Japanese 102 - Help!

[eloepp]

Hi, I'm new here and just have a few questions... important ones! So any help would be very much appreciated.

Anyway, I've been studying Japanese on my own for a while. I know a decent amount of words, mostly nouns and adjectives, not so many verbs. I have to take a couple of extra classes at my college and wanted to take Japanese. After looking, I found out Japanese 102 is only available this next semester (since Japanese 101 was last semester). I really want to take it, the only problem is I have taken Japanese 101. I figured since I have been studying I might just skip it, so I e-mailed the instructor and asked her if that was possible and a little bit of what I know. She said we could meet and that she would give me some type of test to see where I'm at and if I can skip Japanese 101. So, here's the thing... I'm guessing over all I know more than the average person who has taken Japanese 101 (only) as far as words go, but I also know my learning hasn't been... well-rounded, I guess. I don't know any Kanji and not all of Katakana yet, although I know most of it. Despite that fact I still want to give it a shot. So my question is simply... what else should I know!? I actually have no idea what a Japanese 101 course covers. How many Kanji should I know, and what would help even more, what is the exact Kanji that I need to know? What are the exact words I need to know? I don't have time to get a book, so if anybody knows of any online source that cover a Japanese 101 course it would really help.

With that said, any help / advice is appreciated, but what I really need to know is exactly what is covered, like I've said... and sorry if that sounds picky, but if you just tell me Kanji, for example, studying random Kanji and their meaning probably wont get me far in the week I have to study unless I happen to learn exactly what they teach. Once again, any help would be appreciated!

TLDR;

What material exactly is covered in a Japanese 101 course? What are good, free, online sources?

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by eloepp

Hi, I'm new here and just have a few questions... important ones! So any help would be very much appreciated.

Anyway, I've been studying Japanese on my own for a while. I know a decent amount of words, mostly nouns and adjectives, not so many verbs. I have to take a couple of extra classes at my college and wanted to take Japanese. After looking, I found out Japanese 102 is only available this next semester (since Japanese 101 was last semester). I really want to take it, the only problem is I have taken Japanese 101. I figured since I have been studying I might just skip it, so I e-mailed the instructor and asked her if that was possible and a little bit of what I know. She said we could meet and that she would give me some type of test to see where I'm at and if I can skip Japanese 101. So, here's the thing... I'm guessing over all I know more than the average person who has taken Japanese 101 (only) as far as words go, but I also know my learning hasn't been... well-rounded, I guess. I don't know any Kanji and not all of Katakana yet, although I know most of it. Despite that fact I still want to give it a shot. So my question is simply... what else should I know!? I actually have no idea what a Japanese 101 course covers. How many Kanji should I know, and what would help even more, what is the exact Kanji that I need to know? What are the exact words I need to know? I don't have time to get a book, so if anybody knows of any online source that cover a Japanese 101 course it would really help.

With that said, any help / advice is appreciated, but what I really need to know is exactly what is covered, like I've said... and sorry if that sounds picky, but if you just tell me Kanji, for example, studying random Kanji and their meaning probably wont get me far in the week I have to study unless I happen to learn exactly what they teach. Once again, any help would be appreciated!

TLDR;

What material exactly is covered in a Japanese 101 course? What are good, free, online sources?

My first Japanese class, IIRC, covered all of hiragana and katakana, and 10-50 kanji (maybe the numbers, cardinal directions, up, down, left, right, and a handful of colors and a couple animals). We also learned greetings and a few other stock phrases (こんにちは and such), and how to use the polite present form of verbs (ます form). Of course, we also learned vocabulary for things around the house, shopping, and talking about towns, I think.

Actually, to know for sure, grab a copy of Vol. 1 of Yookoso! and look at the first half of the book. We covered the first half in my first Japanese class.

Go here: Classmates
This is the textbook. Just check your knowledge against the first few chapters. There are some quizzes and such. But just email the prof, ask her what textbook they use and how much they cover in the first semester, buy it, and learn what you don't already know.

[duo797]

Originally Posted by eloepp

TLDR;

What material exactly is covered in a Japanese 101 course? What are good, free, online sources?

Depends on what book you use. You'll definitely learn ひらがな and かたかな, adjectives, verbs and very basic sentence structure. I did the same thing, jumping into Japanese 102 last year and not taking Japanese 101, but I'd been studying by myself on and off for a few years. I say 'check what book' because if you can find someone with the book and ask the teacher where they plan to be second semester, you can know how much you've missed and prepare appropriately.

