The teachers at the open day all seemed to be super passionate about teaching the course so I knew that I’d be in good hands

Why did you choose to study Japanese?

I knew that I wanted to study and work with languages as a career in an international setting and I think that Japanese is one of the most interesting languages out there, not to mention all the possible opportunities to work with the massively varied Japanese media that exists. From both a linguistics and practicality standpoint, it seemed like the ideal choice for me.

What attracted you to the University of Sheffield?

Like a lot of students (probably), the fact that the uni’s rankings in terms of East Asian Studies teaching and student satisfaction were very high was definitely a key factor, and the teachers at the open day all seemed to be super passionate about teaching the course so I knew that I’d be in good hands. The affordability of living in Sheffield also seemed really convenient, and coming from London, that was DEFINITELY a big plus!

Joel Lee

BA Japanese Studies

Has your course lived up to your expectations so far?

I’ve really been enjoying the course so far! There are a lot of language contact hours in first year and you do a mix of language and academic study so that you’re getting a well-rounded learning experience instead of just focusing on exclusively one aspect for an entire 4 years. As for me, I took Understanding Japan 1 (Literature) and Understanding Korea 2 (History) in the first year and I’d highly recommend both of them! On the language side, the Japanese teachers for Level 1 and 2 are always really nice and go above and beyond to make sure that the lessons are engaging and interesting.

What do you enjoy most about your course?

Aside from the language learning, I like the fact that there are also lessons that cover specific topics like employability and life after university. For example, in Level 2, you often learn things like writing applications in Japanese or preparing for interviews in preparation for the year abroad. Having these kinds of lessons are super helpful because employment is obviously the end-goal!

How have you found learning a new language? 

I was in the beginner class for Japanese since I’d never learned it before, but I’d come from a Korean household and the grammar of the two languages (as well as some words with the same Chinese origin) is very similar, which meant that it thankfully wasn’t as big a jump as I’d feared, but there absolutely were elements of Japanese that had a very steep learning curve, namely kanji. For anyone out there considering studying on the Japanese Studies degree, I’d highly recommend doing some prior study of kanji on apps like WaniKani so that you’re not just immediately thrown into the deep end!

What do you enjoy doing outside of your studies? (hobbies, interests, societies)

I like to draw digitally and play video games in my free time and I’ve actually found that playing games in Japanese is a really fun way to immerse myself in the language while learning new vocabulary! I also joined the Japanese Society pretty much as soon as I’d enrolled and it was a great way to meet new people and practice my Japanese speaking since a lot of the members are Japanese exchange students. I even met some of my good friends there (Shoutout to Tak!).

Do you know what you want to do at the end of your course?

In the beginning, I was fairly certain that I wanted to go down the translation and localisation track, and while I’m still fairly sure that would be a good choice for me, I’ve also recently started to learn to how to code on the side and while it’s still early, I could definitely see myself going down this route, especially in conjunction with my Japanese language skills.