MLO 1: Japanese Language and CommunicationMLO 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.
MLO 1.2 Students gain competency in the Japanese language and linguistics including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and discourse. Students compare, contrast, and analyze the structural differences between Japanese and English. On the right is a list of courses I have taken either at CSUMB or in Japan that fulfull MLO 1.1 and 1.2. |
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MLO 1.1
The activities we did in JAPN300 were skits and oral presentations (see Evidence 1). In our skits, we practiced memorizing and presenting lines from different cultural situations. For example, one of our skits was about gift-giving in Japan. We had to practice how to say things like "tsumaranai mono desu ga," which can translate to "it's not much, but...". We also had to practice rejecting the gift a few times before taking it, to show modesty. It's similar to the U.S. where you would say something like, "No, I can't take it. It's too expensive." or "This is much too nice a gift for me to take.", but you end up taking it in the end. It was my first time to learn about how the modesty in Japanese culture plays into the language as well. For the oral presentations, we were asked a set of questions from the professor in Japanese, and were expected to reply on the spot. We were graded on our presentation of our response to the questions, and how we phrased our sentences. JAPN302 wholeheartedly related to the interpretive nature of MLO 1.1 because our textbook had Japanese history written in Japanese, and our duty in class was to interpret what the author was saying through class discussion and learning new words and kanji. We also had online forums where we had to respond to a prompt in Japanese, which would be corrected by the professor afterwards, effectively enabling me to see my mistakes and learn from them.
MLO 1.2
Coming into the Japanese Language and Culture program at CSUMB was the first time I became able to concretely learn about the Japanese language. In 100-200 level Japanese classes, the professors teach in English. However, the 300 levels or above are taught in Japanese, which is the first step in achieving MLO 1.2, where we gain competency in phonetics and phonology. As soon as I experienced curriculum being taught in Japanese in JAPN300, I experienced a whole new type of learning. I began to recognize the differences in intonation and how they change the word. I also learned exactly how important the long vowel (ex. "oo" or "ii") and double consonant (ex. "kk" or "tt") are. When I entered JAPN401, it was my first time learning that there was something called "pitch accent", which is essential to the Japanese language. Pitch accent is where the pitch falls on the word and it can go high to low or low to high. For example, if we take the word for candy (ame) and rain (ame), they look the same to English speakers. However, the way you pronounce candy is ah-meh, and the way you pronounce rain is AHmeh. The pitch falls on the "a" part of "ame". In this class, we also learned grammar from a textbook that was preparation for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test level 3. It was my first time learning grammar that was more complex than beginner levels. We also learned the phonetic alphabet (see Evidence 2). I believe JAPN401 was the class that was most essential to deepening my understanding of the Japanese language, and fulfilling MLO 1.
Evidence 1: On the right is evidence for my fulfillment of MLO 1.1, in the form of an oral presentation where we had to use proper honorifics while describing why we would be good candidates for the job we applied for.
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Evidence 2: On the right is evidence of my fulfillment of MLO 1.2, in learning the phonetic alphabet in English and Japanese. This class was the biggest help in correcting my pronunciation of Japanese words.
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