Cambridge Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) Students and Applicants
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chris1200
Yes but this is now the subject thread in the Colleges and Courses section of the Cambridge forum for the AMES degree. So really as OS no longer exists... it should be changed to AMES so that prospective students know where to ask questions etc.
Perhaps if the thread became a composite for OS/AMES/and Assyriologists/Egyptologists in Part I Arch&Anth? There are not many, so to do otherwise would be only to speciate a few people over even more threads...
To be honest, I think anyone hoping to get into Cambridge wanting to study an Oriental language shouldn't have difficulty finding this thread...
chris1200
Though I wouldn't call Arabic (for example) Oriental... hence the name change probably.
I'm just saying, it would make sense to change it to what the actual name is.. no?
I'm just saying, it would make sense to change it to what the actual name is.. no?
I think the whole point is the fact that, a la Edward Said and postcolonialism, the 'Orientalist' department is considered to be an apparachik of colonialism, eurocentricism and as producing relations of differential power.
Good luck finding books, however; the OS Department library is shifting its stock, though it's having problems finding somewhere to store it...
chris1200
I *think* that's the most pretentious thing I've ever read (no offence...).
It was supposed to be post-colonially ironic!
chris1200
But you've proven my point. The 'Orientalist' department might be all that. But that department doesn't exist anymore.
I don't see how that's not obvious to people.... It's not hard to change the name to the new department's name.
Can't believe this is such a big thing
I don't see how that's not obvious to people.... It's not hard to change the name to the new department's name.
Can't believe this is such a big thing
It's not a big thing, as far as I'm aware; certainly, you can stay with OS, but you'll have no department, no library and no course!
heya, I do japanese 1st year at the moment 
yea, there's double the people doing Arabic but that's probably because you can combine with mml. Just to say, the course is from stratch and you might get lulled into a false sense of security when the first few lessons are 'kore' and 'sore' etc. BUT seriously, it goes so fast I suggest learning as much japanese as you can before coming up, maybe when you get the exercise book and grammar book looking at the first few lessons- essentially you'll be preparing one lesson a day 4 days a week and doing the corresponding exercise for 8 weeks.
look forward to seeing you all
yea, there's double the people doing Arabic but that's probably because you can combine with mml. Just to say, the course is from stratch and you might get lulled into a false sense of security when the first few lessons are 'kore' and 'sore' etc. BUT seriously, it goes so fast I suggest learning as much japanese as you can before coming up, maybe when you get the exercise book and grammar book looking at the first few lessons- essentially you'll be preparing one lesson a day 4 days a week and doing the corresponding exercise for 8 weeks. look forward to seeing you all
kitsunechan
heya, I do japanese 1st year at the moment yea, there's double the people doing Arabic but that's probably because you can combine with mml. Just to say, the course is from stratch and you might get lulled into a false sense of security when the first few lessons are 'kore' and 'sore' etc. BUT seriously, it goes so fast I suggest learning as much japanese as you can before coming up, maybe when you get the exercise book and grammar book looking at the first few lessons- essentially you'll be preparing one lesson a day 4 days a week and doing the corresponding exercise for 8 weeks.
look forward to seeing you all
yea, there's double the people doing Arabic but that's probably because you can combine with mml. Just to say, the course is from stratch and you might get lulled into a false sense of security when the first few lessons are 'kore' and 'sore' etc. BUT seriously, it goes so fast I suggest learning as much japanese as you can before coming up, maybe when you get the exercise book and grammar book looking at the first few lessons- essentially you'll be preparing one lesson a day 4 days a week and doing the corresponding exercise for 8 weeks. look forward to seeing you all
Random question, but what sort of level are the different lectures? I'd like to go to some next year, but I'm not sure which'd be best... I'm thinking intermediate, but don't really know. I'm about the level where I can read and understand most simple things, but stall a bit when it comes to newspapers thanks to relatively poor vocab and kanji. (500ish? not really sure)
kitsunechan
heya, I do japanese 1st year at the moment yea, there's double the people doing Arabic but that's probably because you can combine with mml. Just to say, the course is from stratch and you might get lulled into a false sense of security when the first few lessons are 'kore' and 'sore' etc. BUT seriously, it goes so fast I suggest learning as much japanese as you can before coming up, maybe when you get the exercise book and grammar book looking at the first few lessons- essentially you'll be preparing one lesson a day 4 days a week and doing the corresponding exercise for 8 weeks.
