JAPN -- Japanese

JAPN 401 Readings in Modern Japanese I (3) Prerequisite: JAPN 302 or equivalent. Development of translation techniques, vocabulary, grammar, and reading speed. Readings in history, social sciences, modern literature, and modern newspaper and periodical literature.

JAPN 402 Readings in Modern Japanese II (3) Prerequisite: JAPN 401 or equivalent. Continuation of more advanced readings.

JAPN 403 Business Japanese I (3) Prerequisite: JAPN 302 or equivalent. Formerly JAPN 303. Conversation, reading, and writing applicable to Japanese business transactions, social meetings, and meetings with government organizations, with background material in English on professional business practices and social customs associated with business.

JAPN 404 Business Japanese II (3) Prerequisite: JAPN 403 or equivalent. Formerly JAPN 304. Continuation of JAPN 403.

JAPN 405 Readings in Advanced Modern Japanese (3) Prerequisite: JAPN 402 or equivalent or permission of department. Designed to further improve reading and translation skills; the course will include readings from newspaper articles, literary works, and academic publications in the social sciences and humanities. Listening exercises are included.

JAPN 406 Translating Diplomatic Japanese (3) Prerequisite: JAPN 306 and permission of department. Formal, written, diplomatic Japanese to develop practical translation skills and to learn to use the computer as a telecommunications and translation workstation.

JAPN 411 Introduction to Classical Japanese (3) Prerequisite: JAPN 306 or equivalent. Classical Japanese grammar and the varied styles of classical Japanese. Readings in classical texts drawn from the Heian, Kamakura, Muromachi, and Edo periods.

JAPN 412 Classical Japanese (3) Prerequisite: JAPN 411. Continuation of JAPN 411 with more advanced classical Japanese.

JAPN 414 Masterpieces of Classical Japanese Literature in Translation (3) Major classics, with focus on philosophical, historical and cultural backgrounds.

JAPN 415 Modern Japanese Fiction in Translation (3) Major themes and literary developments in fiction from the late 19th century to the present. Emphasis on the works of Kawabata, Tanizaki, Mishima, and Abe.

JAPN 416 Japanese Women and Women Writers (3) Fiction and poetry by Japanese women from the Ninth Century to the present. Women's early role in creating and shaping a variety of literary genres, the silencing of women during the age of the shoguns, and the reemergence of a feminist tradition and women writers in the Twentieth Century. In English.

JAPN 418 Japanese Literature in Translation (3) Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs. Representative works of Japanese literature in translation.

JAPN 421 History of the Japanese Language (3) Investigation of the origin of the Japanese language, its relationship with other languages, and its development. In English.

JAPN 422 Introductory Japanese Linguistics (3) An investigation of Japanese sound patterns and syntax through a comparison with English.

JAPN 499 Directed Study in Japanese (1-3) Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Repeatable to 6 credits if content differs.

JAPN 602 Japanese Language Pedagogy (3) A one-semester graduate course in the teaching of Japanese as a second language to American students, including (1) an analysis of the textbook Japanese: The Spoken Language,(2) exercises in its use in the classroom, and (3) a critical comparison of the methodology it embodies with others in the field.

JAPN 611 Structure of the Japanese Language (3) Introduction to the linguistic structure of modern standard Japanese. The course will begin with a description of what "standard language" means in Japan, then move to a discussion of various aspects of that standard. Phonetics and phonology, morphophonemics and morphology, syntax, and the sociolinguistic setting.

JAPN 621 Japanese Historical Linguistics (3) An introduction to the history and pre-history of the Japanese language. Reviews the textual record of Japanese and presents modern and historical evidence for reconstructing earlier forms of the Japanese language. Questions of genetic affiliation will also be examined.

JAPN 631 Topics in Pre-Modern Japanese Literature: Critical Approaches to Japanese Literature (3)  Japanese critical approaches to literature, providing comparisons with both Western and Chinese approaches, and exploration of our own critical contexts as we apply contemporary Western critical theory to the reading of selected Japanese texts. Focus on two literary types: mongogatari (fictional narrative-The Tale of Genji) and rengal renku (serious and comic linked verse).

JAPN 632 Topics in Modern Japanese Literature: Japanese Women Writers and the Feminist Critic (3) Exploration of women's creativity and the female perspective in the work of several distinguished women writers of modern Japan; Japanese views on women's work and identity, sexual mores and love, and women's roles. Major issues in current feminist literary criticism used to evaluate how such criticism helps understand Japanese women's literature and where it resonates with traditions.