Korean studies 2016

Thank you, that's very helpful! I have another question (sorry about all the questions, I'm just very curious). For the year abroad, do you get maintenance loans as normal? Do you get loans for travel also? I'm just really worried about the financial aspect of things, as my family don't have much money at all and I'm worried that I might not be able to support myself on the year abroad and on the course in general.

Thank you once again.

Wow that's amazing congratulations! I only got ABB

Our grades are the same! I am also wanting to study Korean at university its cool other people are interested as well.

No I have not applied yet. I am looking at Sheffield, Soas, Uclan, Leeds, Hertfordshire but also queen's be cause I am from northern Ireland. I am interested in all east Asian languages but in particular korean

Congrats on your offer!! I still need to send mine off ah 😰 my kakao is Tanishalaura I think

You still have plenty of time to apply-deadline's not for another 2 months

SEAS is a really good department-I love it here

Hi! I was just wondering what the SEAS atmosphere is like and how much help is given? Is it as tough as people say with the year abroad being super difficult to get you to a certain level?

Thank you x

SEAS has a really friendly atmosphere and all your lecturers will be more than happy to help you with any problems you have.

I'm not going to lie, doing a language degree at SEAS will be tough in the sense that the language will advance really quickly. A lot of people underestimate how much of a step up it is from learning a language at school and do trip up eg first year Japanese studies last year had a FAIL rate of almost 70%! If you put the work in though you'll be more than fine-I've never known someone fail Chinese studies or Korean studies.

Sheffield has plenty of national societies which hold regular language tandems, so whichever language you take up, you'll have plenty of chance to practise your speaking outside the classroom.

It's not hard to get onto your year abroad-you just need a minimum of 40% in all your modules and fulfil the appropriate visa requirements. SEAS will help you loads with the visa side of things. The year abroad is when ability really splits-the people who study hard and make local friends while out there are the ones who do well in the years after, whereas the ones who make no effort struggle. Learning's a lot more independent throughout the four years and the year abroad is intimidating at the start as all lectures are in the local language (Chinese/Japanese/Korean as relevant) which takes about a month to properly adapt to. It's so worth it if you stick it out and don't return to the UK until at least 10 months after

This was really helpful, thank you so much! How much study is recommended outside of the classroom?

Hi, everyone. Late member here
I just got accepted into Sheffield for Korean Studies with Japanese!
I really want to get to know everyone beforehand so, if I make it there, I'm not just wandering around completely lost, alone and with no friends whatsoever. Trust me when I say 'lost' btw, it's a necessity. The fact that I'm blessed with a complete lack of spatial awareness is one of the first things you learn about me.
Anyone else looking forward to starting?

I'm sure there'll be a SEAS Newcomers 2016 group on Facebook soon. There's been one every year since I started back in 2012! That's the best place to meet people on your course-it's always filled with Japanese studies and Korean studies students.

I do Japanese for non specialists, which is what you'll be doing too, so if you have any questions, let me know.

Wow, that's actually really useful! I was thinking about creating a facebook account anyway. Thank you so much! You've helped massively on questions I've been wanting to ask.

Can I ask what your non specialist Japanese has been like? I heard you were kinda regreting the decision and that classes get booklets which you fill in and learn for independent study, is this true? And if so, what kind of work is it (e.g. focused on language topics like vocabulary or grammar, or more focused on the cultural and research aspects to back up your learning)?

I love the languages, but I've been warned countless times that it's a difficult course. Do you also recommend anything that's best to learn ahead of time?

Hi, everyone. Late member here
I just got accepted into Sheffield for Korean Studies with Japanese!
I really want to get to know everyone beforehand so, if I make it there, I'm not just wandering around completely lost, alone and with no friends whatsoever. Trust me when I say 'lost' btw, it's a necessity. The fact that I'm blessed with a complete lack of spatial awareness is one of the first things you learn about me.
Anyone else looking forward to starting?

Japanese for non specialists does go at a much slower rate than the classes for people doing Japanese studies, although it is still quite intense, especially if you're doing it with another East Asian language. The focus of Japanese for Non Specialists is vocabulary and grammar as it is a language module. You will be able to do culture modules on Korea, Japan, China and East Asia as a whole as well though. Here's the module outline for Korean with Japanese

https://www.shef.ac.uk/prospectus/courseDetails.do?id=T4T22016

I do occasionally regret taking Japanese as I struggled a lot last year after my year abroad as I'd forgotten so much and my mental health wasn't the best. I'd also loved German at school so sometimes I wish I'd chosen that instead, but the fact I can speak 4 foreign languages now appeals more. It's only spurred my desire to learn even more languages

Before you start, I'd definitely recommend learning Hangeul for Korean and kana (hiragana and katakana) for Japanese. With Japanese for non specialists, you're expected to learn hiragana in the first week and katakana in the second. They never use romanisation in class so it's best to be comfortable using both hiragana and katakana before you arrive for freshers. Having a quick look at some basic grammar and vocabulary would be helpful, but isn't necessary as they'll go from the very basics of konnichiwa and annyeonghaseyo.

For cultural modules, there isn't much you can do in advance, as you won't receive reading lists until your first class, however I'd definitely recommend keeping on top of any reading you have to do and start your essays as soon as you have a title. It's more common at Sheffield that you chose a title yourself based on a theme and have to find suitable literature to back up your ideas.

We have a group chat on kakao if you would like to join. Do you have kakao? If you do I could add you

Okay, that makes much more sense now. Thank you so much for clearing it all up for me! I feel more confident with the course now.

I've already got good basics on the two languages, so I'll try refreshing them both before I get there. Then, I'll follow your advice and keep on top of everything. The choicing your own essay title is new too. I guess it ties in with the whole uni independence XD. Seriously though, thank you. You don't know how much this has helped.

It seems like it must have been a hard time! Are you okay (mentally and physically) now?

It's alright. I always like helping new students seeing as I had no one to give me advice when I first started. I literally had to figure everything out for myself.

Yeah, I quite like the idea of choosing your own essay title as it allows you to pursue a topic within a general theme that really interests you. For example, this semester in my culture module "Contemporary Chinese Society" my essay title is "To what extent are Uyghur's 'Chinese'?" It's really interesting as I get to talk about what constitutes being Chinese as well as aspects of separatism and inter-ethnic racism in China. The hard part is keeping it all around 1,500 words

The start of my year abroad was definitely tough as I'd never been to China before, so it was all a massive culture shock. My parents forbade me from coming home for Christmas as they said it would only make things worse. I'm so glad they did that though, as while I was struggling, I definitely think I would've been a lot worse had I gone home. I also had the opportunity to travel around China and properly practise my Chinese, which I wouldn't have been able to do had I come back to the UK. I'd actually really like to move out there one day permanently.

I'm definitely better, although I don't think I'll ever be 100% well. For me, my mental illness is an important part of who I am as I've had them for so long, so in a sense I don't really want to get help for them, as they're normality for me.