First Year Italian and Japanese at the University of Leeds
hi!
I really liked umbrellala's threads on Korean at SOAS, and I thought it would also be nice to share my experience of a foreign languages degree.
I want to show insight into studying joint honours languages that are completely different. This is also a 5 year degree with 2 years abroad (in 2nd and 4th year)
I'll start with talking about the application process and freshers, and then I'll continue the thread to talk about my experiences of lectures, homework, tests, exams, and answer any questions if anyone has them.
_____
Application Process
I applied to 5 universities for 2021 entry which were:
University of St Andrews (Unconditional)
University of Kent (Unconditional)
University of Glasgow (Unconditional)
University of Edinburgh (Withdrawn)
University of Leeds (Conditional)
All Italian and German, except Edinburgh - Italian and Politics (and later Leeds became Italian and Japanese obviously)
My conditional offer was for an A at advanced higher or a B at higher (don't ask why, I know it makes no sense lolol). I received AA at higher this year and A at advanced higher (I also had 5 previous As at higher)
My application was originally for Italian and German under a 4 year BA Modern languages degree, however I later found out I needed a higher/a-level in German and UOL emailed me and allowed me to change my application. They asked me to submit a short statement on why I wanted to study Japanese and then 2 days later I got my offer.
My main personal statement was mostly about my passion for learning languages and their importance in my life. I mentioned self studying higher Italian and achieving an A, as well as my interest in Italian culture. I also mentioned an interest in Politics and Journalism.
When I applied, I originally only applied to Leeds (and Kent) because I wanted to fill my last two spaces. I was pretty much set on Glasgow for Italian and German. When I got my offer from Leeds after only ten days since applying, I began to research more into the course (especially since I had to change my application course). I learned that I much preferred the course outline and modules available in Italian and Japanese. The degree is very focused on learning the language, but I think the East Asian Studies modules are very interesting.
I firmed my offer on the first of May (after withdrawing from Edinburgh, lol).
It was accepted on August 10th when I got my results and my offer became unconditional.
_____
If you have any questions on the application process, my personal statement, etc. please feel free to ask and I'll try to give the best advice/answer possible!
I really liked umbrellala's threads on Korean at SOAS, and I thought it would also be nice to share my experience of a foreign languages degree.
I want to show insight into studying joint honours languages that are completely different. This is also a 5 year degree with 2 years abroad (in 2nd and 4th year)
I'll start with talking about the application process and freshers, and then I'll continue the thread to talk about my experiences of lectures, homework, tests, exams, and answer any questions if anyone has them.
_____
Application Process
I applied to 5 universities for 2021 entry which were:
University of St Andrews (Unconditional)
University of Kent (Unconditional)
University of Glasgow (Unconditional)
University of Edinburgh (Withdrawn)
University of Leeds (Conditional)
All Italian and German, except Edinburgh - Italian and Politics (and later Leeds became Italian and Japanese obviously)
My conditional offer was for an A at advanced higher or a B at higher (don't ask why, I know it makes no sense lolol). I received AA at higher this year and A at advanced higher (I also had 5 previous As at higher)
My application was originally for Italian and German under a 4 year BA Modern languages degree, however I later found out I needed a higher/a-level in German and UOL emailed me and allowed me to change my application. They asked me to submit a short statement on why I wanted to study Japanese and then 2 days later I got my offer.
My main personal statement was mostly about my passion for learning languages and their importance in my life. I mentioned self studying higher Italian and achieving an A, as well as my interest in Italian culture. I also mentioned an interest in Politics and Journalism.
When I applied, I originally only applied to Leeds (and Kent) because I wanted to fill my last two spaces. I was pretty much set on Glasgow for Italian and German. When I got my offer from Leeds after only ten days since applying, I began to research more into the course (especially since I had to change my application course). I learned that I much preferred the course outline and modules available in Italian and Japanese. The degree is very focused on learning the language, but I think the East Asian Studies modules are very interesting.
I firmed my offer on the first of May (after withdrawing from Edinburgh, lol).
It was accepted on August 10th when I got my results and my offer became unconditional.
_____
If you have any questions on the application process, my personal statement, etc. please feel free to ask and I'll try to give the best advice/answer possible!
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 1
7
Arriving in Leeds + Freshers Week!
I arrived in Leeds on Monday the 13th after a very long car journey that was not fun at all, lol. We left at 3.30am and didn't arrive until 11am (had some charging the electric vehicle problems haha).
My accommodation was fairly quiet when we moved in, as move in only opened the previous Saturday (11th) so not many people were there. Only one of my 5 flatmates was moved in at the time. After the super long car ride, I crashed right away. Literally, all I did was make my bed up and go to sleep. After a little nap, I called my mum and asked her if she wanted to go out for dinner. We went to a really nice Thai place and then got a little shopping on the way home for some necessities like toilet roll and cleaning products. I won't go too much into the accommodation but if you have questions feel free to ask.
The next day I went to trinity shopping centre to buy my new MacBook with my mum, and we were only browsing in another shop when my flatmate messaged me to tell me she had tested positive for covid-19. ): I was a bit distraught- we got some food shopping and left quickly. I stayed in the rest of the day (was waiting on reception delivering lateral flow tests) but I was really upset that I didn't get time to spend with my mum.
On Wednesday I tested negative for covid-19, luckily, and was able to see my mum before she left on Thursday morning.
At the weekend I visited kitty cafe with some of my course mates. 11/10- I love cats (although it did make me miss my 3 kitties at home a little). I was lucky to meet many of my Japanese coursemates online before arriving at university, although I only knew one other girl doing Italian (although she is also doing Japanese too, so we're pretty close since we're on the same course. We also originally started talking in May so we had been chatting for a while before arriving at uni).
____
Fresher's week generally wasn't that exciting for me, because I'm not particularly into clubbing or partying so I didn't go to any of those events. I did have a really good time though. During fresher's I had inductions for my courses and met the lecturers (all the inductions were online, mind you) but it also gave us the chance to meet more course mates and add them to the group chats for both Italian language and Japanese.
