Japanese at Sheffield

Attended 2 eh? Eager :wink:

I didn't go to the Leeds one admittedly, I just walked around the campus like a larry, but I didn't like the course structure and modules much. Not like the Leeds department Tim ha?

Yer perhaps I may see you at Sheffield next year. Oh and Tim, I've uninstalled MSN ha so here and Facebook will be the only interaction. Never went on it anyway.

Reply 142

Aizen

OP

You abosolute slacker! You couldn't even keep MSN for me? :frown:

and yeah the Leeds department is too high up and too small!

Reply 143

Perhaps I will install it at a later date..

Well no way any sane person would do Japanese at Leeds then. Raguna - see you at Sheffield. I'm actually miffed that it's not going to be in the Arts Tower; I really wanted to ride on that paternoster thing. Document the move from buildings in your blog yer? Maybe the new place will be better.

Reply 144

franpgb

If you look at credits in modules or whatever, you go to Japan, in Leeds, with only 40 credits worth of language modules. I'm not sure exactly what it is for Sheffield off the top of my head but I know it's a lot more when you go in your 3rd year - and the partner Unis for Sheffield I think/heard are the best.

Indeed, with Sheffield you go to Japan having undertaken 80 credits where as Leeds is, as you said, only 40 credits. It struck me as very bizarre that Leeds spend the second year abroad rather than the third as all other universities offering Japanese have the year abroad occurring in the third year and even more so, the other modern language courses at Leeds also have their year abroad taking place in the third year! It seemed strange to me so I emailed the department to ask if there was any particular reason why the year abroad is in the second year. There has to be right? Going abroad in the second year is such a anomaly in regard to all other language courses. One idea I had was that perhaps the Japanese exchange universities can't accommodate both Leeds and Sheffield students the same year so a compromise had to be made, with Leeds students going one year and the Sheffield students the other year. However, this is just speculation, I will shall wait for the e-mail back to fully gauge why they decided to have the year abroad in the second year. Still, it remains a somewhat bizarre decision in my mind...

franpgb

Did you go this year? What day if you can remember..or month?

kimoso

I think you should probably try going to another Sheffield open day.

I am pretty sure I went to one in late 2007. Unfortunately I am out of the country when the next one occurs :/ I was hoping that perhaps some current students studying Japanese would come in here and comment.

Reply 145

http://www.smlc.leeds.ac.uk/eas/eas_content/year_abroad/japan.asp

Yer it's a crazy decision, and I don't think their partner universities are that great either.

Hmm I think I went in February so maybe late 2007 was one of the first ones and thus not that good. Well I know 'gaijin' goes to Sheffield and 'thefaceless' and some more, and they may comment in due course.

Otherwise, I always recommend this, look at this blog by a guy who's in the same year as 'gaijin' - type in: japanisdoomed, and he started Uni in September 2007 (so read from there) and I think the first one about Sheffield is........October 9. Yer here we go: http://www.japanisdoomed.com/page/19/ start from there and move forward.

Another guy, look up 'Tame Goes Wild' and look at his blog too - graduated from Sheffield this year and started in September 2004: http://www.tamegoeswild.com/thedailymumble/2004/10.htm go from there. Go to October 2nd (well it's at the top) for first bit about the course, then you can zoom through until you see posts about the Uni (next one is 22nd October I think skimming through)

Reply 146

frogout

4

franpgb

Yer it's a crazy decision, and I don't think their partner universities are that great either.

They don't seem THAT bad though.. :s-smilie:

Reply 147

Compared to Sheffield I mean. There's a few that are the same, but Sheffield generally do have better universities I think. Though anyone at Sheffield, feel free to correct me.

Hmm, Sheffield don't have theirs on their site. I'll go look in the booklet; here we are, Sheffield's (I don't have time to include the macrons I'm afraid):

(In Tokyo)
Chuo
Hosei
International Christian University
Keio
Meiji
Rikkyo
Seijo
Sophia
Waseda

(In Kyoto)
Kyoto National University
Doshida

(Elsewhere)
Akita
Hiroshima
Kanazawa
Kobe
Nagoya
Otaru University of Commerce
Ryuku
Yamaguchi
Yokohama National University

That lists starts off with "...inlcude", so maybe there's one or two more.
From looking at that, it seems the partner Unis are better.

