Studies in beforehand

[SvanteH]

I've been thinking lately and I have realised; I want to goto Japan!
This is probably not the first time anyone seen this above statement but it has came to my conclusion that studying Japanese in my own country first would help a lot

First a little about myself,
I'm 19 years old and I am currently living in Lund which is located in Sweden. It has an excellent university here with a wide variety of programs and courses. I just moved here about half a year ago from Stockholm which is the capitol city of Sweden.
I have a twin brother that for at the moment shares the same enthusiasm in Japan as me (if not more!) which I intend to use for my studying purposes (rather throw a ball and know I get it back then throw it at a wall ).

No I have never been in Japan, I intend to visit it at some point of my studying years.

There's two choices I'd like you guys to comment. I've seen that a university degree is better than high school () and even though I could see myself studying English in some (or several) years from now I'd love if I could mix it up a little.

Basically if we want to get down to business, either I study 2(4) courses of Japanese which would after completing the courses mean I could take the JLPT2(2 courses) and pass which would take 1(2) year of my time OR 4 years of a program named:
"Candidate program East- and Southeast Asian Studies" which would be equivalent to a Bachelor's degree.

Obviously the later alternative is better () but I would like to know whether my job opportunities would really differ that much considering both basically teaches Japanese. Possibly I've written it all messy but the pt. is, what would a degree in this subject mean for me when searching for a job, anyone have any examples of jobs that would fit?

Svante

(ps. I'm not getting a hard-on on studying for four years and that's why I am asking since there's quite some difference in years that I would have to stay)

[Shanis]

The first job I would recommend to you is being teacher. You´re coming from a country in which english is your mothertongue (or french? oO), it doesn´t matter at all, you can teach them at least adults who will probably never learn it perfectly so your skills after university should may be enough if you were skilled in english in high school. I don´t know what you learned in high school in english but the grammatic, communication and mediation skills should really be enough
Next is to be translator for some films, documents etc. if you are really skilled in japanese you can do that easily but you´ll sometimes need to know technical terms in japanese as well as in english, so that´s harder then being a teacher.
But I can´t tell you if the bachelor degree will give you such a big advantage, sure it depends on the job you want to take, but you can be sure that native japanese will apply for the job too and your language skills are more important. Even if you have your bachelor but can´t aski for a jack to repair your car or can´t offer some food or drinks you´ll have big trouble and maybe won´t find a job^^

[Kai13]

Cool, exactly the question I wanted to ask, since I'll be also doing a bachelors and masters degree in Asian Studies, hopefully.

The japanese teacher at the college I'll be going said we would be able to spek japanese intermediate level only :|, that's why I'm already studying.

[SvanteH]

Swedish is my mothertounge but I'm sure my English "mad skillz" would be enough for a teaching job. Basically aslong as I can get well in Japenese it doesn't really matter how I did it, just that I need to be good at it.

[SvanteH]

I might aswell ask another question once I'm at it (having a good run, eh?). I've seen these language schools that have 2 yr programs (Sendai Language School) that would mean I would be having to pay off a debt for the next 15 years to the Swedish goverment (student loans). Are these worth considering or do you think studying in your own country will be enough (to a certain extent of course)?

edit: Double posted it seems, I'll keep that in mind for my next posts.

[Shanis]

It´s always better to study in your home country, there you have ppl who talk your language, the prof can speak in your language and the finance is also no problem in most cases^^ It depends on where you are going and how much it will cost. A friend made a course in which he went to london for a year or two, it wasn´t that expensive and was part financed by from the university so it was a good decision to do so. So if you are going for two years to japan in this program you may should do it after you learned enough japanese and if it doesn´t cost too much. Some more details may help me to help you^^ But this are all conclusions you can do on your own and at least you have to decide if you want to do it or not.

[Alastor]

Avoid student loans as much as possible. They'll eat you up alive otherwise No really, it's not that bad, but you should consider them only as some final outcome, or like... a desperate act or something.

Just study Japanese in school, and by yourself. Best way is to get a bunch of Japanese material and study by yourself. Most of the time, the Japanese you learn in schools is overly formal, and studying more on how to use your Japanese is probably important. Ehm, what you can also do is get a summer job. Work big time, save up the money and then travel to Japan and learn more there. I knew this dude who lived there for either half a year or one year - I think it was a year - and could basically talk, read, write and understand Japanese. The best way to learn a language is to constantly expose yourself to it. Watch tons of Japanese stuff, read lots of stuff, then, when you feel you can do it, try scouting out some Japanese dude to talk to You live in the same city as I do, so I know there are lots of Japanese people around (not as many as Chinese though, I think).

Good luck! I myself am considering becoming an English teacher and live in Japan for a while because I really want to see what it's like there, and there are tons of places I want to see. Plus, I dig the asian chicks

[SvanteH]

Originally Posted by Alastor

Good luck! I myself am considering becoming an English teacher and live in Japan for a while because I really want to see what it's like there, and there are tons of places I want to see. Plus, I dig the asian chicks

I'm stuck taking student loans at the moment but still cheaper here than in Japan Don't get me started on the girls :drools:

[Tsuwabuki]

Is English an official language of Sweden? If not, you may have trouble. It can depend largely on your immigration officials. You're supposed to have attended so many years of school in English in order to get the visa, but I know that has usually been waived for people who come from countries where English is one of the native languages; Japan is never going to check if your elementary school was English or bilingual.

[Alastor]

Swedish is the primary and official language of Sweden, but in high school there is a certain course called English CAE or Cambridge English that, upon completion, grants you a CAE - which stands for Certified in Advanced English (or something like that) - which is a diploma that proves you can communicate well in English through written and oral means, and that you can understand spoken and written English as well.

Couple that with some cool English-something education in university and I'd say you're set. Then there is the learning Japanese thing, but that's a different issue.