look forward to seeing you all
yea, there's double the people doing Arabic but that's probably because you can combine with mml. Just to say, the course is from stratch and you might get lulled into a false sense of security when the first few lessons are 'kore' and 'sore' etc. BUT seriously, it goes so fast I suggest learning as much japanese as you can before coming up, maybe when you get the exercise book and grammar book looking at the first few lessons- essentially you'll be preparing one lesson a day 4 days a week and doing the corresponding exercise for 8 weeks. look forward to seeing you all
Oh hi Chloe!!! I'm glad to see you came back to TSR too... As these days I spend all my time online when I'm not revising, I thouhgt I'd start posting here again (but with a new username).
Anyway, I agree, do learn as much Japanese as you can before coming up, it will make your life easier in the first term ! I found that I knew a lot of grammar, but not very in depth (I'd skimmed through several textbooks out of interest when I was in school, so I'd "heard of" a lot of grammar rules without knowing them too well), and it really really helped me, because a lot of what we did in the 2 first terms sounded familiar to me.
Also make sure you roughly know how the language works, being at home with the sentence structure and what kanji are will make everything more straightforward.
For those of you who got offers from Homerton and Corpus, you will be lucky enough to have someone doing Japanese in the year above you! As is often the case with OS, I'm the only one doing my subject in my college and I often wish it wasn't like that.
Supergrunch
Random question, but what sort of level are the different lectures? I'd like to go to some next year, but I'm not sure which'd be best... I'm thinking intermediate, but don't really know. I'm about the level where I can read and understand most simple things, but stall a bit when it comes to newspapers thanks to relatively poor vocab and kanji. (500ish? not really sure)
Sounds like 2nd year would be right for you, I'd say 500 kanji is about what we know after the first year (our "official" list has got 600+ but I'm pretty average and there's no way I know them all). If you want, I can show you the texts we read this term when I'm finished with my exams so you get a better idea.
It would be really cool to have someone "crash" some of our language lectures as they're so small (6-10 people...)... I remember when someone brought a "shadow" (from the shadowing scheme), our lecturer was like "It's fine, but I wish you'd told me before", so maybe it would be a good idea to get in touch with the lecturer beforehand (even though, and that's a shocker, the famous Mrs. Laurie will be on leave next year)
chris1200
Nooooooo! I had her for my first interview - I really liked her! (Though she was a bloody tough interviewer...)
Well done for enjoying your interview with her! She can be really funny at times, but I'm happy I didn't have her for interview, as she can be very scary. What kind of questions did she ask you, and who was the other interviewer?She's also a tough lecturer, and there's no hiding that you didn't prepare your lesson when there are only 7 students in the lecture. It's also really hard to fall asleep discreetly if you really need to... The person who will take her place next year is called Okazaki and I think it's either her or him (the first choice seems more likely, but I was sure it was a he, and Tomomi is only a girl's name, isn't it?)
Being mercilessly quizzed abouted history by Mrs. Laurie? My idea of a bad time. Not that there was any history in my PS. Well done for getting in!
Well, the year abroad in is notoriously "make your own arrangements". You'd be better off asking 2nd years about this but you have to make applications etc. by yourself, they'll just help you write the letters I think. They may advertise a certain programme or something if they think people would be interested, but there are no particular ties with universities or schools in Japan.
Workload... For the two first term, you'll be going through the textbook written by Mrs. Laurie and Pr. Bowring. This means studying a lesson and doing a set of exercises everyday 4 days a week (takes 3 hrs I'd say). Then there's a kanji test every week, I'd say about 40 new kanji per week. And a short introduction to the writing system in the first term but that's only one hour a week, no homework, pretty relaxing.
In the last term it gets more exciting and less repetitive as you translate two short stories with Pr. Kornicki and Dr. Morris. You have to translate a section for each lecture, there's one lecture about each every other day.
And essays... Well there are two history lectures per week, in all 3 terms. Those lectures are shared with the 1st year Chinese students as the paper is "an introduction to the history of east asia". It's really broad and not my favorite paper, but that's because I've always preferred languages over history. The material is very interesting but I think they're being a bit overambitious for a paper that's only 20% of your exams. And you have to write two or three essays per term.
