Japanese Degree at Leeds

I'm currently studying Japanese at A-level and have applied through Extra to Leeds to do Japanese. On the website it says that because the course is "from scratch" no prior knowledge is required - but it also says that special arrangements are made for those with the A-level.
Does anybody know what these "special arrangements" entail? I've tried asking the University, but so far I've not heard a peep!

Many Thanks,

Bill

Reply 1

tstar-x

Hi,
I am in a similar position, as I'm currently studying Japanese at A2, although I've decided not to go to Leeds.

I asked this at the open day and if I remember correctly, you have 4 contact hours (instead of 8 - but they expect you to do private study as well). I think you also get put into the advanced/accelerated group. I think that you are encouraged to be active in the Japan society to keep up your skills as well.

Hope that helped :smile:

Reply 2

chinadoll90

Fraid I can't answer your question, but I can tell you that from the one year I spent at leeds uni, the Japanese soc seems very active, and there is a large Japanese community in the uni, who are lovely and keen to mix with English speakers. I have friends who are doing it and are studying in Japan for their second year and having an amazing time. Plus Leeds is a great place. Good luck!

Reply 3

Tourbillion

Great stuff :smile:

Thanks folks!

Reply 4

jonnythemoose

I can't help you either, but I'm nosy and am interested in hearing how you went from being a prospective medic to a Japanese student?! :p:

Reply 5

Tourbillion

Haha, well I applied to do medicine - but got rejected for all my offers.
So after a LOT of consideration, I went through extra to do Japanese :P
I love Japanese more than any of my other subjects, and figured that if I still wanted to to medicine after my degree, I'd go postgrad.

Reply 6

Akaki

Tourbillion

Haha, well I applied to do medicine - but got rejected for all my offers.
So after a LOT of consideration, I went through extra to do Japanese :P

OMG me too, I got rejected from all my Medicine offers so i applied for Jap at Leeds through Extra. Im thinking of doing medicine in Japan too. This is a lil weird...

Reply 7

akeyaranu

Hi guys
I'm (hopefully) graduating this summer with a degree in Japanese from Leeds University.
(so if you have any questions - do ask)

anyway, to answer you question, you'll have to take a test (I think it'll involve basic grammar and some kanji) before you start the course, if you pass it you'll have an option to stay in the class with everyone who's starting it from scratch, or attend the Intermediate level classes. You'll be ahead of the basic group, but I think they'll catch up to you by January (although I think they rush basic classes, and you don't actually remember much from them).

I hope that helps a little :smile:

Reply 8

Narutofan88

Hi, im a prospective Y12 student who would lik to Economics with Japanese at Leeds (not definite choice, i may just do Economics) and I hav done my GCSE and AS Japanese (hopefully i get a high A in AS).

When you say immediate class, how advance would there japanese be? lik A-Level standard? Also would it have any advantage to staying with the beginner class, or would it be slighty tedious since you hav to learn it all again?

thnx if i can get a reply ^^

Reply 9

dashka404

i looked into this (also considering leeds in 2011!) and i think that you get to skip the beginners classes :smile:

but because things go at a much faster pace it shouldn't be long before the newer students catch up. I'm not sure of their definition of 'advanced', though i'd think it would be either GCSE or Alevel standard.

Staying with the beginner class could be a good idea; it's often difficult to remember things (at least for me) without frequent exposure, and it's possible that they might cover slightly different things than you covered in Alevel. :smile:

Hope that was helpful!!