Description:
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This course develops functional use of Japanese language for various types of situations and events that occur in the daily business environment. The types of situations include formal introductions, basic business rules, business etiquette, honorifics, and how to write business documents and email. It also presents and expands on cultural perspectives and concepts as they impact the business world. Taught in Japanese.
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Course Narrative
In Business Japanese class, my classmates and I practised using Japanese in a culturally appropriate matter, in regards to business in Japan. We were given circumstances to improve upon our Japanese and study elements of business culture, by presenting and discussing in small groups. It satisfied MLO 1 by giving me a business setting in which to learn proficiency in a professional setting and guiding me through a system of critical thinking about structural differences between Japanese and English. Structures such as the appropriate dress code for men and women in the work place, the way superiors are addressed and the way that superiors address their inferiors.
Each week, students reflected upon elements of Japanese Business culture by answering questions. These questions asked about relative situations, forms of dialogue and documents. In these reflections (see pdf example), I have learned a lot about the differences in formal speech. The polite and honorific being higher than the casual speech style, are sometimes difficult to tell apart, but necessary as different people’s actions are spoken of in a different way depending upon who is being spoken to. For example, to say 「お召し上がりになります」is too polite when speaking about a superior's actions, and one should instead simply use 「召し上がります」 when speaking of a superior's actions. However, if you are speaking to somebody from outside of the company or group, that person's actions, being that they are within your company or group, are spoken of in the humble form. These are just examples of the application of Business Japanese, both in a language construct and a cultural aspect.
The final for this class was a twenty minute collaborative video done with two other students (click to watch on youtube). In this video, we presented a series of information about business language, in a dramatic style that also tells the viewers how to use business Japanese. For this, we went through a long process of writing a script (see pdf example) that incorporated items from each chapter of our text, and then we went through a process of shooting and editing video feed. The final piece of the creation was set up to demonstrate basic structures for speaking in the work place with coworkers.
In five years I see myself becoming a secondary language teacher. Towards that goal from this position, I am to better my language skills with formal over casual speaking styles, as well as improve my understanding of cultural concepts within the Japanese Business world that are not mirrored in the American Business World. My goal is to improve my proficiency in Japanese, especially with a focus on formality and cultural relativity.
Each week, students reflected upon elements of Japanese Business culture by answering questions. These questions asked about relative situations, forms of dialogue and documents. In these reflections (see pdf example), I have learned a lot about the differences in formal speech. The polite and honorific being higher than the casual speech style, are sometimes difficult to tell apart, but necessary as different people’s actions are spoken of in a different way depending upon who is being spoken to. For example, to say 「お召し上がりになります」is too polite when speaking about a superior's actions, and one should instead simply use 「召し上がります」 when speaking of a superior's actions. However, if you are speaking to somebody from outside of the company or group, that person's actions, being that they are within your company or group, are spoken of in the humble form. These are just examples of the application of Business Japanese, both in a language construct and a cultural aspect.
The final for this class was a twenty minute collaborative video done with two other students (click to watch on youtube). In this video, we presented a series of information about business language, in a dramatic style that also tells the viewers how to use business Japanese. For this, we went through a long process of writing a script (see pdf example) that incorporated items from each chapter of our text, and then we went through a process of shooting and editing video feed. The final piece of the creation was set up to demonstrate basic structures for speaking in the work place with coworkers.
In five years I see myself becoming a secondary language teacher. Towards that goal from this position, I am to better my language skills with formal over casual speaking styles, as well as improve my understanding of cultural concepts within the Japanese Business world that are not mirrored in the American Business World. My goal is to improve my proficiency in Japanese, especially with a focus on formality and cultural relativity.
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