54
Languages and Literature of Japan and Korea
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to read and write the two phonetic syllabaries (hiragana and katakana) and about 180 synograms (kanji). In addition, they will have acquired basic vocabulary and some basic syntactic-grammatical structures that will enable them to understand simple texts and deal with small conversations.
Additional expected learning outcomes
By the end of this first year, students will already be able to recognize different linguistic registers, which require the use of different forms of certain parts of speech, such as verbs or adjectives, depending on the context. In particular, they will learn the basic rules of pragmatics of the Japanese language, which often involves the use of the unspoken and implies a high degree of inference on the part of the listener. Students will therefore be able to decode the various elements of verbal, paraverbal and nonverbal communication correctly.
Communication Skills:
Students will be able to talk about themselves in a simple way, recount experiences they had, express intentions and desires, ask for information and permission, and express opinions on matters of everyday life.
Learning skills:
Teachers will provide students with useful information on the study methodology to be followed so that what is learned in class, during class hours, will be acquired in a lasting way through independent study at home. The structure of the textbooks will be explained in detail during the teacher’s first lessons, enabling students to make the best use of these tools and exploit them according to their needs.
Course Prerequisites
Knowledge of Italian grammar is essential; intermediate-to-advanced knowledge of English is strongly recommended.
Teaching Methods
The one-year course includes one two-hour lecture each week with an Italian teacher, for a total of 48 hours, and three practical language classes of two hours each with native speaking language instructors, for a total of 144 hours. During the Italian teacher's lecture, new vocabulary and grammatical topics will be introduced from time to time, and students will be encouraged to read short texts, translate or construct sentences using the elements studied, and ask questions about anything they find unclear.
In the instructors’ practical language classes, on the other hand, learners will have the opportunity to practice in an immersive mode what they have learned as theory. Each of the three weekly practical language classes will have a distinct content:
(a) grammar, conversation and in-depth exercises on specific expressions;
(b) reading and writing;
(c) listening and dictation.
In addition to all this, students will be provided with a supplementary course in digital format (e-learning) on the University's electronic platform, within which they will find new interactive exercises each week, with real-time correction, specially created by the professors of the chair based on the syllabus. Distance learning exercises and supplementary activities will also be planned on the Microsoft Teams platform, which students are required to access using their institutional e-mail credentials.
It should be emphasized that although attendance is not mandatory, constant, and above all active participation in each and every lecture and practical language class, as well as the performance of the exercises provided in the virtual classrooms, are a prerequisite for the achievement of the expected results.
Assessment Methods
The course includes two midterm tests with the purpose of allowing students a better understanding of the type of exercises they will face during the end-of-course written exam.
A first test is held during one of the last classes of the first semester. The second test is usually held before the end of April.
Both tests are corrected to each student and returned before a collective review done during one of the classes following the test itself. In addition, students to whom the reasons for the corrections are unclear are invited to meet with the lecturer during student office hours for further discussion.
The final examination consists of a written and oral test
The written test, held online, includes: comprehension passages with true/false and open-ended questions; questions on syntactic-grammatical structures with multiple-choice and open-ended answers; writing and reading kanji (synograms), etc.
NB: Since this is a one-year course, it is not possible to take the written paper before the two semesters of one's year of attendance are over. Therefore, students enrolled in the course for the 2025-2026 academic year will be able to sit for the written exams from June 2026.
The oral examination, which can be taken only after passing the written, consists of:
1. Self-introduction;
2. Reading portions of the textbook: Genki, Vol. I.
3. Questions about the text read. Must be answered without looking at the book;
4. Questions about everyday life;
5. Dictation with verification of knowledge of the characters studied.
6. Translation of sentences from Italian to test knowledge of grammar rules.
Language in which the exam is conducted: Japanese and Italian.
Evaluation criteria: evaluation of the degree of assimilation of grammatical content, correctness and lexical richness, knowledge of characters; ability to apply the acquired notions, correct use of terminology.
Texts
- Banno E., Ikeda Y. et al., An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese. Genki (3rd edition), Vol. 1, The Japan Times, Tokyo, 2016.
- Banno E., Ikeda Y. et al., An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese. Genki. Workbook (3rd edition), Vol. 1, The Japan Times, Tokyo, 2016.
Contents
1. Phonetic lettering systems (hiragana and katakana).
2. Affirmative and interrogative sentences. Connecting two nouns using the particle no.
3. Demonstrative and interrogative pronouns and adjectives. Locatives. The particle mo. Negative sentences. Emphatic particles.
4. Verb conjugation. Particles. Time reference. Inter-negative form. Adverbs of frequency and quantity.
5. Stative verbs. Past tense of copula and verbs. Temporal expressions. The particles mo and to.
6. Adjectives. Extending an invitation. Counting.
7. -Te form. Polite request. Asking/giving permission. Expressing a strong prohibition. Describing two activities. Offering assistance. Causal expressions.
8. -Te iru form. Descriptive phrases. -Te form for compound sentences. Describing one’s movement and purpose. Counting people.
9. Short forms. Informal speech. Quoting a person’s utterances or thoughts. Polite negative request. “I like/I do not like, I am good at/I am not good at doing something”. Indefinite pronouns.
10. Past tense short forms. Qualifying nouns with verbs and adjectives. “I haven't done something yet”. Explanation clauses.
11. Comparison between two items. Comparison among three or more items. Replacing a noun with the pronoun no. Describing what a person is planning. Expressing a change of state. “Some” and “any”. The particle de.
12. Expressing hope or aspiration. Mentioning activities or events. Talking about past experiences. Non-exhaustive lists.
13. Explaining things. The auxiliary verb -sugiru. Giving advice. Formal causal expressions. Expressing an obligation. Hypothetical sentences.
Course Language
Italian/Japanese