uni UK

[pixibexi]

I want to study japanese.

I was wondering if anyone here knew the best uni to do this in the UK.
I heard about Edinbrugh already & was wondering about other options.
thanks xxx

[Belton]

The Japan Foundation has a list.

Most courses seem to be a dual honours degree rather than being Japanese only.
In a fit of fantasy that I could become a mature student Cambridge's Oriental Studies seemed to be the closest to a Japanese only course. And it doesn't hurt that it's one of the UK's big two universities.

Of course these days you have to think what your return is going to be after you invest your £10k to £15k tuition not to mention all the other costs.
I'm all in favour of learning for learning's sake but the harsh reality is you need to get a job that'll use your studies at the end of it. Or somehow be creative enough to combine your interests and ambitions with making a living.

[pixibexi]

Oh thankyou for the link and your opinion on it.
The uni's ive looked at do japanese combined with oriental studies.
im not 100% sure about it but its all ive wanted to do for a couple of years now and i wanted to start looking.
Thanks again

[Griff]

Have you tried looking through ucas? (ucas.com)

Search by subject and it will give you a list of UK based uni's. Not really that many but you'd hit 2 birds with 1 stone by getting a degree in the language if you're after a working visa.

[nobunaga]

The School of Oriental and African Studies (Part of the University of London)
offer BA Hons in Japanese-they also do evening and weekend Japanese courses.
http://www.soas.ac.uk/
Cheers,
Ian
([/quote]

[JonB]

Sheffield has a really good school as well. I did their distance learning Diploma which takes you to around JLPT level 3. One day if I have the time I would like to do their MA.

[rachelsmith]

I study Japanese at Newcastle University. It has a range of options. I am studying Japanese as part of Combined Studies with 2 other subjects (you can pick almost any subjects to make a personalised degree). I have friends who are doing Japanese and Cultural Studies, Japanese and French, Japanese and German, Japanese and Business Studies etc.

Best check out http://www.ncl.ac.uk

Uni life in the NorthEast is awesome.

[minty247_]

I'm currently studying in Bristol, and there are native japanese teachers teaching japanese. I'm not entirely on whether they offer it as a whole course though.

[Taurus]

Sheffield has a really good school as well. I did their distance learning Diploma which takes you to around JLPT level 3.

Just as a matter of interest, what exactly does a distance learning diploma involve?

[JonB]

Well you get a CD with all the material on - listening and written. At the beginning there is an intro session in the flesh which should not be missed. Every few weeks there is some work to "hand in" and there are regular chats with a native tutor.

The exam at the end involves you actually writing Japanese and not multi choice like JLPT. There is also an oral exam.

Sounds a bit lax - but if you are holding down a regular job it is tough going. Fortunately I was not starting from zero so just about made it through.

Overall I would say around JLPT 3 but much better qualification - especially if you want to learn to write as well

[Taurus]

It doesn't sound lax at all - I struggle to find the time to learn any Japanese at the best of times, so my progress is a series of two-steps forward one-step back.

I wonder how the material compares to the stuff that's available commercially/for free. Did you have to write in Japanese by hand? I'd really struggle with that.