My flatmates finally moved in and they were (and still are) really nice. We get along quite well, but I'm probably closest with the 'original' flatmate (the one who caught covid-19 lol- dw, she's all good now!)
I went to the societies fair with my course mates one day and joined the Japanese society. Others appealed to me, but my course is very intense and I don't want to put too much on my plate. Socialising can sometimes be exhausting too and I do like nights in, chilling and watching TV or gaming (although I haven't done that much gaming- I've been so busy!)
By the end of Freshers I had all of my semester 1 Japanese textbooks £109, sob. (Yes, I know I could buy them secondhand on eBay, steal the pdf online for free, or use perlego, etc etc. but I like having my own lol). but even though I ordered my Italian textbook, it still hadn't come. (and still hasn't! how annoying. it's been 2 weeks now...)
I also think I've made a pretty solid friend group. Whilst I've had a little homesickness, I've also been really enjoying my time here.
____
I will update you all on my first week of lectures (week 1, 27/09) tomorrow night (: I hope you enjoy!
I arrived in Leeds on Monday the 13th after a very long car journey that was not fun at all, lol. We left at 3.30am and didn't arrive until 11am (had some charging the electric vehicle problems haha).
My accommodation was fairly quiet when we moved in, as move in only opened the previous Saturday (11th) so not many people were there. Only one of my 5 flatmates was moved in at the time. After the super long car ride, I crashed right away. Literally, all I did was make my bed up and go to sleep. After a little nap, I called my mum and asked her if she wanted to go out for dinner. We went to a really nice Thai place and then got a little shopping on the way home for some necessities like toilet roll and cleaning products. I won't go too much into the accommodation but if you have questions feel free to ask.
The next day I went to trinity shopping centre to buy my new MacBook with my mum, and we were only browsing in another shop when my flatmate messaged me to tell me she had tested positive for covid-19. ): I was a bit distraught- we got some food shopping and left quickly. I stayed in the rest of the day (was waiting on reception delivering lateral flow tests) but I was really upset that I didn't get time to spend with my mum.
On Wednesday I tested negative for covid-19, luckily, and was able to see my mum before she left on Thursday morning.
At the weekend I visited kitty cafe with some of my course mates. 11/10- I love cats (although it did make me miss my 3 kitties at home a little). I was lucky to meet many of my Japanese coursemates online before arriving at university, although I only knew one other girl doing Italian (although she is also doing Japanese too, so we're pretty close since we're on the same course. We also originally started talking in May so we had been chatting for a while before arriving at uni).
____
Fresher's week generally wasn't that exciting for me, because I'm not particularly into clubbing or partying so I didn't go to any of those events. I did have a really good time though. During fresher's I had inductions for my courses and met the lecturers (all the inductions were online, mind you) but it also gave us the chance to meet more course mates and add them to the group chats for both Italian language and Japanese.
My flatmates finally moved in and they were (and still are) really nice. We get along quite well, but I'm probably closest with the 'original' flatmate (the one who caught covid-19 lol- dw, she's all good now!)
I went to the societies fair with my course mates one day and joined the Japanese society. Others appealed to me, but my course is very intense and I don't want to put too much on my plate. Socialising can sometimes be exhausting too and I do like nights in, chilling and watching TV or gaming (although I haven't done that much gaming- I've been so busy!)
By the end of Freshers I had all of my semester 1 Japanese textbooks £109, sob. (Yes, I know I could buy them secondhand on eBay, steal the pdf online for free, or use perlego, etc etc. but I like having my own lol). but even though I ordered my Italian textbook, it still hadn't come. (and still hasn't! how annoying. it's been 2 weeks now...)
I also think I've made a pretty solid friend group. Whilst I've had a little homesickness, I've also been really enjoying my time here.
____
I will update you all on my first week of lectures (week 1, 27/09) tomorrow night (: I hope you enjoy!
Reply 2
7
First Week of Lectures!
My first week of lectures began on Monday. I was super busy, with 4 back-to-back classes which was a little exhausting for the first day, especially when I was still figuring out campus. Leeds has a massive campus! it's a little overwhelming at times...
My first classes were mostly just introductions to what we'd be doing, and a light start on introducing ourselves in both languages.
I thought I'd split this entry into Japanese and Italian, rather than dates so both could be more focused.
I will be studying 6 modules this year that make 120 credits.
Japanese 1
Japanese 2
Foundations of East Asia
Italian 1
Italian 2
Exploring Italy (Culture module)
I have Japanese 9 times a week, Italian 5, FoEA 1-2 times, and Exploring Italy 1-2 times a week as well. So overall I have 17 hours of classes a week, which is 34 hours of work to do outside of classes. Languages are not for the faint of heart, I guess! Wednesdays are my favourite day, because I only have one class from 9-10 and then im freeeee the whole day, heh.
____
Italian
Italian hasn't been super interesting for me so far, because I can't take it in advanced classes because of my degree combination, but I have already studied Italian. All we managed to go over this week was introductions, pronunciations, and the verb essere. which obviously I know all of those things. my textbook also still hasn't arrived so I haven't been able to do the homework, although this is the same for others unfortunately.
both lecturers I have are really nice, however. I have 4 contact hours of Italian per week, plus a 5th in the form of a booster session. I wasn't able to connect much with my Italian course mates online, so we're not really close. the girl I know doing Japanese and Italian isn't in any of my classes except one, which is a little bit of a bummer, but we've met another girl doing the same who's in more classes with me so I feel less stressed.
For Italian culture module we did some pre-reading in introduction week. I hated it tbh, we read this guy called Dickie and I hate his writing style. I liked the topic, just not the writing style and the way he spoke about it in the texts. however, we're moving onto literature next which will hopefully be better aha.. the literature is not fully my thing, but I have read Dante in the past and we cover that so I'm happy to read it. this week we had a lecture and a seminar for exploring Italy, but the seminars are only every fortnight.
so far none of the Italian is online but apparently they're considering putting some of our Italian lectures online because 'the exams will be online so you'll have to get used to the programmes' which I think is lazy and utter ********.
