University Education

Japanese is the eighth largest language in the world, with almost 130 million native speakers. Knowledge of the Japanese language is essential for political, cultural and economic relations with Japan. After two years of studying Japanese language and culture, students should have acquired a good foundation in the language and be ready to complete the BA as an exchange student abroad.

Is the program for you??

• Are you interested in the Japanese language?

• Are you interested in Japanese literature and culture?

• Do you want a diverse selection of courses that suit your interests?

• Do you want to open up future opportunities in challenging careers?

What is the study about?

As well as instruction in the language, students are provided with an overview of the history, society and culture of Japan. Students acquire an insight into daily life in Japan, traditional culture and pop culture, the economy, politics and various issues in modern Japanese society. Elective courses give students the chance to find out more about Japanese cinema, anime and literature.

This programme is a 120 ECTS major. If you wish to finish a BA degree, you need to add a 60 ECTS minor programme in another subject, for a total of 180 ECTS.

60 ECTS minor in Japanese language and culture and 60 ECTS Diploma are also offered.

More about majors and minors can be found under the Helpful Content below.

Course topics include:

• Japanese language and language use

• Japanese society and culture

• Japanese cinema

• Japanese history

• Japanese literature

Programme objectives

The programme aims to teach students the most important rules of Japanese grammar and enable them to communicate in spoken Japanese.

Students will also explore written Japanese: kana and kanji, and learn to read and write the characters relevant to the course material. Students will master the vocabulary needed to read and write simple texts.

The programme starts by teaching students the basics of the written language, which is an essential foundation for learning Japanese.

• Hiragana. Used to write words of Japanese origin

• Katakana. Used to write words of foreign origin – e.g. foreign proper nouns are written using these characters

• Kanji. Chinese logographic characters used alongside Hiragana and Katakana

The Kana syllabary can be quickly learned at the start of the programme and students continue to improve their understanding of Kanji characters as they expand their vocabulary and master the grammar. After completing the programme, students will have an understanding of Japanese culture and cultural history, be able to hold conversations on general topics in Japanese and be able to read and write simple texts.

Exchange studies for students of Japanese

Students can go on exchange to a Japanese university or another university abroad that teaches Japanese and has a partnership agreement with the University of Iceland. Priority for places is given to students majoring in Japanese (180 ECTS) who are in their third year or have completed 120 ECTS in Japanese.

The Japanese Ministry of Education offers two Monbukagakusho scholarships, intended to cover travel and maintenance costs, tuition fees and various other costs of studying in Japan. IJCE (Iceland Japan Cultural Exchange) also invites several students to take part in a student conference in Japan and Iceland each year.

About Japanese

Japanese is the eighth largest language in the world, with almost 130 million native speakers. Knowledge of the Japanese language is essential for political, cultural and economic relations with Japan.

After two years of studying Japanese, students should have acquired a good foundation in the language and be equipped for graduate studies in Japanese at a university abroad.