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Introductory Japanese I OpenCourseWare: A Free Undergraduate Japanese Language Course by MIT

Published Mar 09, 2009

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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers its 'Beginning Japanese I' course as free OpenCourseWare. The original 'Beginning Japanese I' course introduced students to a variety of Japanese characters and also taught listening, speaking and reading skills. Undergraduate students enrolled in introductory Japanese courses or anyone wanting to learn Japanese independently will find this OpenCourseWare useful.

Beginning Japanese I: Course Specifics

Degree Level Free Audio Video Downloads
Undergraduate Yes Yes Yes Yes

Lectures/Notes Study Materials Tests/Quizzes
No Yes Yes

Beginning Japanese I: Course Description

'Beginning Japanese I' was designed for undergraduates by MIT's Foreign Languages and Literatures Department and taught by Professors Yoshimi Nagaya, Ayumi Nagatomi and Ikue Shingu. The course emphasized active speaking and listening skills, meaning that students were encouraged to communicate spontaneously, not just memorize rigid structures. 'Beginning Japanese I' students learned to read and write both Katakana and Hiragana symbols, which represent individual sounds, and also Kanji characters, which represent entire words. The course relied primarily on a lecture format, although active speaking practice was also required.

This OpenCourseWare includes vocabulary, sentence and phrase audio recordings; Japanese character writing video demonstrations; downloadable readings; assignments and solutions; quizzes and answers; and links to course-related resources, such as a photographic vocabulary builder. To start learning Japanese today, visit the introduction to Japanese language course page.

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