____
Japanese is a whole different ball game to Italian, obviously. Every week we have 9 contact hours for Japanese. 7 are in person, and 2 are online because Lacey-sensei is high risk (or his family is, im not completely sure). The online lectures aren't too bad and at least that's a valid reason for them to be online.
We have 5 sensei for Japanese. Morimoto sensei, Ward sensei, Takewa sensei, Oeda sensei, and Lacey sensei. Kolly sensei is also in our grammar/kanji class with Ward sensei on a Monday. All of them are really nice and helpful when we have any questions or concerns.
Some of our classes were introductions to the classes and the textbooks, before we started revising hiragana and katakana. by this week (week 2) we are expected to be pretty secure in kana before moving onto kanji. my hiragana and katakana are quite good, if I do say so myself. I get tripped up sometimes, especially with dakuon, but overall I think I am pretty stable in them and my handwriting is good (:
in the initial classes we did hiragana and katakana check. my favourite part was when Morimoto-sensei showed us his katakana cards to help us remember the symbols better. I initially thought they wouldn't be that helpful for me, but now I will never forget ナ 'na' as 'knife' (na-f) and メ 'me' as 'melting knife' :')
we also learned basic greetings and classroom sayings like hajimemashite (I would type them all in kana but im on my laptop and I cba pasting them haha), doomo arigatoo gozaimasu, and sumimasen. and some others, but those are my favourite haha (especially sumimasen, the hiragana is really recognisable for me).
Japanese is pretty intense. Every week we will have kanji homework (starting week 3 luckily!) and a vocabulary test. Each week we must learn 3 lessons worth of vocabulary, which is around 100+ words. this week it was 113 I think.
3 of my course mates and myself set about to study them on Friday. It took me about 6 hours to write them all out (for all 3 lessons) but I am an awful perfectionist. It did help me remember them well though, so it only took me another 3 hours to memorise them all on quizlet. I completed my test a couple hours ago. the vocabulary tests aren't that hard, they are 20 multiple choice questions to be answered in 10 minutes. I completed it In 5, and checked over it to make sure I was secure with my answers. I feel very good about it, but I can't believe 9 hours of work went into a 5 minute test, lol.
I don't have that much to say about my foundations of east Asia module, as we only had one online lecture for it last week. it seems like it will be very interesting, and I can't wait to get started on it! I love the mix of culture, religion, and history in this module. I have a lecture and a seminar next week, so I will update you all on what they're like.
____
I am now going to do some Italian reading for my culture lecture tomorrow. But if you have any questions about lectures, please feel free to ask!
My first week of lectures began on Monday. I was super busy, with 4 back-to-back classes which was a little exhausting for the first day, especially when I was still figuring out campus. Leeds has a massive campus! it's a little overwhelming at times...
My first classes were mostly just introductions to what we'd be doing, and a light start on introducing ourselves in both languages.
I thought I'd split this entry into Japanese and Italian, rather than dates so both could be more focused.
I will be studying 6 modules this year that make 120 credits.
Japanese 1
Japanese 2
Foundations of East Asia
Italian 1
Italian 2
Exploring Italy (Culture module)
I have Japanese 9 times a week, Italian 5, FoEA 1-2 times, and Exploring Italy 1-2 times a week as well. So overall I have 17 hours of classes a week, which is 34 hours of work to do outside of classes. Languages are not for the faint of heart, I guess! Wednesdays are my favourite day, because I only have one class from 9-10 and then im freeeee the whole day, heh.
____
Italian
Italian hasn't been super interesting for me so far, because I can't take it in advanced classes because of my degree combination, but I have already studied Italian. All we managed to go over this week was introductions, pronunciations, and the verb essere. which obviously I know all of those things. my textbook also still hasn't arrived so I haven't been able to do the homework, although this is the same for others unfortunately.
both lecturers I have are really nice, however. I have 4 contact hours of Italian per week, plus a 5th in the form of a booster session. I wasn't able to connect much with my Italian course mates online, so we're not really close. the girl I know doing Japanese and Italian isn't in any of my classes except one, which is a little bit of a bummer, but we've met another girl doing the same who's in more classes with me so I feel less stressed.
For Italian culture module we did some pre-reading in introduction week. I hated it tbh, we read this guy called Dickie and I hate his writing style. I liked the topic, just not the writing style and the way he spoke about it in the texts. however, we're moving onto literature next which will hopefully be better aha.. the literature is not fully my thing, but I have read Dante in the past and we cover that so I'm happy to read it. this week we had a lecture and a seminar for exploring Italy, but the seminars are only every fortnight.
so far none of the Italian is online but apparently they're considering putting some of our Italian lectures online because 'the exams will be online so you'll have to get used to the programmes' which I think is lazy and utter ********.
____
Japanese is a whole different ball game to Italian, obviously. Every week we have 9 contact hours for Japanese. 7 are in person, and 2 are online because Lacey-sensei is high risk (or his family is, im not completely sure). The online lectures aren't too bad and at least that's a valid reason for them to be online.
We have 5 sensei for Japanese. Morimoto sensei, Ward sensei, Takewa sensei, Oeda sensei, and Lacey sensei. Kolly sensei is also in our grammar/kanji class with Ward sensei on a Monday. All of them are really nice and helpful when we have any questions or concerns.
Some of our classes were introductions to the classes and the textbooks, before we started revising hiragana and katakana. by this week (week 2) we are expected to be pretty secure in kana before moving onto kanji. my hiragana and katakana are quite good, if I do say so myself. I get tripped up sometimes, especially with dakuon, but overall I think I am pretty stable in them and my handwriting is good (:
in the initial classes we did hiragana and katakana check. my favourite part was when Morimoto-sensei showed us his katakana cards to help us remember the symbols better. I initially thought they wouldn't be that helpful for me, but now I will never forget ナ 'na' as 'knife' (na-f) and メ 'me' as 'melting knife' :')
we also learned basic greetings and classroom sayings like hajimemashite (I would type them all in kana but im on my laptop and I cba pasting them haha), doomo arigatoo gozaimasu, and sumimasen. and some others, but those are my favourite haha (especially sumimasen, the hiragana is really recognisable for me).
