Japanese at Sheffield

Yup it's super small. 5000 in total. Sheffield's 20000 in total. Even St. Andrews, York and Exeter and way bigger.

Reply 442

Raguna

franpgb

Yup it's super small. 5000 in total. Sheffield's 20000 in total. Even St. Andrews, York and Exeter and way bigger.

It works both ways though. Sometimes smaller can be better (lol) as it lends towards a closer, tight-knit community. Furthermore, SOAS is right in London so you will never be short of people. Perhaps because I grew up in a small rural village, but I love city life. London sure ain't no Tokyo, but it is always cool to be in the capital city of the country you are in.

EDIT: Oh wow, look at me, I'm now a Junior Member, although that's nothing compared to the post counts of some of you others in this thread. All my posts only come from this thread or the one about Japanese at Leeds.

Reply 443

thefaceless

gaijin

Well I'm off to Setagaya next summer to study at Seijo daigaku.

Lot of positives and negatives about me studying there... Hopefully if I don't feck my exams up I'll see you in my fourth year you little babies you...

http://www.seijo.ac.jp/
Here? Looks okay from that site though no idea what the surrounding area is like. I wanted to avoid Tokyo at all costs really considering both living costs and the fact I hate huge built up cities.

Meanwhile life in Okayama is going swimmingly. Just enough shops to keep me happy, but the area itself is also quite nice. It also feels pretty safe to go out riding (yes, riding. Not something you can really do in Sheffield, lol) of a night, which living in Liverpool is something I haven't felt... well, since I was an innocent child really. The only real disadvantages are the classes are boring and it's very out of the way so going most anywhere else in Japan takes a while (via local trains) or costs a bundle (via shinkansen). Ah well, it's not enough to stop me loving my time here.

Reply 444

thefaceless

http://www.seijo.ac.jp/
Here? Looks okay from that site though no idea what the surrounding area is like. I wanted to avoid Tokyo at all costs really considering both living costs and the fact I hate huge built up cities.

Well a few things to note about that. Its in Setagaya which is mainly residential and rather nice. There are places like Kinuta Park, which hardly look like Tokyo at all, but it is! The university is tiny and the its about 15 to 20 minutes to Shinjuku. The cost in Tokyo is expensive but no different to the UK...

I think for me, the living costs outweigh certain other factors. I mean my monthly rent will subsidised to about £150 to £180, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than Sheffield!

Reply 445

Catacle

Wow! There is so much information in this thread. It's been really helpful.

I just got a conditional (ABB) offer for Management and Japanese. Do you know if they arrange open days for you once you've got an offer. I haven't actually been up there yet and there isn't another open day until June. Despite that though, I think Sheffield will be my 1st choice.

There is normally an academic meeting for Japanese and East Asian Studies around February iirc. Its really weird looking back when I went to the one in 2007 seeing some of then 2nd years telling me how good Sheffield was wiht cheery smiley faces and now seeing them in the fourth year all bleary eyed and pale.

Reply 446

Raguna

It works both ways though. Sometimes smaller can be better (lol) as it lends towards a closer, tight-knit community. Furthermore, SOAS is right in London so you will never be short of people. Perhaps because I grew up in a small rural village, but I love city life. London sure ain't no Tokyo, but it is always cool to be in the capital city of the country you are in.

EDIT: Oh wow, look at me, I'm now a Junior Member, although that's nothing compared to the post counts of some of you others in this thread. All my posts only come from this thread or the one about Japanese at Leeds.

That's true about the community - it's nice. With London I suppose it's personal taste really; there are a lot of people in London, but it's not exactly 'student-friendly' as such as there's so many people and it's pretty expensive compared with other cities/towns. It is pretty cool to go there but no money, not really 'student friendly' and too small a Uni.

How's it in Tokyo? Staying there for a long time or coming to Uni next September? Hang on, I remember you saying you were going to go to Leeds originally and then you weren't sure..can't quite remember. Does that mean you'd have to start the application process all over again? So technically apply now type thing.

Reply 447

Raguna

franpgb

Hang on, I remember you saying you were going to go to Leeds originally and then you weren't sure..can't quite remember. Does that mean you'd have to start the application process all over again? So technically apply now type thing.

/sigh/ Yup. I was dumb. Originally applied to both Sheffield and Leeds. Got offers from both. Put Leeds as my firm choice for a number of stupid and superficial reasons. I got my A-Levels, which were above the requirements for both Leeds (BBB) and Sheffield (ABB). Now, months later with my objective hat on I can see how much better and suitable the course and university of Sheffield is for me. Even though Sheffield offered me a place, and I got above the grades needed, because I was so foolish to put them as my insurance I've got to go through UCAS again. I might take a shot at e-mailing them and applying directly, but I do not have much hope for this method. I am pretty sure establishments like to do things by the books and through UCAS.

At the moment I'm writing an e-mail to cancel my place at Leeds. Then I will make some adjustments to my personal statement, amending details like "What I will do next year in Japan" to "What I am doing now in Japan."

Before I send off this cancelletion letter though, I am just giving Leeds another check over. I am very very very surprised at how light-weight the Japanese course at Leeds is.

For example, semester 1 Japanese at Leeds, "At the outset of the module, students will be taught the two Japanese syllabifies (hiragana and katakana) and will subsequently be introduced to approximately 70 kanji characters."

Where as semester 1 Japanese at Sheffield, "The Japanese syllabaries (hiragana and katakana are mastered, as well as over 200 kanji (Sino-Japanese) characters."

