Question about majoring in a language at Monash (and also, any drama students?)

[kiki.]

Hi everyone,
After I graduate high school I plan to major in Japanese in Monash University. I've looked at the subject reviews but I've still got some questions on my mind. If anyone can answer them, that'll be great, thank you I'm new here so let me know if I've posted in the wrong place.

- Will majoring in a language in uni allow me to reach fluency? (I'm currently doing VCE Japanese at the moment, so I've got a start. Will Uni help prepare me for passing for example JLPT 3-5?)
- How big are the classes?
- Is there any Japanese exchange students to Monash or any opportunity to practice Japanese at Monash?
- Is it just the Japanese language or do you also learn the culture?

For drama students doing the arts degree, what's your experience like? Do you learn any practical things or is it all theory? I've never learned drama so I'll love to learn it at Monash.

Thank you for your time!

[www]

Hi kiki! Welcome to the forums.

I'm not doing Japanese, but I am doing Korean at Monash (not sure if I'm majoring just yet); hope I can answer some questions though! Keep in mind this is from only my experience/knowledge gained from one introductory unit.

1. Not sure as it would be very specific to how they constructed the Japanese language units. But... I'm studying Education alongside Arts, and they seem to say a major in a language (not your native lang) is enough to be able to be registered as a LOTE teacher under the Victorian Institute of Teaching. So probably fluent (if not, very close to fluent), but not fluent fluent or native fluent. That's very vague, sorry!

2. Korean introductory classes are about 20 people, with very cramped lectures. Japanese runs on a different class system, but I can try and get in contact with some friends who do Japanese to get some insight!

3. I know there are exchange programs you can go on, but not sure if there are exchange Japanese students at Monash. I am also not 100% certain about official practice mediums, but there are definitely ways of practising languages through other methods. Monash is pretty diverse, so finding a Japanese native or speaker to talk to shouldn't be too hard. Once you are into Monash and are able to contact the Japanese studies staff, they could definitely try and help you.

4. Because you will have completed Japanese in VCE, you would be excluded from doing introductory Japanese (i.e. you'd start your Japanese language units from intermediate or proficient depending on your competency). There is an online test you can take made by Monash to see what stream you should get placed into, so try that after your studies are over! Taking a look at the handbook, a major does include culture units, not just language (this seems to be the case for most languages anyway). Culture units is an encompassing term for units that delve into Asian history or society more generally, but also some more 'general' culture stuff like etiquette. Both are sometimes specific and non-specific to the language you are studying. Things like etiquette are often thrown in where possible in the language units anyway. The lecturers and tutors have tried to throw in some cultural/etiquette tips for Korean intro at least.

Can't answer your drama questions with confidence. Though, I feel theory is definitely part of it.

EDIT:

Found your question in the Ask Monash Uni thread and thought I'd tack it onto this:

Hi Monash,
I want to do a double degree in teaching and arts but I want to take electives from fine arts. Is that possible? I'm really interested doing CDS2531 (Illustration for animation).

Thank you for your time!

Unfortunately, Education/Arts is very strict on what they allow you to do from what faculty. This is because you have to meet the requirements of the Education degree, the Arts degree, AND additional requirements to be able to sit the 4th year of your Education degree (i.e. taking the appropriate major/minor so you are qualified for 2 areas of teaching). Although there are electives as part of the Arts requirement, these are FORCED Arts faculty only (at least I've been told that and the course map says that).

[kiki.]

Hi www,
I really appreciate the quick and detailed reply! I'm glad to hear someone else is also studying both Education and Arts. Could you explain more how you're not sure if you're "majoring" in it yet? When you enter your degree, do you have to decide your major or minor right away or is there like a day you try out things?

Thank you so much for your time!

[www]

Hi www,
Could you explain more how you're not sure if you're "majoring" in it yet? When you enter your degree, do you have to decide your major or minor right away or is there like a day you try out things?