Japanese is pretty intense. Every week we will have kanji homework (starting week 3 luckily!) and a vocabulary test. Each week we must learn 3 lessons worth of vocabulary, which is around 100+ words. this week it was 113 I think.
3 of my course mates and myself set about to study them on Friday. It took me about 6 hours to write them all out (for all 3 lessons) but I am an awful perfectionist. It did help me remember them well though, so it only took me another 3 hours to memorise them all on quizlet. I completed my test a couple hours ago. the vocabulary tests aren't that hard, they are 20 multiple choice questions to be answered in 10 minutes. I completed it In 5, and checked over it to make sure I was secure with my answers. I feel very good about it, but I can't believe 9 hours of work went into a 5 minute test, lol.
I don't have that much to say about my foundations of east Asia module, as we only had one online lecture for it last week. it seems like it will be very interesting, and I can't wait to get started on it! I love the mix of culture, religion, and history in this module. I have a lecture and a seminar next week, so I will update you all on what they're like.
____
I am now going to do some Italian reading for my culture lecture tomorrow. But if you have any questions about lectures, please feel free to ask!
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 3
7
Small Update!
First Vocabulary Test for Japanese
I got my result back yesterday for the vocabulary test I did on Sunday and I got 20/20. They're not *super* difficult (it's 20 multiple choice questions), but I spent like 9 hours learning and revising the vocabulary, and i'm naturally really anxious about tests because I like to do well. I'm quite chuffed with myself, haha.
First Vocabulary Test for Japanese
I got my result back yesterday for the vocabulary test I did on Sunday and I got 20/20. They're not *super* difficult (it's 20 multiple choice questions), but I spent like 9 hours learning and revising the vocabulary, and i'm naturally really anxious about tests because I like to do well. I'm quite chuffed with myself, haha.
Reply 4
11
Original post by hurts2hatelo
hi!
I really liked umbrellala's threads on Korean at SOAS, and I thought it would also be nice to share my experience of a foreign languages degree.
I want to show insight into studying joint honours languages that are completely different. This is also a 5 year degree with 2 years abroad (in 2nd and 4th year)
I'll start with talking about the application process and freshers, and then I'll continue the thread to talk about my experiences of lectures, homework, tests, exams, and answer any questions if anyone has them.
_____
Application Process
I applied to 5 universities for 2021 entry which were:
University of St Andrews (Unconditional)
University of Kent (Unconditional)
University of Glasgow (Unconditional)
University of Edinburgh (Withdrawn)
University of Leeds (Conditional)
All Italian and German, except Edinburgh - Italian and Politics (and later Leeds became Italian and Japanese obviously)
My conditional offer was for an A at advanced higher or a B at higher (don't ask why, I know it makes no sense lolol). I received AA at higher this year and A at advanced higher (I also had 5 previous As at higher)
My application was originally for Italian and German under a 4 year BA Modern languages degree, however I later found out I needed a higher/a-level in German and UOL emailed me and allowed me to change my application. They asked me to submit a short statement on why I wanted to study Japanese and then 2 days later I got my offer.
My main personal statement was mostly about my passion for learning languages and their importance in my life. I mentioned self studying higher Italian and achieving an A, as well as my interest in Italian culture. I also mentioned an interest in Politics and Journalism.
When I applied, I originally only applied to Leeds (and Kent) because I wanted to fill my last two spaces. I was pretty much set on Glasgow for Italian and German. When I got my offer from Leeds after only ten days since applying, I began to research more into the course (especially since I had to change my application course). I learned that I much preferred the course outline and modules available in Italian and Japanese. The degree is very focused on learning the language, but I think the East Asian Studies modules are very interesting.
I firmed my offer on the first of May (after withdrawing from Edinburgh, lol).
It was accepted on August 10th when I got my results and my offer became unconditional.
_____
If you have any questions on the application process, my personal statement, etc. please feel free to ask and I'll try to give the best advice/answer possible!
I really liked umbrellala's threads on Korean at SOAS, and I thought it would also be nice to share my experience of a foreign languages degree.
I want to show insight into studying joint honours languages that are completely different. This is also a 5 year degree with 2 years abroad (in 2nd and 4th year)
I'll start with talking about the application process and freshers, and then I'll continue the thread to talk about my experiences of lectures, homework, tests, exams, and answer any questions if anyone has them.
_____
Application Process
I applied to 5 universities for 2021 entry which were:
University of St Andrews (Unconditional)
University of Kent (Unconditional)
University of Glasgow (Unconditional)
University of Edinburgh (Withdrawn)
University of Leeds (Conditional)
All Italian and German, except Edinburgh - Italian and Politics (and later Leeds became Italian and Japanese obviously)
My conditional offer was for an A at advanced higher or a B at higher (don't ask why, I know it makes no sense lolol). I received AA at higher this year and A at advanced higher (I also had 5 previous As at higher)
My application was originally for Italian and German under a 4 year BA Modern languages degree, however I later found out I needed a higher/a-level in German and UOL emailed me and allowed me to change my application. They asked me to submit a short statement on why I wanted to study Japanese and then 2 days later I got my offer.
My main personal statement was mostly about my passion for learning languages and their importance in my life. I mentioned self studying higher Italian and achieving an A, as well as my interest in Italian culture. I also mentioned an interest in Politics and Journalism.
When I applied, I originally only applied to Leeds (and Kent) because I wanted to fill my last two spaces. I was pretty much set on Glasgow for Italian and German. When I got my offer from Leeds after only ten days since applying, I began to research more into the course (especially since I had to change my application course). I learned that I much preferred the course outline and modules available in Italian and Japanese. The degree is very focused on learning the language, but I think the East Asian Studies modules are very interesting.
I firmed my offer on the first of May (after withdrawing from Edinburgh, lol).
It was accepted on August 10th when I got my results and my offer became unconditional.
