Graduate Courses for Japanese (JAPN)

Schedule of Classes: Fall | Winter | Spring | Summer
(Only current and next semester available)

JAPN 401 Readings in Modern Japanese Literature (3 credits)
Prerequisite: a grade of C (2.0) or better in JAPN302 or permission of instructor.
Development of advanced reading, vocabulary, grammar, and translation skills through selected readings in Japanese drawn primarily from modern literature.

JAPN 402 Readings in Japanese Cultural Studies (3 credits)
Prerequisite: a grade of C (2.0) or better in JAPN401 or permission of instructor.
Development of advanced reading, vocabulary, grammar, and translation skills through selected readings in Japanese drawn from the fields of history, social sciences, cultural studies, film studies, and popular culture.

JAPN 403 Business Japanese: Practicum in Communicative Skills (3 credits)
Prerequisite: a grade of C (2.0) or better in JAPN302 or permission of instructor.
Development of conversation, reading, and writing skills applicable to Japanese business transactions, official situations, and social meetings, with background material in English on professional business practices and social customs associated with business.

JAPN 404 Business Japanese: Readings and Applications (3 credits)
Prerequisite: a grade of C (2.0) or better in JAPN302 or permission of instructor.
Focus on current readings pertaining to the Japanese corporate world from newspapers and other periodicals as well as online sources, and project-based development of oral and written skills in business Japanese.

JAPN 405 Readings in Advanced Modern Japanese (3 credits)
Prerequisite: JAPN402 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 credits)
Prerequisite: a grade of C (2.0) or better in JAPN401 or permission of instructor.
Formal, written, diplomatic Japanese to develop practical translation skills and to learn to use the computer as a telecommunications and translation workstation.

JAPN 407 The Art of Translation (3 credits)
Prerequisite: A grade of C (2.0) or better in JAPN401 or equivalent.
Theory and practice of translation. Variety of genres. Japanese to English.

JAPN 408 Special Topics in Japanese (3 credits)
Prerequisite: A grade of C (2.0) or better in JAPN302; or permission of instructor.
Topic in the Study of Japanese, to be announced each time course is offered. Taught in Japanese.

JAPN 411 Introduction to Classical Japanese (3 credits)
Prerequisite: JAPN302 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 credits)
Prerequisite: JAPN411.
Continuation of JAPN 411 with more advanced classical Japanese.

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

JAPN 415 Modern Japanese Fiction in Translation (3 credits)
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 credits)
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 credits)
Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs.
Representative works of Japanese literature in translation.

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

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

JAPN 428 Seminar in Japanese Discourse and Conversation Analysis (3 credits)
Prerequisite: JAPN302. Recommended: JAPN422. Repeatable to 6 credits if content differs.
Presentation and discussion of classic and current readings in English and Japanese on theories and actual practice of discourse and conversation analysis. Students will learn transcription techniques and have an opportunity to apply them in a final term paper.

JAPN 438 Topics in Japanese Pragmatics (3 credits)
Prerequisite: JAPN201. Recommended: JAPN422. Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs. Also offered as JAPN638. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: JAPN438 or JAPN638.
Basic concepts in the field of pragmatics (the study of language in context) such as deixis and indexicality, speech acts, ellipsis, and politeness. Readings in English on English and Japanese examples.

JAPN 498 Special Topics in Japanese Studies (3 credits)
Special topics in Japanese studies. Taught in English.

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

JAPN 602 Japanese Language Pedagogy (3 credits)
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 606 Practicum in Translation: Diplomatic Japanese (3 credits)
Two hours of lecture and one hour of discussion/recitation per week. Prerequisite: JAPN 402 or equivalent; and permission of instructor. Also offered as JAPN 406. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: JAPN 406 or JAPN 606.
Formal, written, diplomatic Japanese to develop practical translation skills and to learn to use the computer as a telecommunications and translation workstation.

JAPN 608 Readings in Advanced Modern Japanese (3 credits)
Two hours of lecture and one hour of discussion/recitation per week. Prerequisite: JAPN 402 or equivalent; or permission of department. Repeatable to 06 credits if content differs.
To improve reading and translation skills; readings from newspaper articles, literary works, and academic publications in the social sciences and humanities. Listening exercises are included.

JAPN 611 Structure of the Japanese Language (3 credits)
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 612 Introduction to Classical Japanese (3 credits)
Two hours of lecture and one hour of discussion/recitation per week. Prerequisite: JAPN 302 or permission of instructor.
Introduction to classical Japanese grammar through reading, translation and discussion of a variety of genres and writing styles used from the 9th century to early modern times.

JAPN 619 Topics in Modern Japanese Literature in Translation (3 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of department. Repeatable to 09 credits if content differs.
Current topics in modern Japanese literature in English translation.

JAPN 621 Japanese Historical Linguistics (3 credits)
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 628 Seminar in Japanese Discourse and Conversation Analysis (3 credits)
Prerequisite: JAPN 302. Recommended: JAPN 422. Repeatable to 6 credits if content differs.
Presentation and discussion of classic and current readings in English and Japanese on theories and actual practice of discourse and conversation analysis. Students will learn transcription techniques and have an opportunity to apply them in a final term paper.

JAPN 631 Topics in Pre-Modern Japanese Literature: Critical Approaches to Japanese Literature (3 credits)
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 credits)
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.

JAPN 638 Topics in Japanese Pragmatics (3 credits)
Prerequisite: JAPN201. Repeatable to 09 credits if content differs.
Basic concepts in the field of pragmatics.

JAPN 679 Special Topics in Japanese Linguistics (3 credits)
Two hours of lecture and one hour of discussion/recitation per week. Prerequisite: permission of department. Repeatable to 09 credits if content differs.
Current topics in research in Japanese linguistics.