ObjectivesJapan is an exciting country, maintaining fascinating traditional culture while fully embracing modernity and technology. Aspects of its culture, ranging from cinema, literature and manga to martial arts, continue to be an important influence on the West The four-year degree course combines intensive study of the Japanese language with Spanish and a selection of lecture-based modules on Spain, Latin America, Japan and East Asia. The third year of the course is spent at one of our partner universities in Japan, providing an excellent opportunity to enhance your language skills and to immerse yourself in Japanese society. The Japanese language is taught intensively from scratch, covering all the necessary skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. You learn the phonetic scripts (kana) from the outset, and learn the roughly 2000 Sino-Japanese characters (kanji) needed over the four years of the course. You encounter over a quarter of these in the first year. By the end of the first year you will have covered most of the core grammar of the language, and from the second year of the course you start to deal with real texts, including newspapers, and you develop compositional, summary, translation and presentational skills in the language. The Japan-related lecture-based modules cover a range of disciplines, so you can choose modules on contemporary society, literature, cinema, minorities, politics, economics, gender, modern history, business management or international relations. There are also some modules dedicated to reading Japanese literature in the original language, including both modern literature and the pre-modern language. On the Spanish side you develop your written and oral fluency in Spanish, supported by small-group learning on a weekly basis and by language laboratory, video and satellite TV facilities as well as weekly classes with native speakers. The School of East Asian Studies is one of the main centres for Japanese in Europe, and is one of two universities' departments that constitute the National Institute of Japanese Studies.
Entry requirementsEntry requirementsGCE/VCE A Level - ABB Two GCE A Levels plus two GCE AS Levels - BB+BB Scottish Highers - AABB-ABBB Irish Leaving Cert. - ABBBB International Baccalaureate - 33 points Core Requirements - Grade B in GCE A Level Spanish
Academic titleBA Japanese Studies with Spanish
Course descriptionOur students usually select from a range of compulsory and optional modules to add up to 120 credits.
Some departments offer courses that don't feature optional modules whereas other courses are fully flexible.
Important notice :
This is a list of modules that have been offered in the past. We expect similar modules to be offered for courses starting in 2009.
This information is provided for illustration only and you should check with the department directly when applying to confirm module options.
Typical First Year Modules
Japanese Language I 40
Japanese Language II 40
Spanish Advanced: Language and Culture I 20
Spanish Advanced: Language and Culture II 20
Typical Second Year Modules
Contemporary Japanese Society 20
Japanese Language III 20
Japanese Language IV 20
Advanced Spanish Language I 10
Advanced Spanish Language II 10
Business and the Economy of Japan 20
Evolution of the Japanese Language 20
Issues in Modern Japanese History 20
Japan's Minorities 20
Literature and Society in Contemporary Japan 20
Postwar Japanese Politics 20
Cinema, Nation and Identity in the Hispanic World 10
Contemporary Latin America (Cuba) 10
Contemporary Latin America (Mexico) 10
Cuban Culture and the Revolution 10
Further Portuguese: Language and Culture I 10
Further Portuguese: Language and Culture II 10
Hispanic Film and Human Rights 10
Intensive Catalan I 10
Intensive Catalan II 10
Intensive Portuguese I 10
Intensive Portuguese II 10
Linguistic Developments in Modern Spain 10
Narrative Perspectives on Post-Civil War Spain 10
Representations of Latin America 10
Spain and Enlightenment 10
Spanish American 20th-Century Literature I 10
Spanish Language in Business Contexts 10
The Novels of Benito Perez Galdos 10
Troubled Times: Writers and Social Conflict in the Spain of the 1930s 10
Typical Third Year Modules
Japan Year Abroad 120
Typical Fourth Year Modules
Japanese Language V 20
Japanese Language VI 20
Spanish as a Subsidiary Subject: Language III 10
Spanish as a Subsidiary Subject: Language IV 10
Dissertation 20
East Asian Dissertation 20
Gendering Japan 20
Japan in the World 20
Readings in Contemporary Japanese Literature 20
Spanish Language Teaching 20
The Japanese Written Language Since 1800 20
The Modern Japanese Novel (In translation) 20
Work and Society in Japan 20
Dissidence and Debate in Early 20th-Century Spain 10
Genesis and Genre: From Novel to Play to Screen: Galdos Today 10
Law and Culture in the Hispanic World 10
Media Ethics in the Hispanic World 10
Modern Peru 10
Modern Uruguayan Narrative 10
Musical Performance and Hispanic Culture 10
Popular Culture and Society in Latin America 10
Sexual Politics in Latin American Fiction 10
The Politics and Fiction of Crisis: 1868 - 1898 10
The Rise of Popular Culture in Latin American Fiction 10