1.1 Students are able to communicate effectively in Japanese in three modes: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational; and in a culturally appropriate manner in a variety of social and professional settings and circumstances at the Intermediate-High level of language proficiency, according to the ACTFL Guidelines. 1.2 Students gain competency in the Japanese language and linguistics including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and discourse. Students compare, contrast, and analyze the structural differences between Japanese and English.
Please use the above links to see more evidence for the completion of this MLO.
MLO 1: Reflective Narrative
MLO 1.1 Each of the courses listed above focused on helping students improve their language and interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational communication abilities in Japanese. In each class, this was promoted by learning grammar and vocabulary, reinforced by projectsand presentations. In these classes, linguistic and cultural elements of the Japanese language were compared with English so that we gained a better understanding of both languages and cultures. For example, in Business Japanese we learned how to speak in professional settings using Japanese. This involves many cultural elements that make it very different from using English in professional settings. To practice this, we created a short movie including elements of Business Japanese that we had learned over the semester for our final. I feel, however, that my interpersonal and interpretive communication abilities were most improved by studying abroad and having to use my communication skills daily in real world settings.
MLO 1.2 Although the interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational aspects of MLO 1 are often more obvious within classes, I have gained a working knowledge of Japanese linguistics and the differences between Japanese and English. In particular, the Intro to Translation and Interpretation class focused a lot on grammar, syntax, phonetics, and phonology, as you need a strong understanding of the structure of both Japanese and English in order to accurately translate and interpret. Evidence of my work in this area is present in our final presentation (also linked above), where I successfully translated English sentences to Japanese in an interpretive setting. Business Japanese also gave insight into the structure of Japanese language with it's strong focus on Keigo (polite language). I could very clearly see the differences in polite English and Japanese when learning in this class. Overall, this sometimes not so obvious inclusion of linguistics and language comparison has been present in all my Japanese language classes.
Over my time at CSUMB and studying abroad I have worked to improve my language abilities. Aside from learning about culture, being able to use the Japanese language is the skill I am attempting to develop. I think my interpretive and presentational communication abilities in Japanese have improved a lot because of all the reading and listening I've done as well as the many presentations in Japanese I have given. My interpersonal communication ability has improved as well, however, I wish to improve it a lot more. My interpersonal ability has been hindered somewhat by my shyness, so I definitely want to keep working on it. Of course, I wish to continue to improve all of my communication skills, but in the future, I think interpersonal and interpretive will be the most useful to me.
I would also like to continue to develop my linguistic knowledge of both Japanese and English. I think linguistics is a very interesting subject, and as I would like to learn many more languages, I believe a solid knowledge in that subject area will help me build strong foundations for further language learning.
I think the most challenging area of this MLO has been the interpersonal communication element. As I mentioned above, I am shy and have trouble getting over my shyness to talk with people sometimes. I also experience language anxiety, which can prevent me from attempting to use new things that I have learned. Overtime, I've mostly just had to force myself to get over my shyness and anxiety; once I do that, it's not so bad. It's also helped to have friends who are learning Japanese too and are at a similar language level as I am. We can help each other out, and understand what issues we are each having.
I believe learning a language has expanded my mind. Being able to think of concepts across languages and learning to translate between the two has given me more mental flexibility, I think. It has also made me more understanding of other peoples and cultures, as I have seen many cultural differences and similarities through the language itself.