JAPN 303: Business Japanese
This course develops functional use of Japanese language for various types of situations and events that occur in the daily business environment. The types of situations include formal introductions, basic business rules, business etiquette, honorifics, and how to write business documents and email. It also presents and expands on cultural perspectives and concepts as they impact the business world. Taught in Japanese.
Course Narrative
By studying Japanese under the context of business, I was able to deepen my understanding of polite language (敬語) by analyzing relationships based on social status, gender, or age, and apply that knowledge when introducing myself or creating documents. Although I had studied polite language before, due to the nature of this course, I learned how to use humble (謙譲語) and honorific (尊敬語) forms to address different groups in order to "elevate" the importance of clients. For example, while I may use honorific speech (尊敬語) to describe my bosses actions as I speak with them, if I meet with a client (or anyone outside of the company), I refer to my own and my boss' actions using humble forms (謙譲語). By doing so, my company becomes a singular unit that respects our clientele. In addition to various assignments focused on business etiquette, for our final project, we created short films following a foreigner as they join a Japanese company (see sample below). This project required us to work collaboratively and to review everything that we had learned in this course, including clothing, greetings, writing documents, and determining correct language choices. Although I have now completed this course, I'd like to continue developing my knowledge of Japanese business documents, as I intend to work abroad after graduating, by reviewing the formats presented in our textbook. I also plan on learning more set phrases that are used in professional environments. While the phrases I have learned may only be in Japanese, general business etiquette and manners transcend language and cultural barriers.
JAPN309 Final Movie Script | |
File Size: | 25 kb |
File Type: | docx |