_____
If you have any questions on the application process, my personal statement, etc. please feel free to ask and I'll try to give the best advice/answer possible!
Hii, looking to apply this year (not to Leeds specifically but the Modern Languages degree in gen). Could you tell me more about your personal statement, I'm kind of struggling. Did you mention anything about your skills or extracurricular activities or is the main focus on why you want to study the degree, what inspired you to etc? I related with you on wanting to do French and Japanese and East Asian modules are also kind of what I'm leaning towards, so perhaps you could help me out?
Reply 5
7
Original post by nehapartha
Hii, looking to apply this year (not to Leeds specifically but the Modern Languages degree in gen). Could you tell me more about your personal statement, I'm kind of struggling. Did you mention anything about your skills or extracurricular activities or is the main focus on why you want to study the degree, what inspired you to etc? I related with you on wanting to do French and Japanese and East Asian modules are also kind of what I'm leaning towards, so perhaps you could help me out?
My personal statement was mostly focused on Italian, because that's what I applied to on all 5 of my choices. I applied to 3 + Leeds for Italian and German (and ital + politics at edi) but I ended up changing to Italian and Japanese at Leeds bc I was informed after applying that I needed to have a higher / a-level in German to study it, so they allowed me to change to Japanese.
I started my PS by talking about my passion for languages. how it grew, why I enjoy languages, why I think they're so important, etc.
the main body of it was on my experience self-teaching Italian. I kind of milked it a bit by talking about how it shows I have the discipline to study independently, how it was difficult but I still achieved an A, etc. I also mentioned how I researched Italian culture outside of the curriculum, by reading a lot about roman mythology and Italian artists.
I added a little on my extracurriculars, like reading books in Italian, and also volunteering in junior language classes for French and Spanish to help out.
those are the main things I covered in my PS. I briefly spoke about my interest in politics and how I wrote about the work of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government's work in my modern studies dissertation.
I was asked to write another short PS for Japanese when I switched courses. I spoke about how I was introduced to manga at a young age and how the culture fascinated me. I also spoke about how I would be interested in a challenge as I've studied French, Spanish, and Italian, which are all fairly 'easy' as a native English speaker, but Japanese would be more challenging because it requires learning the kana syllabaries and a new writing system.
I hope that helps! I would recommend just writing whatever comes to mind at first. My personal statement was draft 3 or 4 I think by the time I sent off my application. my initial 'draft' was written on my notes app at 3am when I couldn't sleep one night, and it was like 2000 characters over what it should have been.
Reply 6
As someone who's just applied for Modern Languages, this is really fun to read
Do you know of any other blog style threads similar to yours?
Do you know of any other blog style threads similar to yours?
Reply 7
7
Reading Week
Well, it's been a while since I've updated this thread. I've honestly just been so busy with my classes! I luckily have a reading week, which is such a relief because I totally need it, haha.
Japanese
I feel like being 6 weeks into Japanese now I can say a lot more about it. But the first thing I'll say is that I absolutely adore this language and studying it. I'm a spiritual person, and I believe it was meant to be that I had to switch from German to Japanese.
Japanese is difficult. It is a lot of work, but I truly believe it's worth it! I've always been a 'smart' person and never found my school subjects to be particularly challenging so I love how Japanese challenges me academically.
We had a Japanese test two weeks ago that was worth 2.5% of our final grade. I got 32/50 on it, which honestly was a little disappointing to me as someone who is a high achiever, but I'm coming to terms with it as it's only worth 2.5%. Our first coursework which is worth about 3.33% was due a couple weeks ago, and I got my mark back last week and got 92.5%! So I'm pretty chuffed with myself.
During reading week I am/will be catching up on some grammar notes, studying for our mock test that we'll be doing over the weekend, and working ahead on some kanji and vocab to prepare for the coming week.
I find the kanji pretty challenging, but I'm getting the hang of it now and have been doing well on the weekly tests. On my first test I got 12/20, but in the most recent ones ive gotten full marks! I've spent about 4 hours over the past 2 days just writing out the first 5 units of kanji to revise for my test. only 3 more units until I will be up to date...
My year abroad meeting is actually only a week away and I'm sooo excited. I can't wait to know more about this process- it's so exhilarating!
_____
Italian
Unfortunately, I don't have as much praise for Italian as I do Japanese. I still have a lot of love for Italian. It's a beautiful language that I loved learning when I did Higher Italian at school, and I love being in Italy and taking in the rich culture of the country. But... I don't think I enjoy the teaching quite as much.
I quite like one of my italian lecturers, but the other has been grinding on my nerves a little. She is usually late to classes. Not super lates, but about 5, sometimes 10 minutes late. And even if she is still late, she proceeds to spend the first 15 minutes of the lesson going over what we did the previous lesson. Sure, if we had only a couple italian classes a week I could somewhat understand this, but we have italian every day (except a Wednesday). I do not need to have what happened between 16-48 hours prior explained to me! And I do believe now that since we are in university, consolidation is our responsibility as students. I do not believe it's the responsibility of the lecturer to consolidate what happened 24 hours prior.
As well as this, I think Italian is extremely slow paced. It's even worse in comparison with Japanese. In Japanese we study 2-3 lessons a week. Vocab tests, kanji tests every week. 9 contact hours a week. Frequent coursework and mock tests too.
Italian in comparison is moving at a snail's pace.
In week 5 they had finally finished explaining VERBS! I can't believe it! We started -are verbs in week 3, -ere in 4, and finally -ire in 5. I just can't believe it took them 5 weeks to teach us basic verb structures and conjugations. I understand it's from beginners, so it feels a little boring to myself who has experience in italian, but I think taking 5 weeks to explain something so basic is just ridiculous.
I spent 8 hours at the weekend working through my homework that I was behind on due to not getting my textbook until 4 weeks into the course. None of the homework was challenging whatsoever. I'm doing the reading week activities now which are mostly written paragraphs that are slightly more challenging, but one of the activities from the textbook yesterday was to put the correct letter at the end of the word.
so for example:
buongiorn_
pizz_
I just can't believe that was actually an exercise expected of a university student. I feel like a lot of the work we're doing in Italian is a waste of time because it is so stupidly easy. I'm just not enjoying the course as much as I thought I would, which really sucks because I adore the language.