By the end of semester 2 Japanese at Sheffield you have been taught "several hundred" more kanji where as by Leeds you are only expected to have learnt 250.

However, I think this is more to do with the division of credits rather than the actual work ethic. At Sheffield, 80 credits goes to language learning where as Leeds devotes only 40. This seems opposite to what I thought it would be, seeing as Leeds has their second year abroad as opposed to Sheffield and the third year.

Reply 448

Raguna

At the moment I'm writing an e-mail to cancel my place at Leeds. Then I will make some adjustments to my personal statement, amending details like "What I will do next year in Japan" to "What I am doing now in Japan."

Before I send off this cancelletion letter though, I am just giving Leeds another check over. I am very very very surprised at how light-weight the Japanese course at Leeds is.

For example, semester 1 Japanese at Leeds, "At the outset of the module, students will be taught the two Japanese syllabifies (hiragana and katakana) and will subsequently be introduced to approximately 70 kanji characters."

Where as semester 1 Japanese at Sheffield, "The Japanese syllabaries (hiragana and katakana are mastered, as well as over 200 kanji (Sino-Japanese) characters."

By the end of semester 2 Japanese at Sheffield you have been taught "several hundred" more kanji where as by Leeds you are only expected to have learnt 250.

70?!? That's like my Christmas homework, let alone a semesters work! Actually in year 1 you only tackle kanji from week 3, so in effect you learn 70 kanji in about 3 weeks.

I should be nearing something like 750 or so now. But the thing is we read texts with lots of extra kanji in them, so I can probably read up to about 1000 to 1,200. It seems like at Leeds they do all the leg work in the first semester, whereas in Sheff (SOAS and Manc as well) you have to be able to read and write kana before you start the course.

Actually iirc, Leeds do pick up the pace in the third year after Japan. But the thing is, we are expected to know all the jouyou kanji after our YA (so something like 2,200 kanji in total.) I'm not sure if you have to do this at Leeds or not. It would seem royally retarded to learn something like 1,800 odd kanji in your YA.

Meccha hen da yo...

Reply 449

randomjak

franpgb

You need to push them Jack or they'll just take their time. Honest. I rammed it down their throats - whatever needs to get done to get them to send it. Bloody inadequate staff eh?

Setagaya? Where's that? Yes when I start in my 1st year, you'll be away so I'll see you when I'm in my 2nd I think? Yer that's right.

hahaaaa
ok will do :wink:

Reply 450

randomjak

it got processed today :smile:

offers now pleaseee.

Reply 451

Keiron

randomjak

it got processed today :smile:

offers now pleaseee.

^^^Good luck, fingers crossed

Anybody in here going to Japan over summer 09? ...Kansai area by any chance?

..Yeah I picked Sheffield as #1 choice in the end. I 'm not that keen on SOAS after having a think back to the open day. The novelty of living in Central London would soon wear off and during the open day the tutors who did the talks were abit... hsssshyeh :colonhash:

See you there franpgb and Kim..spell my name right though Kim. :biggrin:

Reply 452

thefaceless

Meanwhile life in Okayama is going swimmingly. Just enough shops to keep me happy, but the area itself is also quite nice. It also feels pretty safe to go out riding (yes, riding. Not something you can really do in Sheffield, lol) of a night, which living in Liverpool is something I haven't felt... well, since I was an innocent child really. The only real disadvantages are the classes are boring and it's very out of the way so going most anywhere else in Japan takes a while (via local trains) or costs a bundle (via shinkansen). Ah well, it's not enough to stop me loving my time here.

Actually mate, just being a complete and utter nosey bastard, but according to the little sheet of contacts we have been sent it looks like a lot of you guys went outside of Tokyo. Its also amusing comparing our sheet with the placements on it to yours. 41 compared to 24? Lol. Also you lot can't have got good grades because we have one going to Keio... :p:

Actually if you get the best grades in the year you tend to go to either Keio or Kyoto.

Why was no-one sent to Chuo or ICU last year? Was it purely the I don't want to go to Tokyo thing? Its weird if you compare it to the current fourth year, who nearly all went to to Tokyo. The thing is, I think they have worked out some agreement with Chuo to have some programme in place for dual management students and Japanese, also they seem to be sending the dual modern language students to Rikkyo as well. :mad:

Basically there is only one guy going to Okayama this year - he's called Ben. So if you get a random e-mail from him I wouldn't panic.

This year because of the Doushisha thing, I think its 2/3 outside of Tokyo.

Reply 453

randomjak

it got processed today :smile:

offers now pleaseee.

At last eh. Keep us updated and good luck.

Keiron

^^^Good luck, fingers crossed

Anybody in here going to Japan over summer 09? ...Kansai area by any chance?

..Yeah I picked Sheffield as #1 choice in the end. I 'm not that keen on SOAS after having a think back to the open day. The novelty of living in Central London would soon wear off and during the open day the tutors who did the talks were abit... hsssshyeh :colonhash:

See you there franpgb and Kim..spell my name right though Kim. :biggrin:

Call me Fran :smile:

Good to hear then, see you there! Got told Kim eh.

And define summer please. I am there in 2009 but depends what you mean by summer (so months/dates would be useful ha). I'm in Kansai late August I think.

Reply 454

frogout

4

Nah, call her franpgb.

Okay Keiron. Is that your real name? How do you pronounce it? :colone:

Reply 455