Personal Statement:Linguistics with Japanese 1

Language is an undeniable force; it surrounds us, it moves us, it passes information from generation to generation and without language human civilisation would stop in its tracks. However, what interests me more than anything about language is that it can personify who you are and the society you live in, and so by learning a language you are exposed to different viewpoints, which therefore exposes you to new ways of thinking and challenges you to adapt to different ideas. However, the Japanese language and society have always interested me in particular. One of the reasons for this is that modernity and tradition live side by side in Japan, as exampled by a Japanese woman I talked to on Skype. She believed in Shinto, the native Japanese religion which states that kami of living and non living beings live side by side by humans. This surprised and interested me because it was completely different to what I had learnt about other religions at school. However, it turns out that many different traditional practices are common in Japan, for example the festival Shichi-Go-San and sets of traditional social practices (such as bowing). I hope that by learning the language, I will be able to learn more about practices such as these and continue to challenge the social norms that I have learnt by living in the UK, and in doing so learn about Japan's. This will also help me to understand some of the cultural references in anime and manga that I take an interest in as a hobby.

Despite the differences between Japan and the UK, there are also similarities that also interest me because I did not even know they existed, and never knew that they would have existed before reading about them. This brings a sense of familiarity about the Japanese people, when all too often people emphasise the differences between the Japanese and the rest of the world. One example of this is the fact that immigrants of Indian origin live in Japan due to the up rise of the car industry in Japan, when people transferred there for work. This lead to the promotion of Indian culture in Japan and lead to the opening of Indian restaurants which is similar to what happened in the UK after World War Two.

Linguistics also seems a natural pairing to Japanese, especially seen as it can help me more fully understand their language and social customs and therefore enhance my Japanese learning. An example I found of this is that salarymen in Japan are often paid to go to hostess clubs by their companies (as reported by Allison, 1994). This allows them to talk informally about the hostesses and therefore open up to one another in a non hierarchical environment, which would just not be present in the workplace. This also reinforces their sense of being in a group by adhering to heteronormity, as within the clubs they are dominant over the women (although this is not to say that is the everyday practice of Japanese men). This helped me understand how the society of the workplace in Japan is different to ours and how this affects language. It also helped me understand that society is important in determining ways in which language is used, and so I would like to take this further at university. More generally, linguistics would also challenge me answer questions which have no straight forward answer such as; 'Is there a gay language?' or 'Does language influence the way we think, or does the way we think influence our language?'. Ambiguous questions like these were explored in my psychology classes and I enjoyed them because they helped me develop skills of critical argument, and dismiss that common explanations of behaviour should be accepted.

Overall, by completing a degree in Japanese and linguistics I hope to be in a position where I have challenged my own views on the world. I also hope to have developed language skills that I can then use for the benefit of other people, such as in a teaching career.

 

Universities Applied to:

  • University of Newcastle (Linguistics with Japanese) - Offer (ABC or BBB) Firm
  • University of Manchester (Japanese Studies) - Offer (ABB) Rejected offer
  • University of Leeds (Japanese and Linguistics) - Rejection
  • University of Sheffield (Japanese Studies) - Rejection

 

Grades Achieved:

  • Geography (A2): A
  • Biology (A2): B
  • Psychology (A2): B
  • Extended Project (AS): B
  • Chemistry (AS): C

Comments

Originally when I started college I had my eyes set on a medical career, however after getting a bad grade in A-level Chemistry and a bit of research I decided I wanted to take Japanese with Linguistics as I had been interested in Japan since Y9, and Linguistics seemed to be an 'open subject', (in that it has no specific career attached to it) that would tie to a language nicely. I never thought my statement was perfect, though I think it communicated the interest I showed in Japanese as best as I could without having studied the subject before. I feel as though I was under prepared to write about Linguistics. If you're going to take a degree subject which isn't taught at A-level, I would advise that you read extensively around the subject, and then use this knowledge somewhere in your statement.

In my A2 year I also took an intensive 1 year course in GCSE Spanish (achieved grade A). I took this as Manchester requested I get a B in a modern foreign language GCSE as an entry requirement, and I didn't take a language GCSE before A-levels.

I only chose 4 universities as these were in close proximity to where I lived, and there are a limited number of universities which offer Japanese. If this is the case for you, I would recommend that you choose 2 courses at your favourite university which offers your language, putting the one with the highest grades as firm, and the second highest as insurance (if this is even possible).

 

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