Well, the year abroad in is notoriously "make your own arrangements". You'd be better off asking 2nd years about this but you have to make applications etc. by yourself, they'll just help you write the letters I think. They may advertise a certain programme or something if they think people would be interested, but there are no particular ties with universities or schools in Japan.
Workload... For the two first term, you'll be going through the textbook written by Mrs. Laurie and Pr. Bowring. This means studying a lesson and doing a set of exercises everyday 4 days a week (takes 3 hrs I'd say). Then there's a kanji test every week, I'd say about 40 new kanji per week. And a short introduction to the writing system in the first term but that's only one hour a week, no homework, pretty relaxing.
In the last term it gets more exciting and less repetitive as you translate two short stories with Pr. Kornicki and Dr. Morris. You have to translate a section for each lecture, there's one lecture about each every other day.
And essays... Well there are two history lectures per week, in all 3 terms. Those lectures are shared with the 1st year Chinese students as the paper is "an introduction to the history of east asia". It's really broad and not my favorite paper, but that's because I've always preferred languages over history. The material is very interesting but I think they're being a bit overambitious for a paper that's only 20% of your exams. And you have to write two or three essays per term.
chris1200
I had heard that but also saw on the website it says: "The Faculty will, however, endeavour to arrange a limited number of English-teaching jobs and other contacts in Japan" - and when I asked Mrs Laurie how likely it would be that I could get one of these (I assumed it would be popular!) she said that most students don't want to do it, so it should be fine.
But wow, thanks for all that info! Really helps a lot as there obviously aren't many to ask about exactly what work I'll be doing (should I meet my offer..).
That's a lot of kanji every week! Though... I guess for those that have done it for A level find it rather easy, no? Surely they all do rather better in the first year exams than the ab initio students... like me. [FYI, I know for you lot your first year is just a 'prelim' but in the new AMES tripos it's Part 1A]
But wow, thanks for all that info! Really helps a lot as there obviously aren't many to ask about exactly what work I'll be doing (should I meet my offer..).
That's a lot of kanji every week! Though... I guess for those that have done it for A level find it rather easy, no? Surely they all do rather better in the first year exams than the ab initio students... like me. [FYI, I know for you lot your first year is just a 'prelim' but in the new AMES tripos it's Part 1A]
You're welcome
Thanks for telling me about the english teaching jobs thing as I didn't know about it, it sounds good!And yeah, doing A-level helps as it is quite a good course, ie. more than what people who spent say, 2 months in a language school in Japan will know. I know two people who did and they're very, very good, but I think it's mostly because they love learning their kanji and largely exceeded the expectations of A level anyway.
But it seems to me there's more difference between someone who knows no Japanese at all and someone who knows a little than between someone who knows a little and someone who did A level, if that makes sense. It must be really rough to start without knowing anything about the language as you have to take in so many concepts.
I'd better get back to work now as I have my JP1 exam (trans. into japanese) this afternoon!
At the interview I asked if it would be any advantage having done the A level, I was told that it wouldn't really as they cover the A level in the first term! I don't know, maybe it's just me but I find that hard to believe, the A level's really hard! I mean, maybe the grammar would be doable, it only really goes up to the beggining stages of intermediate grammar, but 600 kanji, (basic) essays on Japanese literature and history, and 3 years work in 8 weeks? But then, it is Cambridge~
Miam!: Good luck! (in retrospect I suppose by the time you've read this)
Miam!: Good luck! (in retrospect I suppose by the time you've read this)
It's not that I've done it for the advantage though, more that I really just wanted to do the course~ But yeah, my knowledge is fairly uneven as it's mostly geared towards the exam. Like, ask me to write about Court Life in the Heian period and I could muster something passable, ask me how to count the days of a month (they're a weird, irregular form) and I wouldn't know where to start >_> So I'm hoping it'll be a more thorough going through, filling in the gaps of what I don't know/forgot, making connections I didn't realise where there and whatnot.
I'm not expecting it to be that easy, even in the first term, but if it's not too challenging, I suppose it might just be a nice pace to settle into university life and all that :3
I just hope I don't get complacent, I'm well the sort to do that >_>
I'm not expecting it to be that easy, even in the first term, but if it's not too challenging, I suppose it might just be a nice pace to settle into university life and all that :3
I just hope I don't get complacent, I'm well the sort to do that >_>
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