Temple University via GI Bill

6 comments

1. “Do not go to TUJ” should be in the rules. It’s a fucking joke and a waste of time.

   Just google “temple university Japan Reddit” to see some “testimonials” of people who have attended.

2. Firstly, there’s a few things off with your initial assumptions about degrees and job markets. Getting a bachelor’s in Japanese language won’t really qualify you for…. anything, really. Translation is an entire field separate from the 2+ languages you’d also need to begin learning it. It’s also a flooded field in Japan for J->E which is what you would be doing, and you would need a specialization to be competitive (engineering, medical, law translation etc.). To be a “certified” English teacher, you’d need an MA and/or a license to do anything but entry level ALT/Eikaiwa stuff, which isn’t a career and pays fairly low. There is no real market that has a demand for “English speakers”, maybe bi-lingual or native English and JLPT1 + fluent Japanese + industry/field specific skills.

   Second, Temple is a “meh” university, and degrees from nearly any Japanese university that aren’t in the top 5 are not competitive internationally, especially not bachelors. It would be far better for you to just choose a practical field you want to gain skills in and go from there to target a university. If your idea is that a foreigner with Japanese ability is valuable… it’s really not, at that point you’re basically just a Japanese person with a heavy accent and a high school education in most fields in Japan.

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5. > I’m just trying to get a degree in the Japanese language so I can be a certified translator/English teacher/tutor or some other job in the market that has a demand for English speakers.

   Translation is an insanely competitive industry with an oversaturated market. English teaching is a low-skill, low-pay industry with no upwards mobility that just needs warm bodies. Wasting your GI Bill on Temple to try to work in either of these fields is a waste of the opportunity.

   If you’re serious about translation, the best way to have a viable chance of working in that industry is to specialize in something with a demand for translators — namely medical, scientific and technical fields. You need to have a solid knowledge of the material you’re working with to be a halfway decent translator. This would involve, say, majoring in biology and minoring in Japanese, possibly getting a Masters to further specialize in something so you could then work in scientific translation.

   If you just want to translate anime, get in line; there’s 10,000 kids behind you with the same ambitions, and many are already pretty fluent in Japanese.

   Go to a good school in the US and study abroad for a semester or year in Japan. The US taxpayers are giving you an opportunity people would kill for: free college. Don’t waste it on some shit-tier school to teach the ABCs to kids for $20,000 a year.

6. As someone who’s had friends who attended TUJ and done research on it, do not attend it. You will regret it. Getting a bachelor’s within any field would be enough to work in Japan. But DO NOT major in a language. I’m telling you right now. You should major in linguistics or education or somewhere around those fields of study. Language fluency is something you do in your own time. I honestly never understood why this is even a major in the first place. Most jobs especially in Japan prefer you to know the language AND have an actual skill for you to be an asset.