[eloepp]

thanks for the replies! i'll make sure I master katakana and email the instructor as well, although I'm still worried about the Kanji >.<

[masaegu]

I'll be honest. Don't read if you don't want to get hurt.

The more closely I read your first post, the more strongly I feel that you belong in 101. Not having mastered katakana is just completely out of the question. Not knowing one kanji is rediculous. Some students who happily take 101 already know both kana systems and a few dozen kanji beforehand if it's America that you go to school in.

What's the big deal with knowing some nouns and adjectives and a few verbs? How do you even put words together if you don't know the particles? Not mentioning the particles tells me so much about how much Japanese you already know. Can you conjugate your adjectives as well as the "few" verbs you claim to know?

I don't know what college you're going to, but I can assure you from my own personal experience with U.S. colleges that offer Japanese that you won't last three days in 102 at the tougher ones.

I would love to see you write a paragraph in Japanese. People who have successfully finished 101 can compose nice paragraphs if you believe it or not. I've read and corrected hundreds of them myself.

[eloepp]

Originally Posted by masaegu

I'll be honest. Don't read if you don't want to get hurt.

The more closely I read your first post, the more strongly I feel that you belong in 101. Not having mastered katakana is just completely out of the question. Not knowing one kanji is rediculous. Some students who happily take 101 already know both kana systems and a few dozen kanji beforehand if it's America that you go to school in.

What's the big deal with knowing some nouns and adjectives and a few verbs? How do you even put words together if you don't know the particles? Not mentioning the particles tells me so much about how much Japanese you already know. Can you conjugate your adjectives as well as the "few" verbs you claim to know?

I don't know what college you're going to, but I can assure you from my own personal experience with U.S. colleges that offer Japanese that you won't last three days in 102 at the tougher ones.

I would love to see you write a paragraph in Japanese. People who have successfully finished 101 can compose nice paragraphs if you believe it or not. I've read and corrected hundreds of them myself.

Ah... ok. I'm not sure if you're trying to help or insult me haha. Anyway, I know particles such as Wa / Ga, No, De, Wo/O. 'No' is a little confusing though because it seems to have so many uses. I also know negative / past forms of Nouns / n-adjectives and I-adjectives as well as verbs and I'm studying the different verb bases. It's true that I don't know all of Katakana and no Kanji, but I can have Katakana mastered in a few days and even learn some Kanji before my test.

[chryuop]

Originally Posted by masaegu

I'll be honest. Don't read if you don't want to get hurt.

The more closely I read your first post, the more strongly I feel that you belong in 101. Not having mastered katakana is just completely out of the question. Not knowing one kanji is rediculous. Some students who happily take 101 already know both kana systems and a few dozen kanji beforehand if it's America that you go to school in.

What's the big deal with knowing some nouns and adjectives and a few verbs? How do you even put words together if you don't know the particles? Not mentioning the particles tells me so much about how much Japanese you already know. Can you conjugate your adjectives as well as the "few" verbs you claim to know?

I don't know what college you're going to, but I can assure you from my own personal experience with U.S. colleges that offer Japanese that you won't last three days in 102 at the tougher ones.

I would love to see you write a paragraph in Japanese. People who have successfully finished 101 can compose nice paragraphs if you believe it or not. I've read and corrected hundreds of them myself.

I feel bad now...can you really learn that much in a semester? I guess I am a very slow learner then, coz to learn to write a decent paragraph took me more than a semester

[duo797]

Originally Posted by chryuop

I feel bad now...can you really learn that much in a semester? I guess I am a very slow learner then, coz to learn to write a decent paragraph took me more than a semester

I think it depends on the teacher. You can probably write a paragraph after a semester in most language classes, but they're not necessarily fluid and engaging. Your sentence structure is far from varied, you have a limited vocabulary and a limited set of topics you can competently discuss. I think what most people can say after a semester are things like 'Hello, my name is (name). I am (age) and I live in (place). I can speak (language).'

I do agree that you need カタカナespecially with the 和製英語（わせいえいご） Which are Japanese words in katakana that have been borrowed from other languages (I'm actually not sure if the definition is just english words, though the word itself does mean 'Japanese-made English language' or something along those lines.) You'll run across words that are pretty common in beginning a language like テレビ (television) and スーパー (supermarket). Also, the names of foreign cities and countries are in katakana.

Finally, with regards to Kanji, I think you need to look at what the other students in class have learned. Beginning language classes for Japanese never seem to teach enough kanji so you may not be too far behind.