Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Oxford Brookes or Newcastle University?

Hi everyone!
As you can guess from the title I need some hep to decide to which uni to go on September. I already got accepted in both of them with conditional offers, but I don't know where to go.
Besides all the social and living costs part, I would really like to have some feedback about the courses and how good do they teach. I'm going to study Japanese and Business.
So, please, can anyone tell me how is it like to study in both of them?
Thank you very much!

PS: can you also tell me how many weeky japanese language lesson hours to you have?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

R.Dexter

Anyone?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 2

sophia5892

Original post by R.Dexter

Anyone?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi,

Sorry I've not been on here for a couple of days so just seen this.
I'm a Masters student at Newcastle University and I did my undergraduate degree there in Modern Languages (French, German and Japanese).

Is it the Modern Languages and Business Studies degree you've applied for?
Will you be doing Japanese as a beginner or post- A Level?

Unfortunately as I did a 3 language degree I can't tell you anything about the business side of things, or the Japanese cultural modules as I only got to take the Japanese language modules. But I can at least answer any questions you have about language classes, the Year Abroad and the department, city etc etc.

Japanese was my beginner language so I did Level A in first year. We got 6 hours of language seminars a week in a group no bigger than 15. We spent two of those six hours in a language lab focusing on listening and speaking exercises. Level A now get 8 hours of contact time a week, including 2 in a language lab, but it's still 6 hours for the other levels.

In final year (Level C), classes were split into an hour for reading, writing, speaking, listening and two hours for grammar.

Due to the high amount of classes and workload, Japanese accounts for 40 credits each year (most modules are 20 credits). So although it sounds like a lot of work, you are at least getting credited for it!

In our classes we tended to work through the textbook (I used Genki, I believe they now use Minna no nihongo), but the teachers would supplement this with additional materials too. So for example in final year, we read and translated some Murakami and we listened to the news and watched dramas. They largely expect you to study kanji at home, although we did have regular kanji tests and in the first couple of years we did get some instruction on things like stroke order.

Assessment was a mix of coursework (mini "essays" completed at home or in exam conditions in class), continuous assessment (like a mini exam), speaking exam, listening exam and final exam.
The final exam was the same format at the continuous assessment: sections on writing kanji or the pronunciation of kanji, grammar exercises, reading comprehension, mini essay.
When I say essay, don't panic! They don't expect anything very long. In final year we'd have to write 600-800 characters, which really isn't that many.

For the Year Abroad you have to study at a partner institution in Japan. List here:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/international/exchange/outeurope/noneupartners.htm
There's also a couple of partners not on the list: Aichi Prefectural University and Kobe City University of Foreign Studies.
So as you can see, there's a huge amount of choice in where you can go covering pretty much all of Japan.
I spent my year abroad at Kyushu University in Fukuoka. I followed a programme called Japan in Today's World. This is a culture programme taught in English alongside intensive Japanese language study. The programme also offered host family visits and lots of study trips so I really got to experience Japanese life and make the most of my time there.

I could go on and on and on, but I'll leave it there! If you have any questions that I haven't covered in my ramblings please let me know! :smile:

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 3

R.Dexter

Thank you so much!
You really gave me a lot of god information, and all very useful.

Original post by sophia5892

Is it the Modern Languages and Business Studies degree you've applied for?
Will you be doing Japanese as a beginner or post- A Level?

Yes, I applied for that course, but I was not sure whether to do one or two languages (the second would be spanish since I've been studying it for 5 years at high school). What do you think? I don't know if this would be too much work.

I can guess from your answer that you did find yourself good at studying in Newcastle, and this was the main thing I was interested in. Since I have no possibility to go to any Open Day (I live in Italy and have simply too much to study to take a flight and go) I was a bit scared I could made the wrong choice.
Could you give me some more information about the teachers and how are they with students?
Thank you again. :excited:

Reply 4

sophia5892

Original post by R.Dexter

Thank you so much!
You really gave me a lot of god information, and all very useful.

Yes, I applied for that course, but I was not sure whether to do one or two languages (the second would be spanish since I've been studying it for 5 years at high school). What do you think? I don't know if this would be too much work.

I can guess from your answer that you did find yourself good at studying in Newcastle, and this was the main thing I was interested in. Since I have no possibility to go to any Open Day (I live in Italy and have simply too much to study to take a flight and go) I was a bit scared I could made the wrong choice.
Could you give me some more information about the teachers and how are they with students?
Thank you again. :excited:

I know you can only do one beginner language, but if you can I'd recommend taking two. The course is very flexible, so if you do Spanish in your first year, then you can always drop it later on to focus on Japanese. Or you could even do Spanish for two years and then drop it after the Year Abroad.
The main issue with combining languages for the Year Abroad is that you would have to spend the full academic year (around 10 months) studying in Japan which doesn't leave much time to focus on Spanish. However, I managed with French and German and there's more and more students every year who combine European languages with Chinese/Japanese. Additionally the School of Modern Languages offer a £1200 bursary to cover the fees for an intensive language programme in the summer for students in that situation.

I love Newcastle of course :smile:

The main reason I am studying for a Masters is that I didn't want to leave!

There's not many staff teaching within the Japanese section as it tends to be a fairly small cohort (around 25 students per year).
There's 2 lecturers:

Gitte Hansen - Gitte started at Newcastle last year. She's Danish. So it's really great to have the perspective of someone who's had to learn Japanese as a foreigner. She really understands the challenges we face having to deal with an East Asian language and she's super committed. Always happy to see students 1 on 1 and give extra help and support. Her main research areas are in literature, gender and Miyazaki Hayao.

Shiro Yoshioka - Yoshioka-sensei is pretty much your stereotypical Japanese guy. So a little socially awkward, speaks very fast and can be mumbly, but he's honestly lovely. And it's very good practice listening to authentic Japanese like that before your Year Abroad. His research is in history, culture and media. So he does the module on anime. He's really passionate about his research and from what my classmates who took his culture modules said - it's fascinating listening to him lecture.

Then there's a few Japanese language teachers, who are also all Japanese. Kumi Casey, Suda-sensei, Harumi Cavanagh. I think that's all of them. Again they're all really lovely. Very approachable, and very used to teaching students at all levels. When i pass them in the hallways now they always stop to talk to me (and don't seem to mind that since I stopped studying Japanese I seem to have forgotten all of it).

It's a really nice department. As East Asian and European languages are taught in the same School you're very well integrated with the other languages students, but the Japanese section is small enough that everyone knows each other and it's very friendly.

We also have a student society - the Anglo Japanese society. They do regular events, including weekly oshaberikai for you to practice your Japanese, and that's a great way to meet the Japanese exchange students. :smile:

Reply 5

R.Dexter

Thank you for your help, that was extremely useful!
I now have a clearer idea od the university of Newcastle, though I would also like someone to answer me back for Brookes.
Anyway, Newcastle is becoming to me more and more attractive, and I'm not so scared anymore about going there.
If I'm going I will also do spanish, as I saw that my diploma is equal to your A Levels.
Thank you again! :smile:

Reply 6

sophia5892