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Japanese - UCLan / Brookes?

Hi there,
I'll be starting uni in 2017 and I know for certain that I want to do Japanese.

I'm looking at UCLan or Brookes, as their entry requirements match my target grades and most other universities require at least GCSE level in a foreign language (which I don't have.)

Can anyone give me any unbiased advice on the courses at these unis? I've been to open days but could only speak to tutors,

Cheers :smile:

Reply 1

Starsky091

I went to Brookes for a year doing computing so I was at Wheatley campus which isn't very nice. As you're doing Japanese you'll be on the main campus which has just been refurbished so is very nice, in my opinion . While there I found everything was great except for the lecturers , It felt as though they were bored and teaching or dealing with problems was a chore, obviously this may not apply to the Japanese professors.
Now in September I am starting Japanese at UCLAN obviously having not been there yet I can't give a first hand account but everything I've heard about UCLAN has been positive.
Living in Oxford is EXTREMELY expensive and getting around can be a massive pain, especially if you don't want to walk, so if you do go to Brookes I'd suggest applying for Clive booth and Cheney village (accommodation) as they are both right next to the main campus

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Reply 2

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by jxidiamxnd

I don't do those courses but I had a friend who did the Japanese at Brookes and I also did Intro to Japanese Society and Culture so I can tell you a bit about the lecturers themselves.

First of all if you have no prior knowledge of a foreign language that's fine as Brookes starts the Japanese language at beginners level anyway, so you'll be fine.

As for the lecturer's especially Jason, they are really great. He knows his stuff (you'd be surprised how many lecturers will read from their sheet and not engage with students). But Jason, knows his stuff, he hardly pauses or stutters and doesn't read of any powerpoints or anything. His powerpoints contain only pictures with a sentence here or there. So if you do get him, make sure you have a new pen because you'll be writing word-for-word what he says 'cause he's so full of knowledge.

One thing I really enjoyed about that module is that all of the lecturers engaged with the reading we had to do and as they were talking they'd ask us questions about it and discuss it while adding to their own background information which was very useful. Cause often enough, as you read around your subject for the required reading, youd think "why am I reading this". But with these lecturers, they make sure what we read fits into their lectures.

Jason and one other lecturer actually lived in Japan for many years and in this module, they often relating the topic to their own personal life. For example one topic you'll learn is family and the household. One lecturer (cant remember if she's married or divorced) but she's Caucasian and married a tradional, religious Japanese man and she was telling us how his mother never expected her cause she was white and how she was considered a lower class and everything. When the lecturers bring their personal life into the topics it makes it so much more interesting.

One thing I should tell you is make sure you do your reading cause all of it is for your tests that you have to do 4 times throughout the 12 weeks. It's a multiple choice test and it gets very annoying when Jason gave us only 3-5 days to revise. So make sure you do weekly readings!

That's all I can tell you about that particular module which you'll have to do anyway.

As for the uni itself - it's a great uni, it's ranked in the world's 400 best unis and they do study abroad to loads of places in Asia, so that's one thing to consider. I wish I had done mine so badly! The new building the poster above mentioned is the John Henry Brookes Building, which costs £150m to do. They are currently working on the back part of the uni which was the old bit. They are also building new accommodation up in Headington, near Headington shops too. So the uni is well funded. It's a shame they don't put that money to the student union and it's crap. The only good thing about the student union is the studen union sports bar and diner. Their gym is supposed to be nice too. Student Union is crap within itself as they just suck at putting on parties and stuff. Like there wasn't enough tickets being sold for the summer ball, so it got cancelled (lol). It's not a bad union, like they try - but the students just don't care cause past union events have sucked, so we don't bother anymore.

Feel free to ask anything about the uni :smile:

Reply 3

Jay2610

Hello I know this isn't an answer but did you decide to do Japanese and if it was at UCLan how was it? I've applied for 2018 entry along with French. Thank you :smile: