Hello,
I just submitted my application to Waseda SILS as someone who has lived in the United States my whole life, only speaking English. I plan to stay in Japan after I graduate so I was wondering: will I be able to become a fluent speaker by the time I graduate (or hopefully before), solely taking Waseda SILS Japanese learning classes? Of course, this is assuming I put full effort into the classes. I feel like complete immersion (living in Tokyo) will help me learn the language quickly but would love to hear any insight or advice anyone could give. I ask this because I know a lot of times, classroom language learning through a school is usually terrible and they often teach you the “textbook” version of the language that is very different compared to native speakers (I base this off of my experience taking Spanish in school).
Thank you!
2 comments
I’ve never studied at a language school such as Waseda. However, I think you can reach a low to mid intermediate level of proficiency. I am assuming you are not from China or another region that uses Chinese characters. ( I could be completely wrong)
Hope for the best outcome but don’t be crushed if you can’t read/watch anything you want after the course is complete. Just be realistic about your expectations for fluency. It would depend on what you actively study both in the classroom and back outside in the real world. The course is set up most likely to pass the JLPT either the N3 or N2. You should research what those tests focus on.
I would say you could get conversational (daily life/school life) and have a good start to your reading ability. But might struggle to keep up with many unstructured and unfamiliar conversation topics. But would have an amazing foundation to build off of once you enter Japan as a worker or student.
Edit: Genuinely curious. Are you doing the 4 year program?
It seems like the course you are taking is designed for the JLPT.
>By graduation, the program has effectively guided participants to fluency in conversational Japanese, as well as sufficient written composition, reading and listening comprehension skills. The SP2 Japanese program also includes support for students pursuing Level 1 certification in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test and/or employment in Japan.
It’s been about 2.5 years since I was at Waseda so things may have changed. I was also a part of the SILS department but the Japanese classes were offered through CJL (Center for Japanese Language). I took one of the comprehensive Japanese courses (Comprehensive 2 I believe) but my second semester I stopped taking the comprehensive course and so did many other study abroad students. It’s not that the courses were bad, but you do learn from a textbook and I would say we were still taught the “textbook” version as you said; the first 5 or 6 comprehensive courses had classes on Saturday which for those of us only there for a short time (1 year max) who wanted to go on trips or participate in school club activities on the weekend, it made it difficult. There are other Japanese courses that were more specific (kanji, learning Japanese through blogging, technological Japanese) those were pretty fun and didn’t meet on Saturdays. You will learn so much Japanese just by living in Japan, especially if you join a school club that focuses on introducing Japanese students and international students to each other, or if you’re living with a host family. I don’t think the Japanese courses are pointless, in fact it might be good for you take comprehensive Japanese the first year since so you can get the basics down, and maybe take some kanji classes as well and see how you feel at the end of the year. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the comprehensive Japanese course I took, but you might feel differently about it. Best of Luck! I loved Waseda overall! feel free to message me if you have any other questions about Waseda or living in Japan