JAPN 303: Business Japanese
This course develops functional use of Japanese language for various types of situations and events that occur in the daily business environment. The types of situations include formal introductions, basic business rules, business etiquette, honorifics, and how to write business documents and email. It also presents and expands on cultural perspectives and concepts as they impact the business world. Taught in Japanese.
Towards MLO 1
Reflective Narrative
Business Japanese was a fairly difficult course. As was explained earlier in this semester, upper division Japanese courses at CSUMB are taught at the advanced level of Japanese. However, as Japanese is one of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn, we are only expected to reach the Intermediate-high level by time of graduation. This makes the upper division courses a challenge, pushing us to always improve our Japanese abilities to reach the level we need.
Business Japanese focused on the use of Japanese in a professional setting. In the fist section of the course, we learned how to properly introduce ourselves in a business manner, the proper clothes and appearance to maintain, how to greet people in a variety of situations, the different kinds of bows and when to use them, and general business manners. The second and third sections of the course focused on Keigo (polite speech). Keigo is an integral part of Japanese society, and can be encountered at many different levels and in many different situations. It can also be very complicated, which is why a large portion of the class was focused on learning and practicing the various forms of Keigo--Teineigo, Sonkeigo, Kenjougo--as well as a certain Keigo phrases used in certain situations. Though the focus was on a business setting, the Keigo we learned can be applied in many different situations outside of the business world, making us more culturally competent among Japanese people. The fourth and fifth section focused on various kinds of documents and the proper way to fill them out.
Throughout the semester, we completed a short homework assignment every week based directly on the topics covered in class. However, our largest and final project was to create a business drama using nearly everything we had learned for the class (see youtube video at the bottom of the page). For this project, I worked in a group of four to create a script; each of us wrote one scene, mine was scene 4. We also created a poster for our drama (see poster below).
I think the main knowledge I gained from this course was related to Keigo. I still have a long way to go before I can easily use Keigo in many settings; I really want to get better at it so I can more easily live in Japanese society. I think this course, due to the instructional videos we watched every class, also improved my listening comprehension a lot.
To continue my learning, I intend to take more upper division Japanese courses, watch a few Japanese Business Dramas, and try to apply my knowledge of Japanese style professionalism to my work now and in the future.
Business Japanese focused on the use of Japanese in a professional setting. In the fist section of the course, we learned how to properly introduce ourselves in a business manner, the proper clothes and appearance to maintain, how to greet people in a variety of situations, the different kinds of bows and when to use them, and general business manners. The second and third sections of the course focused on Keigo (polite speech). Keigo is an integral part of Japanese society, and can be encountered at many different levels and in many different situations. It can also be very complicated, which is why a large portion of the class was focused on learning and practicing the various forms of Keigo--Teineigo, Sonkeigo, Kenjougo--as well as a certain Keigo phrases used in certain situations. Though the focus was on a business setting, the Keigo we learned can be applied in many different situations outside of the business world, making us more culturally competent among Japanese people. The fourth and fifth section focused on various kinds of documents and the proper way to fill them out.
Throughout the semester, we completed a short homework assignment every week based directly on the topics covered in class. However, our largest and final project was to create a business drama using nearly everything we had learned for the class (see youtube video at the bottom of the page). For this project, I worked in a group of four to create a script; each of us wrote one scene, mine was scene 4. We also created a poster for our drama (see poster below).
I think the main knowledge I gained from this course was related to Keigo. I still have a long way to go before I can easily use Keigo in many settings; I really want to get better at it so I can more easily live in Japanese society. I think this course, due to the instructional videos we watched every class, also improved my listening comprehension a lot.
To continue my learning, I intend to take more upper division Japanese courses, watch a few Japanese Business Dramas, and try to apply my knowledge of Japanese style professionalism to my work now and in the future.