MLO 1: Language and Communication
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 including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and discourse and compare and analyze the structural differences between Japanese and English. |
Courses Taken:JAPN 303: Business Japanese
JAPN 395: Japan: Land and People JAPN 304: Intro to Translation & Interpretation Sample Evidence
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Reflective Narrative1.1 While all my classes contributed greatly toward the completion of this MLO, I believe that my study abroad experience was the best way for me to accomplish the part of the MLO 1 requirements. Being immersed in another language was the most effective way to incorporate what I had learned inside the classroom. Additionally, I was able to communicate with Japanese natives everywhere I went. Shiga was perhaps the best place for this because unlike a bigger city, English was scare and I was left with no other option except to use my Japanese. I believe that my time in Japan set me up for success in the classroom upon my return to CSUMB. One of the first classes I enrolled in was Business Japanese, which taught entirely in Japanese. This class was instrumental in helping me achieve the MLO 1 requirement because it taught me a facet of Japanese communication I had little knowledge of. Each class we would learn different facets of Japanese in a business setting. We studied polite Japanese expressions and grammar, proper email/letter formatting, and proper office etiquette. The many in-class discussion and practice sessions that we had also contributed greatly towards my ability to communicate in a professional manner. The skills that I acquired in this class also translated well to classes taught in Japanese that I would take the next semester.
1.2 JAPN 395 was a class that helped me fill the second requirement to MLO1. Like the business class I took the previous semester, it was taught entirely in Japanese. In this class I learned the basic geography of Japan, its weather climates, and vast cultural aspects. This was a very demanding course in the sense that I was asked to make numerous comparisons and contrasts. The class was also often asked to describe new aspects of Japan that was learned through the class, give mini presentations, and learn/use new grammar tools to better help us describe and compare what we were learning. Another class that helped fulfill the second requirement to this MLO was JAPN 304. This course was very demanding, yet also extremely rewarding. In this class we learned what it meant to translate and interpret Japanese into English and vice versa. In order to accurately and effectively do so, we were required to test our grasp on the Japanese language. We had to learn sentence structure and how it differs in Japanese and English. Furthermore, we were required to gain a better understanding of English in order to better translate and interpret what we were reading into Japanese. The second part of the class was focus on interpretation, which is the listening portion of the class. Since translator and interpreters do not use dictionaries while working, we were discourage from using ours in class. This lead us to have a profoundly better understanding of vocabulary, sentence structure. Each assignment in the class was extremely rewarding because each finished assignment was a better indicator of our progress translating and interpreting. Each assignment had a tendency to show marked improvement over the last, and was extremely fun to do. |