JP2000 Lecture Notes


PREFACE

This Lecture Notes is designed to assist you to glance through the important items in each lesson, and to provide further information to clarify them. Much new information is introduced in order to complement the textbook. In the Appendices, vocabulary, useful expressions, and other practical information are provided for reference. Please make good use of them. The following are the basics of language learning and acquisition.

Why learning language?

Every one is able to develop one native language as long as s/he gets enough exposure to the language and its culture. Many develop multilingual capacity. Language is by far the best medium to educate yourself to be a member of the global village. It is quite exciting to find and learn how other people in different cultures perceive world, express themselves, and interact with each other. It is no exaggeration to say that you will learn about another world. I believe that knowing at least another language as well as your native language is a must for living in an ever changing world.

What is required?

Acquiring another language, however, is not as easy as many people think. It requires a lot of time, patience, self-discipline, strong motivation, and active participation. What is more, once you begin to learn another language, you cannot stop in the middle, for you will forget what you have learned very quickly. In this regard language-learning is a life-long commitment. Good language learners are those who develop originality and creativity, sensitivity to another language and culture, communicative competence and skills in the native and target languages, and personal opinions on various issues. If you are not communicative in your own language, how can you be communicative in another language?

Why learning language in the university?

In foreign language courses at the university level, students are expected to go far beyond learning four skills [listening, speaking, reading, writing] in the target language. By being exposed to a different language and its culture, students will learn to be cross-culturally communicative. This education and training for cross-cultural communication is the core discipline involved in language learning. Our objective is to help you acquire cross-cultural education and training by using the Japanese language as a medium.

Why the Japanese language?

Economically speaking Japan is the second largest trade partner for Canada. People who know about Japan and speak the language fluently are still in short supply. There exist various opportunities for study and work in Japan and Japan-related fields in Canada and other countries. Educationally speaking, exposure to a seemingly quite 'foreign' language and culture helps students develop awareness of themselves and appreciation of their own cultures as well. While there are many differences between Japan [Japanese] and Canada [English], students will also find a lot of similarities between them. It is important to note that Canada has some Japanese-Canadian heritage.

Is Japanese a very unique language and one of the most difficult languages to learn?

When one looks at languages in the world, the Japanese language belongs to the majority which are based on the word order (SOV: Subject-Object-Verb). It is considered to be one of the Ural-Altaic language family, which includes Korean, Turkish, Mongolian, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian and others. As far as the grammar and vocabulary are concerned, Japanese is not any more difficult than other languages, but reading and writing pose a considerable difficulty for Canadians because of two basic writing systems and Kanji [Sino-Japanese characters].

LANGUAGE STUDY

Language study involves not only passive aspects [memorization, recitation, drills, pattern practice and so forth] but also active and creative aspects [analysis and comprehension of what is said or written, synthesis of what is learned, and communicative application of the language in actual situations]. In this course communicative aspects are strongly emphasized so that students will be able to function in actual conversation. Therefore, tutorials will not be conducted in such a way that the instructor gives lectures and drills and the students respond to him/her, but instead the students are encouraged to interact with both the instructor and other students in the class in actual communication [active participation]. Those who are not familiar with this type of individualistic, heuristic, and creative language study will need to change their views and learning strategies very fast. Communication involves at least two parties. Here good pronunciation is crucial, because the other party tends to judge your linguistic ability based on your pronunciation. Even if your grammar is correct, if the pronunciation is poor, people think that they cannot communicate with you. Poor pronunciation also hampers your listening comprehension. Non-verbal communication, body language in particular is also a very important factor in communication.

HOW TO STUDY

There is no one way to study language that is good for every one; every person has a different learning style and strategy. Try out various ways and find the best method and system for you as soon as possible. The following are some suggestions.

