Best University to Study Japanese?
 

Hello, I'm from north-west Texas and am going to have to try and get into a university in about a year. I'm not sure what I really want to do yet but want to study Japanese, do you guys know of any decent universities that offer Japanese classes in Texas? I've been told to study Japanese in Japan but that doesn't sound very realistic as I'm a broke high school student that can't find a job.

Being born, raised and educated half the world away from Texas, I wouldn't have the slightest idea. I will, however, ask a good Texan who is a regular in the Language Section to respond to you.

I've considered it and will leave if I must, although I'd be nice to find a place here.

Although studying in Japan would make sense after a couple years of Japanese study, you can certainly lay the foundations for Japanese fluency in a university program in Texas.

I never studied Japanese in Japan, but lived there for a few years after graduating with a four-year degree in Japanese, and I use Japanese every day in my work.

Hi, smug! Nagoyankee directed me to your post back in December, but I didn't see his message until then! I'm so sorry to both of you!

Yes: The University of Texas at Austin has a tremendous Japanese program. I am a product of the program. There is a club for students and non-student Japanese aliens to speak English and Japanese to each other. The professors of the university organize it, and there are always a lot of English and Japanese native speakers there. They meet three times per week for a couple hours (one hour English, one hour Japanese).

UT also has a good selection of study abroad programs. If you attend UT, you can study at Obirin in Tokyo or a couple other universities and pay only UT tuition (which is about 1/3 of the Japanese university tuition). It makes it very affordable to study in Japan.

I majored in Japanese at UT, and I lived in Kanagawa and studied at Obirin for a year. It was amazing! There are also good scholarships to finance it, especially if you can maintain a great GPA. I basically got a full ride to study at Obirin!

Based on my experience in Japan, I think UT has one of the best Japanese programs in the US. Two of us went to Obirin our junior year, and we all tested into the upper-intermediate level our first semester there, and the lower of the two upper levels our second semester. Both of us had only been studying Japanese for two years. The other Americans who tested as high as us had been studying much longer.

I came back to the US and went to law school. The other guy stayed in Japan and now hosts a TV show.

OP if you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to email me at [email protected].