student enrolled will get individual attention to ensure that students will learn the Japanese language properly and efficiently.
2. Message to our students
Our innovative curricula at PEAK are delivered exclusively in English and require no prior knowledge of Japanese language. Students can take advantage of the rich academic resources of our university in English.
However, in the world outside of the classroom or even on campus, daily communication is performed nearly exclusively in Japanese. There are a limited number of situations which international students will be able to manage only in English. Therefore, a certain degree of proficiency in the Japanese language is essential in order to deal with daily activities and to maintain an enjoyable “communication life” during the course of your study.
International students, who wish to become able to interact with their Japanese environment or to attend lectures held in Japanese, need to take Japanese language classes as required and study hard. Those, who wish to work in the future at a Japanese corporation or have business partners in Japan, are expected to be fluent in the Japanese language. To master a foreign language is certainly not an easy task. However, the PEAK Japanese language courses support and assist students in developing their Japanese language skills.
The PEAK Japanese language courses are intensive and progress very quickly. It is absolutely vital that you master the basic syllabaries (hiragana and katakana) before you arrive, because knowledge of hiragana and katakana will be assumed from the very beginning and we do not use romanization. In order to learn hiragana, katakana, and basic expressions, newly enrolled students with little or no knowledge of Japanese language, will receive learning materials prior to starting the program.
We encourage students to gauge their language skills through objective examinations such as the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) or the Business Japanese Proficiency Test (BJT).
Further information will be uploaded shortly.