*     Good preparation and review are very important. Always read the
      explanation of the textbook and the Lecture Notes in order to    
      familiarize yourself with the dialogues, important grammatical items,
      and new vocabulary before you go to the class or LAB. 
*     Try to use what you have learned in the class and elsewhere in your own
      way. Repeating the utterances presented in the textbook alone is not
      sufficient. Think of situations where you can say what you want to say and
      how the other party may respond to you.
*     In recitation and drills always be aware of what you are saying with what
      purpose. Automatic recitation in LAB without knowing what you are saying
      may be good only for basic pronunciation practice.
*     Do not try to review everything at once. You will not have time to go back
      to review all the lessons covered. A steady accumulation of the knowledge
      and use of the language is the only way to proceed further in language
      study. You cannot cram everything overnight for the test either. 
*     Make use of weekends for review. When you review, focus on the items
      difficult to understand, and make sure you understand all the important
      items involved in the lesson every week. It is helpful to change your
      review method to avoid boredom.
*     Study with your friends and if you should miss a class, make sure you get
      all the information from them. Oral performance will benefit greatly from
      practising with your friends or other Japanese students on campus.
      Viewing Japanese TV programs and video tapes is helpful for listening
      comprehension and understanding of socio-cultural aspects of Japan.

Important Terms and Concepts for Language Learning

Second Language Acquisition                         	[SLA]
Cross-Cultural Communication                            [CCC]
Non-Verbal Communication                                [NVC]
Communicative Approach                                  [Com Apr]
Four Skills [Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing]

Linguistics
      Sociolinguistics
      Pragmatics
      Discourse
      Syntax
      Semantics
      Morphology
      Phonology
             Segmental
             Supra-segmental
             Accentuation
             Intonation
      Phonetics
      Lexicon
      Grammar             
             Text
             Paragraph
             Sentence                                   [S]
             Clause                                     [C]
             Main Clause                                [MC]
             Subordinate Clause                         [SC]
             Relative Clause                        	[RC]
             Phrase                                     [P]
             Noun Phrase                                [NP]
             Verb Phrase                                [VP]
             Adjectival Phrase                          [AP]
             Adverbial Phrase                       	[AdP]

             Parts of Speech
                   Noun                                 [N]
                   Pronoun                              [Pro]
                   Adjective                        	[A]
                   Adverb                               [Ad]
                   Verb                                 [V]
                   Adjectival Noun                  	[AN]
                   Particle                             [P]
                   Connective                       	[Con]
                   Conjunction                          [Cnj]

             Grammatical Functions, Conjugation and Processes
                   Subject                              [Sub]
                   Object                               [Obj]
                   Locative                             [Loc]
                   Temporal                             [Temp]
                   Instrumental                         [Inst]
                   Agent                                [Agt]
                   Nominalization                       [Nom]
                   Possessive                       	[Pos]
                   Passive                              [Pas]
                   Causative                            [Caus]
                   Apposition
                   Coordination
                   Subordination
                   Conjugation
                   Plural                               [pl]
                   Singular                             [sing]
                   Animate
                   Inanimate
                   Tense                            	[Tns]
                   Modality                             [Mod]
                   Aspect                               [Asp]
                   Transitive Verb                  	[Vtr]
                   Intransitive Verb                    [Vintr]
                   Verb Stem                            [Vst]
                   Adjective Stem                       [Ast]
                   Verb Present Tense                   [Vpres]
                   Verb Past Tense                  	[Vpst]
                   Auxiliary Verb                       [Vaux]
                   Verb noun form                       [Vn]
                   Verb Te-form                         [Vte]
                   Adjective Te-form                    [Ate]
                   Verb Imperative form             	[Vimp]
                   Verb Masu-form                       [= Vn]

             Discourse
                   Topic                                [Top]
                   Comment                              [Com]
                   Ellipsis
                   Cohesion                  

             Speech Acts                                [SA]
                   Stating
                   Questioning
                   Greeting
                   Arguing
                   Discussing
                   Congratulating
                   Requesting
                   Criticising
                   Complaining
                   Scolding
                   Explaining
                   Describing
                   Celebrating
                   Conforting
                   Advising                           


© Norio Ota 2000