JAPAN 100A
Advanced Modern Japanese
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Requisite: course 6 or 10 with grade of C or better or Japanese placement test. Course 100A with grade of C or better or Japanese placement test is enforced requisite to 100B; course 100B with grade of C or better or Japanese placement test is enforced requisite to 100C. Not open to students who have learned, from whatever source, enough Japanese to qualify for more advanced courses. Learning Japanese language with emphasis on sociocultural issues of contemporary Japanese society. Materials selected from contemporary publications, videos, and audiotapes. Reading with focus on linguistics features, writing summaries and opinions, oral activities, and project work. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Oh man this class was ROUGH. I repeat, this class is not for the faint of heart. I was one of the J10 kids who passed with an A but got hit like a sledgehammer by this class. In a way, I do feel like you are at a disadvantage if you are one of the summer kids since there's just so much vocab and grammar we just don't know. Get ready to work hard and put in your 110%. I would prep every day before class for two hours and I would still get lost. Prof. Nogami will cold call on people randomly so be prepared to answer any question at any time. It is really discouraging when you don't understand her question and she doesn't clarify. But don't give up!!! Even if you don't get what she's saying, just try your best to answer anyway. It's always better to be wrong than to not say anything because it shows her that you're trying your best. Unfortunately if you don't understand her or a word/phrase she uses, she won't clarify. She'll just move on from you and keep asking other people. Learn from your mistakes and misunderstandings. Try writing down all the words you hear but don't know so you can look it up later. Be early and never late because Prof. Nogami will call you out. I tried my hardest, participated as much as I could, went to office hours and gave it my all. But I always didn't do very well on the tests and struggled the entire quarter. So I barely scraped by with a C+. However, when I did go to office hours to talk to Prof. Nogami, she was always kind and helpful. She encouraged me to keep trying my best and told me she noticed my efforts in class. So try your best and she will notice! The class has two types of vocab quizzes (kanji writing and kanji reading), two essays, three unit tests, a speech, and homework. There is also a final and a final oral interview one on one with her. For me the unit tests were the hardest (I got Ds on the first and third one...) but a lot of people did much better so it's honestly up to you. I'm just not very good at the tests. I did really well on the oral interview. She just asks about the units and what we learned and our opinions. She is a strict and difficult teacher but she will push you to become better not only with your speaking but with your grammar, writing, and even thinking.
Fall 2018 - Oh man this class was ROUGH. I repeat, this class is not for the faint of heart. I was one of the J10 kids who passed with an A but got hit like a sledgehammer by this class. In a way, I do feel like you are at a disadvantage if you are one of the summer kids since there's just so much vocab and grammar we just don't know. Get ready to work hard and put in your 110%. I would prep every day before class for two hours and I would still get lost. Prof. Nogami will cold call on people randomly so be prepared to answer any question at any time. It is really discouraging when you don't understand her question and she doesn't clarify. But don't give up!!! Even if you don't get what she's saying, just try your best to answer anyway. It's always better to be wrong than to not say anything because it shows her that you're trying your best. Unfortunately if you don't understand her or a word/phrase she uses, she won't clarify. She'll just move on from you and keep asking other people. Learn from your mistakes and misunderstandings. Try writing down all the words you hear but don't know so you can look it up later. Be early and never late because Prof. Nogami will call you out. I tried my hardest, participated as much as I could, went to office hours and gave it my all. But I always didn't do very well on the tests and struggled the entire quarter. So I barely scraped by with a C+. However, when I did go to office hours to talk to Prof. Nogami, she was always kind and helpful. She encouraged me to keep trying my best and told me she noticed my efforts in class. So try your best and she will notice! The class has two types of vocab quizzes (kanji writing and kanji reading), two essays, three unit tests, a speech, and homework. There is also a final and a final oral interview one on one with her. For me the unit tests were the hardest (I got Ds on the first and third one...) but a lot of people did much better so it's honestly up to you. I'm just not very good at the tests. I did really well on the oral interview. She just asks about the units and what we learned and our opinions. She is a strict and difficult teacher but she will push you to become better not only with your speaking but with your grammar, writing, and even thinking.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - This class was very demanding but I learned a lot. Nogami-sensei teaches with Socratic method: you're expected to study the material beforehand then she cross-examines you during class. For students comfortable listening to Japanese, this is very beneficial and helps you improve speaking a lot. But for students less so, it will be very stressful and you're likely to fall further behind. Also, she doesn't really go over kanji, so you are expected to learn it on your own time. If you're serious about learning Japanese, definitely take her class. Just know that you'll spend a lot of time studying and probably still not get an A. ETA after 100C: Everything I wrote still stands. Workload increases by the quarter and she is not an easy grader. If you're thinking of adding this as a 4th class, I would proceed with caution.
Fall 2020 - This class was very demanding but I learned a lot. Nogami-sensei teaches with Socratic method: you're expected to study the material beforehand then she cross-examines you during class. For students comfortable listening to Japanese, this is very beneficial and helps you improve speaking a lot. But for students less so, it will be very stressful and you're likely to fall further behind. Also, she doesn't really go over kanji, so you are expected to learn it on your own time. If you're serious about learning Japanese, definitely take her class. Just know that you'll spend a lot of time studying and probably still not get an A. ETA after 100C: Everything I wrote still stands. Workload increases by the quarter and she is not an easy grader. If you're thinking of adding this as a 4th class, I would proceed with caution.
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