Reply 148

http://www.smlc.leeds.ac.uk/eas/eas_content/year_abroad/japan.asp

franpgb

Otherwise, I always recommend this, look at this blog by a guy who's in the same year as 'gaijin' - type in: japanisdoomed, and he started Uni in September 2007 (so read from there) and I think the first one about Sheffield is........October 9

Another guy, look up 'Tame Goes Wild' and look at his blog too - graduated from Sheffield this year and started in September 2004

I already knew about JapanIsDoomed, been following it since began, but I didn't know about Tame Goes Wild. Thanks for that.

franpgb

Compared to Sheffield I mean. There's a few that are the same, but Sheffield generally do have better universities I think. Though anyone at Sheffield, feel free to correct me.

Wow yes you are very right. I just went and looked at the World Top 400 University Rankings, found all the universities listed that were located in Japan and then cross matched them with the lists of the exchange universities for both Sheffield and Leeds. A proper little afternoon project! Anyway, the results were that Sheffield got about 5 or so plus hits, where as Leeds got none........ I feel perhaps that it is a case of Oxford vs Oxford Brookes as Sheffield offers Kobe University which ranks 197th, where as Leeds offer Kobe Gakuin University which did not make the list. I get the feeling that even for the other Sheffield universities that did not make the top 400 list, Sheffield probably has links with superior Japanese universities. So y'all going to Sheffield can all feel better about yourself. : )

Reply 149

gaijin

1

Raguna

So! Any comments or words of advice or lessons you have learnt from your experience that you can lend me? I would very much appreciate it as the university one goes to is an important decision to make. Thanks.

Odd. I thought my first experiences of Sheffield were mainly positive. I'm sorry your experiences weren't the same as mine. But everyone is different I guess.

Don't discount Leeds, it does have a decent east Asian studies department as is often twinned with Sheffield when it comes to academic stuff. The problem with Leeds is that unless you are supremely confident about your Japanese you will end up going to Japan in year II and studying your arse off on the advanced course. I knew someone who enrolled on this and they never saw daylight for ages. Not a great way to visit Japan tbh. I often think, you will get a lot done for you - because you're Japanese is not that great after maybe only one year of tuition.

I know for a fact if I were to go to Japan now, I would just be confident enough in my Japanese - I don't think the same could be said for some of my classmates.

But it this way, I don't think bundling you off to Japan in Year II will help your confidence. Its very much a make or break deal for some people. And depending on your personality you might get nothing out of it. I think at Sheffield we at least coax people into two years of ~~hell~~ study just to get them up to a standard where they feel confident enough to survive on a basic level.

But seeing as you are off to Tokyo for 10 months it may be a rather moot point given the circumstances. If there is anyway we can improve the open day please suggest it and I'll kindly pass on the info to the relevant people. We obviously want people to have a good impression of the uni and the course and look for ways of improving that.

Reply 150

gaijin

1

franpgb

Another guy, look up 'Tame Goes Wild' and look at his blog too - graduated from Sheffield this year and started in September 2004: http://www.tamegoeswild.com/thedailymumble/2004/10.htm go from there. Go to October 2nd (well it's at the top) for first bit about the course, then you can zoom through until you see posts about the Uni (next one is 22nd October I think skimming through)

Ah yeah, Joseph. Really nice guy... Always interesting speaking to him. I think he's just got married actually.

kimoso

They don't seem THAT bad though.. :s-smilie:

The one's in Tokyo aren't great tbh. Sheffield has partnerships with Keio, Waseda, Doshisha, Meidai and Kyoudai (which is like the Oxford of Japan.) Plus we have links with the big national unis in Yokohama, Kobe and Hiroshima.

Reply 151

gaijin

1

Raguna

Indeed, with Sheffield you go to Japan having undertaken 80 credits where as Leeds is, as you said, only 40 credits. It struck me as very bizarre that Leeds spend the second year abroad rather than the third as all other universities offering Japanese have the year abroad occurring in the third year and even more so, the other modern language courses at Leeds also have their year abroad taking place in the third year! It seemed strange to me so I emailed the department to ask if there was any particular reason why the year abroad is in the second year. There has to be right? Going abroad in the second year is such a anomaly in regard to all other language courses. One idea I had was that perhaps the Japanese exchange universities can't accommodate both Leeds and Sheffield students the same year so a compromise had to be made, with Leeds students going one year and the Sheffield students the other year. However, this is just speculation, I will shall wait for the e-mail back to fully gauge why they decided to have the year abroad in the second year. Still, it remains a somewhat bizarre decision in my mind...

