Japanese

Learn Japanese at UT Austin.

The Japanese language is spoken by close to 125 million people, most of who live in Japan. It is a member of the Japanese-Ryukyuan language family, but little is known of its prehistory. Though the Chinese writing system was imported to Japan through the spread of Buddhism, Japanese has no genealogical relationship with Chinese. It makes extensive use of Chinese characters, or kanji, but the writing system also includes two syllabic scripts: hiragana, used to write native words for which there are no kanji, and katakana, used for words that have been introduced to Japanese from other languages.

For more information on our Japanese program, please see the Japanese program website. The program also has its own study help site, JOSHU.

Students transferring in credit from ACC or UTSA will most likely need to repeat some courses here. ACC uses the same textbook as UT, but we finish the textbook during the fourth semester, and ACC goes only halfway through. Most students who have 4 semesters from ACC will want to pick up here with JPN 611D. Students from UTSA will most likely want to repeat whatever the last semester is that they took at UTSA. They should always let the instructor know that they are coming from another university on the first day, so, if necessary, they can get into a higher or lower level before the 4th class day.

Learn More About Lower and Upper Japanese Courses Below

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Lower-Division Courses

JPN 601D, Japanese I

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Designed for students with no previous coursework in Japanese. Emphasis on basic skills in listening and speaking Japanese and in reading and writing hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Introduction to Japanese culture. Includes computer-assisted instruction. Six lecture hours a week for one semester.

JPN 610D, Japanese II

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Expands on skills acquired in Japanese 601D or its equivalent. Includes computer-assisted instruction. Six lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Japanese 601D or 506 with a grade of at least C.

JPN 611D, Intermediate Japanese

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Intermediate level of competency in Japanese to enable students to function in a variety of real-life contexts. Six lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Japanese 507 or 610D with a grade of at least C.

JPN 317C, Japanese Grammar, Composition, and Conversation

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Designed to prepare students for specialized advanced Japanese language courses. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Japanese 611D with a grade of at least C.

Upper-Division Courses

JPN 320K, Readings in Modern Japanese I

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Readings in expository prose at the intermediate level. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Japanese 412L or 317C with a grade of at least C.

JPN 320L, Readings in Modern Japanese II

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Japanese 320K with a grade of at least C.

JPN 322, Classical Japanese

An introduction to the principal elements of premodern literary or "classical" Japanese (bungo), the standard form of the written language. A survey of the principal linguistic features, close reading, and translation of a variety of prose and poetry texts. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Japanese 322 and 384 (Topic 1: Classical Japanese) may not both be counted. Prerequisite: Japanese 320L with a grade of at least C.

JPN 325K, Advanced Conversation I

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Conversations on more complex situations and topics; designed to continue students' development of conversation skills taught in Japanese 412L. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Japanese 412L or 317C with a grade of at least C.

JPN 325L, Advanced Conversation II

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Japanese 325K with a grade of at least C.

JPN 326, Business Japanese

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Advanced Japanese conversation, with emphasis on business vocabulary. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Japanese 412L or 317C with a grade of at least C.

JPN 327, Advanced Reading and Writing of Kanji Characters

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Building more advanced vocabulary and kanji knowledge through systematic study (recognition, reading, and writing) of kanji. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Japanese 412L or 317C with a grade of at least C.

JPN 330, Topics in Advanced Japanese

Not open to native speakers of Japanese. Fourth-year Japanese readings on special topics. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Japanese 320L with a grade of at least C.

Advanced Readings in Newspaper Articles. Advanced Japanese readings, with emphasis on vocabulary.
Practical Readings in Advanced Japanese. Practical readings in advanced Japanese, including essays, short stories, comic strips, and newspaper and magazine articles.