When you accept your offer by enrolling online, you are asked to nominate a major and a minor (or some other valid arrangement like two majors, or a major and 2 minors). This is simply only nominating the area of study and can be changed any time until you have to commit to them (usually end of second year in Edu/Arts?). A major consists of 8 units (usually 2 at first year, 2 at second year, and 4 at third year), and a minor consists of 4 units (usually 2 at first year, and 2 at second year).

Even though I'm only a first year student, I know by the end of my second year I would have done enough units to have a Korean studies minor and a Psychology minor - and this is why I haven't quite decided if I'm majoring in Korean studies just yet. I can decide how I feel about Korean studies and Psychology, and pick the one I want to continue into 3rd year. I essentially stop formally studying the one I don't pick as my major. The course map for this year might make it clearer.

However, your choice of majors/minors has to be done with consideration of what you want to teach. The list of what is required to be able to go into 4th year Education studies for your specialist areas is here. A minor in Korean studies and Psychology already qualifies me for two areas (EAL and Psychology), so I'm pretty much just picking what I want to study further in 3rd year. Doing a major in Korean studies lets me pick between LOTE or EAL, alongside Psychology.

It's quite confusing now. It all becomes quite clear once you are studying at Monash and able to reach out to their support services such as course advisers! Keep the questions coming if you got any, happy to answer.

[kiki.]

Thank you so much www! I don't have anymore questions now but when I do I'll let you know.

[AngelWings]

To the OP,

I did Japanese as an elective after VCE for my degree up until last year. Maybe you should consider the Diploma of Languages (Japanese) instead if you're not looking for a full degree in it. This gives you more leeway if you wish. Just saying, even though it looks like you're adamant in majoring in it. 

- Will majoring in a language in uni allow me to reach fluency? (I'm currently doing VCE Japanese at the moment, so I've got a start. Will Uni help prepare me for passing for example JLPT 3-5?)

Yup. I finished Japanese Proficient (there's four levels at Monash: Beginners, Intermediate - where most just-finished-VCE students start, Proficient and Advanced). That's equivalent to mostly N2, I think, in the JPLT. My friends have done Advanced Semester 1, which is equivalent to N1, however, you don't study the same thing as JPLT ie you'd have to study for it in your own time, nor do you take the test as part of the curriculum. My only warning for you is that everything is quicker in uni; it'll get difficult, fast. I hope you're up for the challenge.

- How big are the classes?

Uni isn't like high school where you have the same set of people in every class. Instead at Monash, they have 3 sessions. At most levels, except Advanced, you'll have a lecture (1 hr), a tutorial (1 hr) and a seminar (2 hr). Each of those has different people. Lecture has everyone. Tutorial and seminar are more similar to your high school experience; there are maybe 15-20 students and small classrooms.
You'll be doing much more speaking practise than you did in high school. Advanced has a workshop instead of a lecture, I think.

- Is there any Japanese exchange students to Monash or any opportunity to practice Japanese at Monash?

Plenty! You'll get  visitor sessions where you talk to visiting exhange students once a semester.
Outside of class, you have the opportunities to join the Japanese Club or check out the Manga Library on Clayton campus, regardless of degree.

- Is it just the Japanese language or do you also learn the culture?

You learn both in all of your classes in primarily Japanese. The emphasis is on the language though in the four levels.
There are also cultural electives that are taught in English that you must do if you're doing a Japanese major. They include essays in English.

For drama students doing the arts degree, what's your experience like? Do you learn any practical things or is it all theory? I've never learned drama so I'll love to learn it at Monash.

Is this for your minor? I believe if you've never tried it before, you should leave it as a minor or elective. Unfortunately, I am not well versed in Drama, so I'll leave this to another user.

[kiki.]

Hi AngelWings!

Thank you so much for your advice. Could you explain to me what's the difference between seminar, tutorial and lecture?
Also, is it really difficult listening to the seminar in Japanese? I hear there's no recordings so if you misunderstand something from the class, will it heavily affect your exam?

It's my dream to become fluent in Japanese so I'm up for the challenge How much sleep did you lose, if you don't mind me asking? Did you have to cram?

[AngelWings]

Could you explain to me what's the difference between seminar, tutorial and lecture?