And students studying Chinese or Korean iin Sheffield go to China/Korea in year II. LOL! However they only go to one university (Yonsei, Nanjing) and its purely learning language on an intensive class. As much as I love my classmates, I would go insane if I had to be at the same uni as all of them.

Another reason why its not feasible to do your YA in year two, is that unless you are very good at Japanese you won't get many chances to enrol in non-language classes, which is available at some unis (Meiji and Rikkyo spring to mind.)

I am pretty sure I went to one in late 2007. Unfortunately I am out of the country when the next one occurs :/ I was hoping that perhaps some current students studying Japanese would come in here and comment.

dats me...

Reply 152

Frogsofhope

2

Not had time to read all the thread but want to say one thing

Do NOT do Japanese at Leeds ANYONE, unless you want to spend half your time doing modules (electives) nothing to do with Japanese,literally i did astronomy and philosophy ones, having exams they haven't prepared you for 3times a week, and generally being given a textbook and told to "go away and learn it".

How i wish i had gone to sheffield now.

Reply 153

frogout

4

princessmarisa

Not had time to read all the thread but want to say one thing

Do NOT do Japanese at Leeds ANYONE, unless you want to spend half your time doing modules (electives) nothing to do with Japanese,literally i did astronomy and philosophy ones, having exams they haven't prepared you for 3times a week, and generally being given a textbook and told to "go away and learn it".

How i wish i had gone to sheffield now.

Is it really that bad? I was thinking of applying there for Japanese and Economics

Reply 154

kimoso

Is it really that bad? I was thinking of applying there for Japanese and Economics

I would only worry if you are doing sole Japanese. Since you are doing a joint honours any of the "filler" content will be replaced by your Economics module. I was concerned initially about doing a joint honours (Politics & Japanese) as I feared my language lessons would suffer, but instead modules in Japanese cinema/literature/history and you will will be cut which I am totally fine with. Furthermore, you probably will only have a single, if any, elective modules, although I have never really seen the point or even understood elective modules. I go to university to study the subjects I want to do, so why would I want to be doing modules in other subjects? I want to focus on my degree subjects, hence why I chose to study it at university!

Anyway, concerning Leeds my main concern is with the quality of the teaching and the strength of the department. Any insights or general comments about Japanese at Leeds princessmarisa?

Reply 155

Yer does seem partner Unis are better.

As gaijin says though, no need to write off Leeds completely, but he does make valid points about Sheffield. And Joseph seems a lovely guy - glad he's married and he's off to Tokyo soon!

Interested to hear about your Leeds' experience though princessmarisa. Do you think it was just you who felt this way?

And single honours Japanese all the way :five:

Reply 156

It struck me as very bizarre that Leeds spend the second year abroad rather than the third as all other universities offering Japanese have the year abroad occurring in the third year and even more so, the other modern language courses at Leeds also have their year abroad taking place in the third year! It seemed strange to me so I emailed the department to ask if there was any particular reason why the year abroad is in the second year.

For any lurkers or anyone else in the future who may wonder a similar thing, I got this response to my e-mail.

"The main reason for having the year abroad in the second year, rather than third year is that most students learn Japanese from scratch or have limited prior knowledge when they arrive in the first year. The first-year Japanese language modules provide an intensive and comprehensive introduction to the basics of Japanese language. We feel that proceeding to the year abroad in the second year allows students to make more rapid and constructive progress than they would by delaying the year abroad until the third year. On return to Leeds after the year abroad, Japanese language instruction continues with native Japanese speakers, but at a much more advanced level than in the first year."

Reply 157

Hmmm thanks for the information but I think it's better to go in the third year still :biggrin:

You go with 40 modules! Can't be that intensive and princessmarisa said:

princessmarisa

[...]having exams they haven't prepared you for 3times a week, and generally being given a textbook and told to "go away and learn it".

Is anyone going to any of the Sheffield Open Days? I may go to another one to see the city again (as I won't again until Uni in a year) and to see people who I may be joining in 2009. Though I don't judge solely on appearence!

Reply 158

frogout

4

Hahah I might go to another one.
I rememebr at the last sheffield open day the bunch of people interested in east asian studies were quite possibly the nerdiest looking bunch of people I have ever seen in my life :smile:

Reply 159