I'm hoping to figure out some self study to do over the next few weeks for Italian so at least if I'm not enjoying the classes, I can still find love for the language in my own time. I'm hoping that things will pick up in intensity in semester 2.
Luckily, I have been enjoying the culture module. We studied some Dante and I thoroughly enjoyed reading La Commedia in italian and trying to translate some of it before actually doing the reading in English.
_____
Outside of classes..
Just to talk a little about university life outside of classes so people don't think I spend all my hours studying (only most of them!)
I've made one really good friend so far. I have a lot of friends, but I hang out with this friend the most. We actually got tattoos together last week (not matching tattoos haha, I got a little cat with fairy wings. it's so cute lol).
I've been trying to make more time for my hobbies and just relaxing more. We went to a Japanese society event last Tuesday which I really enjoyed and it gave me some downtime and I met some new people and talked with a couple course mates who I don't normally talk to.
Tomorrow I'm going to explore the city a little more with my friend which will be nice. We have a couple rough plans and then we'll probably hang out in the evening and study as well as playing some games together.
I'm not really a party or clubbing person, so I never go to those events. I just really enjoy gaming and studying with my friends. It helps that we have to study soo much for our course haha.
_____
If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'm going to update you all sometimes next week on the year abroad meeting.
Well, it's been a while since I've updated this thread. I've honestly just been so busy with my classes! I luckily have a reading week, which is such a relief because I totally need it, haha.
Japanese
I feel like being 6 weeks into Japanese now I can say a lot more about it. But the first thing I'll say is that I absolutely adore this language and studying it. I'm a spiritual person, and I believe it was meant to be that I had to switch from German to Japanese.
Japanese is difficult. It is a lot of work, but I truly believe it's worth it! I've always been a 'smart' person and never found my school subjects to be particularly challenging so I love how Japanese challenges me academically.
We had a Japanese test two weeks ago that was worth 2.5% of our final grade. I got 32/50 on it, which honestly was a little disappointing to me as someone who is a high achiever, but I'm coming to terms with it as it's only worth 2.5%. Our first coursework which is worth about 3.33% was due a couple weeks ago, and I got my mark back last week and got 92.5%! So I'm pretty chuffed with myself.
During reading week I am/will be catching up on some grammar notes, studying for our mock test that we'll be doing over the weekend, and working ahead on some kanji and vocab to prepare for the coming week.
I find the kanji pretty challenging, but I'm getting the hang of it now and have been doing well on the weekly tests. On my first test I got 12/20, but in the most recent ones ive gotten full marks! I've spent about 4 hours over the past 2 days just writing out the first 5 units of kanji to revise for my test. only 3 more units until I will be up to date...
My year abroad meeting is actually only a week away and I'm sooo excited. I can't wait to know more about this process- it's so exhilarating!
_____
Italian
Unfortunately, I don't have as much praise for Italian as I do Japanese. I still have a lot of love for Italian. It's a beautiful language that I loved learning when I did Higher Italian at school, and I love being in Italy and taking in the rich culture of the country. But... I don't think I enjoy the teaching quite as much.
I quite like one of my italian lecturers, but the other has been grinding on my nerves a little. She is usually late to classes. Not super lates, but about 5, sometimes 10 minutes late. And even if she is still late, she proceeds to spend the first 15 minutes of the lesson going over what we did the previous lesson. Sure, if we had only a couple italian classes a week I could somewhat understand this, but we have italian every day (except a Wednesday). I do not need to have what happened between 16-48 hours prior explained to me! And I do believe now that since we are in university, consolidation is our responsibility as students. I do not believe it's the responsibility of the lecturer to consolidate what happened 24 hours prior.
As well as this, I think Italian is extremely slow paced. It's even worse in comparison with Japanese. In Japanese we study 2-3 lessons a week. Vocab tests, kanji tests every week. 9 contact hours a week. Frequent coursework and mock tests too.
Italian in comparison is moving at a snail's pace.
In week 5 they had finally finished explaining VERBS! I can't believe it! We started -are verbs in week 3, -ere in 4, and finally -ire in 5. I just can't believe it took them 5 weeks to teach us basic verb structures and conjugations. I understand it's from beginners, so it feels a little boring to myself who has experience in italian, but I think taking 5 weeks to explain something so basic is just ridiculous.
I spent 8 hours at the weekend working through my homework that I was behind on due to not getting my textbook until 4 weeks into the course. None of the homework was challenging whatsoever. I'm doing the reading week activities now which are mostly written paragraphs that are slightly more challenging, but one of the activities from the textbook yesterday was to put the correct letter at the end of the word.
so for example:
buongiorn_
pizz_
I just can't believe that was actually an exercise expected of a university student. I feel like a lot of the work we're doing in Italian is a waste of time because it is so stupidly easy. I'm just not enjoying the course as much as I thought I would, which really sucks because I adore the language.
I'm hoping to figure out some self study to do over the next few weeks for Italian so at least if I'm not enjoying the classes, I can still find love for the language in my own time. I'm hoping that things will pick up in intensity in semester 2.
Luckily, I have been enjoying the culture module. We studied some Dante and I thoroughly enjoyed reading La Commedia in italian and trying to translate some of it before actually doing the reading in English.
_____
Outside of classes..
Just to talk a little about university life outside of classes so people don't think I spend all my hours studying (only most of them!)
I've made one really good friend so far. I have a lot of friends, but I hang out with this friend the most. We actually got tattoos together last week (not matching tattoos haha, I got a little cat with fairy wings. it's so cute lol).
I've been trying to make more time for my hobbies and just relaxing more. We went to a Japanese society event last Tuesday which I really enjoyed and it gave me some downtime and I met some new people and talked with a couple course mates who I don't normally talk to.
Tomorrow I'm going to explore the city a little more with my friend which will be nice. We have a couple rough plans and then we'll probably hang out in the evening and study as well as playing some games together.