Lecture: listen and learn content. Usually culture and grammar.
Tutorial: more classroom-like. You learn more grammar and practise it. Some speaking practise, some vocab and/ or kanji based assessment.
Seminar: more practise and speaking tasks. Some bigger assessment.
This is not strictly speaking though. You'll get the timetable within the first week of semester.

Also, is it really difficult listening to the seminar in Japanese? I hear there's no recordings so if you misunderstand something from the class, will it heavily affect your exam?

Both the tutorials and the seminars are not recorded, but the slides are given at the end of the week anyway, so you'll never really have that issue. The teachers tend to strictly stick to the slides. They're super methodical and you'll find they run by routine.

How much sleep did you lose, if you don't mind me asking? Did you have to cram?

It's hard to gauge, because I'm slow at doing homework, slower than your average person. I personally found Intermediate just fine and rarely lost sleep, except for the oral assessments and projects. In Proficient, definitely more lost sleep, because they have regular homework sheets and would only run through the grammar hours or the day before it was due (you choose a time of several for your timetable). 
If you haven't seen me around AN, I have been working between two jobs and uni since the end of my first year (first year I worked one job - a different one to the ones I am working; I'm now in third year for reference). Last year (Proficient), I had my seminar on Friday mornings and often had homework due, so I'd stay up after work for a few hours  on Thursday nights, to finish it. 
Cramming probably won't help much with Japanese, but as a last resort, it was a possible solution. They really ask you to know the grammar well, so I tried not to cram except where necessary (all the large assessments).

[kiki.]

Thank you so much AngelWings!

[julie9300]

Hi everyone,
After I graduate high school I plan to major in Japanese in Monash University. I've looked at the subject reviews but I've still got some questions on my mind. If anyone can answer them, that'll be great, thank you I'm new here so let me know if I've posted in the wrong place.

- Will majoring in a language in uni allow me to reach fluency? (I'm currently doing VCE Japanese at the moment, so I've got a start. Will Uni help prepare me for passing for example JLPT 3-5?)
- How big are the classes?
- Is there any Japanese exchange students to Monash or any opportunity to practice Japanese at Monash?
- Is it just the Japanese language or do you also learn the culture?

For drama students doing the arts degree, what's your experience like? Do you learn any practical things or is it all theory? I've never learned drama so I'll love to learn it at Monash.

Thank you for your time!

This was posted a while ago but hopefully this is still helpful:

1. I came in to uni expecting to be fluent by the end of finishing a major in Japanese (eventually I picked up a diploma in Japanese, which, unit-wise, is equivalent to a major), and honestly it's all about hard work. If you go through the classes with the aim of just doing well for the sake of an assignment/exam like I was towards proficient/advanced, you won't come out fluent. You'll certainly come to be more comfortable in speaking the language (which to me is what matters most), but even native fluency isn't something you'll reach with just a major alone.

The classes aren't designed with JPLT in mind. So if you're planning on sitting the JLPT test, be prepared to study a lot on top of your uni exams etc! When I completed advanced, our lecturer told us that we should be able to sit the N2 exam, but pretty much all of us knew that was definitely not the case (99% of us who did the JLPT ended up going for N3 instead)! That's not to say the N2 is impossible, it's just you'll have a lot of studying to do (on top of uni work as well) and it's recommended you study at least 3 months before the exam (I crammed a couple of weeks before the exam, after my uni exams were finally finished, and just managed to pass).

2. Not sure how big is big, but on average we probably had about ~15-20 students in a seminar/tutorial class.

3. Plenty of opportunities to practice Japanese at Monash. In class it's recommended you speak Japanese, but they also invite in exchange students every semester for you to practice speaking. You could also join the Japanese clubs if you really wanted extra opportunities.

4. You definitely learn culture, although compared to the other languages taught at Monash, there's certainly more emphasis on the language rather than culture (which, if you ask me, is a huge plus)

[kiki.]

Hi julie9300!! Thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate it. About your diploma, I heard it's studied during your degree with a year added to the end. Is that true? Is it hard balancing it out? I really would like to study another language in addition to Japanese.

Do you also know how much it costs? I can't find it. I assume around $6,000 + ?