Japanese A1>A1/A2

Who is this course for?

This course is for beginners of Japanese with CEFR level A1. During the course, we work towards level A1/A2. The course is taught in Japanese as much as possible, with explanations provided in Dutch or English depending on the group participants. The teaching material is in English. It is therefore important that you have a good command of English in order to participate in the course.

You should also be able to read Japanese characters, as we basically use only Japanese characters in this course. These are mainly the hiragana characters, but also the basic katakana characters. You don’t need to be able to write the characters.

If you are unsure whether this level is right for you, you can make an appointment for the online consultation to get personal advice from our teacher.

What will you learn in this course?

The course consists of 12 lessons of two contact hours, during which the following topics will be covered:

• Verbs in te-form (-te imasu, -te kudasai, -te -te, -te mimasu)
• Verbs in dictionary form (-koto, -no ga suki desu)
• Conjugating adjectives
• Nominalization (turning a verb into a noun)
• Past tense

Check out an overview of the exact material you will cover during this course here.

How many hours of independent study are required?

You should expect to spend a total of 30 hours on independent study in order to stay on track with the course. This involves, for example, of expanding your vocabulary using a vocabulary list provided by the teacher or the Quizlet self-study sets. In addition, you will be given a weekly writing or speaking assignment, and you can deepen your knowledge of grammar by watching explanatory videos.

Alongside the hiragana and katakana characters, Chinese kanji characters are also used in Japan. Learning to read these kanji characters is not taught during the lessons, but it is of course great fun to work with them yourself! Moreover, you need to be able to read the basic kanji characters if you want to continue learning after this course with our Japanese A1/A2>A2 follow-up course. The teacher will give you practice material and tips for websites and apps with which you can practice the characters.

What will you be able to do after the course?

• Talk about your family, where you live, work and hobbies
• Hold a conversation about the weather
• Make an appointment with someone
• Give directions to someone
• Send someone a short message or reply to a message

After successfully completing this course, you will be ready for the follow-up course Japanese A1/A2>A2. You could also choose the Speak Up! Japanese elementary course, which focuses entirely on speaking.

Course material

During this course, the second half of the book Genki is covered. You will need to purchase this book yourself.

Genki – an integrated course in elementary Japanese (3rd edition) TEXTBOOK               ISBN (the Netherlands): 9784789017305                                                                      
ISBN (Japan): 4789017303

Genki – an integrated course in elementary Japanese (3rd edition) WORKBOOK
ISBN (the Netherlands): 9784789017312
ISBN (Japan): 4789017311

Practical information

• Registration and payment procedure
• Language levels
• Discount schemes
• Following a course and final assessment

Have a look at all our Japanese course options.

€ 480

25% discount for UG and Hanze students
10% discount for UG, UMCG, and Hanze staff

Available dates