I'm not really a party or clubbing person, so I never go to those events. I just really enjoy gaming and studying with my friends. It helps that we have to study soo much for our course haha.
_____
If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'm going to update you all sometimes next week on the year abroad meeting.
Reply 8
7
The End of Semester 1 + Exams
It’s been a while since I last updated. I’ve honestly just been so busy, so I’ve decided to make two updates. One will be on the end of semester 1 and my exams, and the next will be on semester 2 so far and my year abroad progress!
____________
The End of Semester 1
Semester 1 ended off well. On the last day of classes in my Japanese class we learned how to write Japanese New Years greetings cards and then we took our final vocab + kanji test for the semester! I mentioned earlier, but in course assessments were worth 20%, the kanji and vocab tests were worth 5% and there were 2 of them.
I ended up scoring 40/50 when I got the result back!
I stayed in Leeds for a week and sorted myself out before I went home. I didn’t stay long, but I had a nice Christmas with my family and came back to uni a couple days after.
Then, I started my studying for exams!
______
Exams
I had 5 exams, plus an essay submission.
Foundations of East Asia written exam
Italian culture essay submission
Italian speaking exam
Japanese written exam
Italian written exam
Japanese speaking exam
These were split between 2 weeks, and I had 3 in each week.
I think it would take too long to go into much detail about my exams. My japanese exams were very challenging, but I thought I did alright on them.
My results were:
FOEA: 71%
Italian culture: 61%
Italian speaking: 70%
Japanese written: 73%
Italian written: 67%
Japanese speaking: 71%
Honestly, I’m very disappointed in Italian. I have had no formal feedback on my speaking so I can’t comment on that, but I am angry and very upset about the written exam. I was docked marks for using the word “conveniente” and “spero che” because they were “not part of the integrated study plan” — they didn’t explicitly teach me those words, so therefore I must’ve cheated/google translated in order to use them.
It made me extremely depressed and I’m still not over it, to be honest. I can’t believe I was punished for learning the language outwith of the university course. My friends and my mum keep telling me to speak with my personal tutor about it, but I’m struggling to do so. The other feedback was garbage imo, one comment wrote “attempted to use complex grammar structures but often not transparently” which makes no sense to me and is idiotic.
The Italian culture module didn’t help either. The feedback I received was subpar imo. But I’ve never written a proper university academic essay before so i guess it just wasn’t the best :/
For Japanese I was quite chuffed, I guess. The speaking I thought I did much worse in because I felt that my lecturer didn’t ask me challenging enough questions so I felt that my use of language was poor. The written was alright but I wish I did better.
I’m a high achiever, and it works against me because I feel bad whenever I get a grade that doesn’t suit me. Im trying to unlearn it, but im not happy with the Italian course in general.
It’s been a while since I last updated. I’ve honestly just been so busy, so I’ve decided to make two updates. One will be on the end of semester 1 and my exams, and the next will be on semester 2 so far and my year abroad progress!
____________
The End of Semester 1
Semester 1 ended off well. On the last day of classes in my Japanese class we learned how to write Japanese New Years greetings cards and then we took our final vocab + kanji test for the semester! I mentioned earlier, but in course assessments were worth 20%, the kanji and vocab tests were worth 5% and there were 2 of them.
I ended up scoring 40/50 when I got the result back!
I stayed in Leeds for a week and sorted myself out before I went home. I didn’t stay long, but I had a nice Christmas with my family and came back to uni a couple days after.
Then, I started my studying for exams!
______
Exams
I had 5 exams, plus an essay submission.
Foundations of East Asia written exam
Italian culture essay submission
Italian speaking exam
Japanese written exam
Italian written exam
Japanese speaking exam
These were split between 2 weeks, and I had 3 in each week.
I think it would take too long to go into much detail about my exams. My japanese exams were very challenging, but I thought I did alright on them.
My results were:
FOEA: 71%
Italian culture: 61%
Italian speaking: 70%
Japanese written: 73%
Italian written: 67%
Japanese speaking: 71%
Honestly, I’m very disappointed in Italian. I have had no formal feedback on my speaking so I can’t comment on that, but I am angry and very upset about the written exam. I was docked marks for using the word “conveniente” and “spero che” because they were “not part of the integrated study plan” — they didn’t explicitly teach me those words, so therefore I must’ve cheated/google translated in order to use them.
It made me extremely depressed and I’m still not over it, to be honest. I can’t believe I was punished for learning the language outwith of the university course. My friends and my mum keep telling me to speak with my personal tutor about it, but I’m struggling to do so. The other feedback was garbage imo, one comment wrote “attempted to use complex grammar structures but often not transparently” which makes no sense to me and is idiotic.
The Italian culture module didn’t help either. The feedback I received was subpar imo. But I’ve never written a proper university academic essay before so i guess it just wasn’t the best :/
For Japanese I was quite chuffed, I guess. The speaking I thought I did much worse in because I felt that my lecturer didn’t ask me challenging enough questions so I felt that my use of language was poor. The written was alright but I wish I did better.
I’m a high achiever, and it works against me because I feel bad whenever I get a grade that doesn’t suit me. Im trying to unlearn it, but im not happy with the Italian course in general.
Reply 9
Original post by hurts2hatelo
The End of Semester 1 + Exams
It’s been a while since I last updated. I’ve honestly just been so busy, so I’ve decided to make two updates. One will be on the end of semester 1 and my exams, and the next will be on semester 2 so far and my year abroad progress!
____________
The End of Semester 1
Semester 1 ended off well. On the last day of classes in my Japanese class we learned how to write Japanese New Years greetings cards and then we took our final vocab + kanji test for the semester! I mentioned earlier, but in course assessments were worth 20%, the kanji and vocab tests were worth 5% and there were 2 of them.
I ended up scoring 40/50 when I got the result back!
I stayed in Leeds for a week and sorted myself out before I went home. I didn’t stay long, but I had a nice Christmas with my family and came back to uni a couple days after.
Then, I started my studying for exams!
______
Exams
I had 5 exams, plus an essay submission.
Foundations of East Asia written exam
Italian culture essay submission
Italian speaking exam
Japanese written exam
Italian written exam
Japanese speaking exam
These were split between 2 weeks, and I had 3 in each week.
I think it would take too long to go into much detail about my exams. My japanese exams were very challenging, but I thought I did alright on them.
My results were:
FOEA: 71%
Italian culture: 61%
Italian speaking: 70%
Japanese written: 73%
Italian written: 67%
Japanese speaking: 71%
Honestly, I’m very disappointed in Italian. I have had no formal feedback on my speaking so I can’t comment on that, but I am angry and very upset about the written exam. I was docked marks for using the word “conveniente” and “spero che” because they were “not part of the integrated study plan” — they didn’t explicitly teach me those words, so therefore I must’ve cheated/google translated in order to use them.
It made me extremely depressed and I’m still not over it, to be honest. I can’t believe I was punished for learning the language outwith of the university course. My friends and my mum keep telling me to speak with my personal tutor about it, but I’m struggling to do so. The other feedback was garbage imo, one comment wrote “attempted to use complex grammar structures but often not transparently” which makes no sense to me and is idiotic.
The Italian culture module didn’t help either. The feedback I received was subpar imo. But I’ve never written a proper university academic essay before so i guess it just wasn’t the best :/
For Japanese I was quite chuffed, I guess. The speaking I thought I did much worse in because I felt that my lecturer didn’t ask me challenging enough questions so I felt that my use of language was poor. The written was alright but I wish I did better.
I’m a high achiever, and it works against me because I feel bad whenever I get a grade that doesn’t suit me. Im trying to unlearn it, but im not happy with the Italian course in general.
It’s been a while since I last updated. I’ve honestly just been so busy, so I’ve decided to make two updates. One will be on the end of semester 1 and my exams, and the next will be on semester 2 so far and my year abroad progress!
____________
The End of Semester 1
Semester 1 ended off well. On the last day of classes in my Japanese class we learned how to write Japanese New Years greetings cards and then we took our final vocab + kanji test for the semester! I mentioned earlier, but in course assessments were worth 20%, the kanji and vocab tests were worth 5% and there were 2 of them.
I ended up scoring 40/50 when I got the result back!
I stayed in Leeds for a week and sorted myself out before I went home. I didn’t stay long, but I had a nice Christmas with my family and came back to uni a couple days after.
Then, I started my studying for exams!
______
Exams
I had 5 exams, plus an essay submission.
Foundations of East Asia written exam
Italian culture essay submission
Italian speaking exam
Japanese written exam
Italian written exam
Japanese speaking exam
These were split between 2 weeks, and I had 3 in each week.
I think it would take too long to go into much detail about my exams. My japanese exams were very challenging, but I thought I did alright on them.
My results were:
FOEA: 71%
Italian culture: 61%
Italian speaking: 70%
Japanese written: 73%
Italian written: 67%
Japanese speaking: 71%
Honestly, I’m very disappointed in Italian. I have had no formal feedback on my speaking so I can’t comment on that, but I am angry and very upset about the written exam. I was docked marks for using the word “conveniente” and “spero che” because they were “not part of the integrated study plan” — they didn’t explicitly teach me those words, so therefore I must’ve cheated/google translated in order to use them.
It made me extremely depressed and I’m still not over it, to be honest. I can’t believe I was punished for learning the language outwith of the university course. My friends and my mum keep telling me to speak with my personal tutor about it, but I’m struggling to do so. The other feedback was garbage imo, one comment wrote “attempted to use complex grammar structures but often not transparently” which makes no sense to me and is idiotic.
The Italian culture module didn’t help either. The feedback I received was subpar imo. But I’ve never written a proper university academic essay before so i guess it just wasn’t the best :/
For Japanese I was quite chuffed, I guess. The speaking I thought I did much worse in because I felt that my lecturer didn’t ask me challenging enough questions so I felt that my use of language was poor. The written was alright but I wish I did better.
I’m a high achiever, and it works against me because I feel bad whenever I get a grade that doesn’t suit me. Im trying to unlearn it, but im not happy with the Italian course in general.
How are you doing now ?
Reply 10
hi im doing a beginners french module and this may be asilly question but was just wondering if speaking exams are all apsone in that language as in do they ask all the questions, particulrly on listneing stimulus, in the language your learning? as ive realised they do not teach us how these questions will be worded etc
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- World cuisines hurt/heal game
- What degree is good for diplomacy?
- Does this course exist??
- Official University of Leeds Offer Holders Thread for 2024 entry
- Japanese at cardiff 2024
- business+french or fashion marketing?
- Oxford Economics and Management
- Is a Language degree worth it?
- Life as a Student in Kingston University’s BA Fashion Course
- Confused about credits and how they work
- What I Wish I Knew in my First Year at Uni!
- Official Modern Languages Applicants Thread for 2025 Entry Thread
- University of Leeds - Japanese BA
- Separated A level exam sittings
- Tips for Learning a Language?
- German and history joint honours
- Leeds Chinese and Japanese course requirements
- Is St. Andrews boring?
- Which universities have the best modern language departments?
- Year 14?
Latest
Trending
Last reply 1 day ago
British Council English Language Assistant 2025/2026Last reply 1 month ago
British Council Language Assistants France 2025/26Last reply 2 months ago
cardiff or exeter uni for modern languages (please help!!)Last reply 2 months ago
Heriot Watt or Glasgow for Modern Languages? (+ another question)Last reply 2 months ago
uni of nottingham/manchester firm choice for liberal arts?Posted 2 months ago
urgent help for A Level Japanese WritingLast reply 2 months ago
Which uni to apply to for liberal artsLast reply 3 months ago
Applying modern language courses at OxbridgeLast reply 3 months ago
British Council Language Assistant 2025/26Last reply 4 months ago
Would it be stupid to turn down a place at Uni of Sheffield for Oxford Brookes?Last reply 4 months ago
Modern Languages work experience?
