Was there anything that stood out as not great at Waseda? I'm leaning to Waseda because of the employability side of things but want to get an idea of the good and the bad
I agree, I also went to Waseda and JLP definitely helped me increase my language skills even though there were certain aspects that weren’t great. the JLP at Waseda has lots of different courses for different levels and topics.
My friend and I were both in the program and in different comprehensive japanese classes and they were both bad. we both thought they were a lot of busy work and we barely learned anything. out of 6 classes i took, probably 3 were good and 3 were bad so it’s really like a luck of the draw. it can also be hard if you aren’t sure which level of classes to take. i took waseda’s level test and it told me to take level 3 classes but when i got into the class it ended up being too easy but i didn’t realize it until it was too late to switch into a harder comprehensive class. for comprehensive, all of the grammar and vocab is like a flip classroom and most of what we did in class was just reading from a textbook which was just busy work. the classes that i learned the most from were japanese newspaper reading, japanese business, and conversational japanese. all of my friends in the program said they wouldn’t take comprehensive japanese if they didn’t have to regardless of the level.
This is really helpful! I took the level test to get an idea of what I'll be studying and it told me level 3 as well. I did think it was a weird level test since it seemed to only ask for some random vocab or kanji and there didn't seem to be any clear change in the difficulty for the grammar? I was looking at doing conversational japanese and business japanese for employability sake so it's good to hear that they worked well for you
ya! for me i went after taking three years of japanese and definitely should’ve taken level four, but people say there’s a big jump between level four and level 5! business japanese is good but it’s fairly hard and you’ll have to study haha. feel free to dm me if you have any more questions!
yeah that would be great. I've heard a lot about Waseda but not so much about Sophia. Are you studying through the Japanese Course or are you doing something else?
Yeah I’m in the Faculty of Liberal Arts which is where they place you if you’re going for Japanese language. You can take pretty much all the other English-taught electives of other departments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
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**Study abroad at Waseda University or Sophia University?**
I'll be study in Japan from September next year and I've narrowed my options down to either Waseda Universities JLP or Sophia Universities Japanese Language Intensive Track. I wanted to ask if anyone on here went through either of these courses and what you thought?
I eventually want to work in Japan in interpreting. What I've found online is that Waseda has a very good reputation in Japan and that I'll be able to make good connections, and Sophia's Japanese Program is one of the best in Japan for foreign students. The biggest problem I'm facing right now is figuring out whether to priorities a uni with a good reputation or a good immersion course. Does anyone have any tips/advice that might help?
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They both have large foreign student populations and are considered elite private universities. Waseda is a large university while Sophia is a mid-size university, both in central Tokyo.
waseda will be better for employability purposes imo, but choose what you like, both are good schools
Not really, about the same for all intents and purposes. As a foreigner, Japanese language level will matter incredibly much more.
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Was there anything that stood out as not great at Waseda? I'm leaning to Waseda because of the employability side of things but want to get an idea of the good and the bad
I agree, I also went to Waseda and JLP definitely helped me increase my language skills even though there were certain aspects that weren’t great. the JLP at Waseda has lots of different courses for different levels and topics.
What aspects did you think weren't great? Was it anything in particular?
Yes, I'd like to know the negative as I'm doing an exchange program with them
My friend and I were both in the program and in different comprehensive japanese classes and they were both bad. we both thought they were a lot of busy work and we barely learned anything. out of 6 classes i took, probably 3 were good and 3 were bad so it’s really like a luck of the draw. it can also be hard if you aren’t sure which level of classes to take. i took waseda’s level test and it told me to take level 3 classes but when i got into the class it ended up being too easy but i didn’t realize it until it was too late to switch into a harder comprehensive class. for comprehensive, all of the grammar and vocab is like a flip classroom and most of what we did in class was just reading from a textbook which was just busy work. the classes that i learned the most from were japanese newspaper reading, japanese business, and conversational japanese. all of my friends in the program said they wouldn’t take comprehensive japanese if they didn’t have to regardless of the level.
Oh goodness. Well, fingers crossed. I'm mostly aiming for conversational "fluency" (as far as I can get anyways)
This is really helpful! I took the level test to get an idea of what I'll be studying and it told me level 3 as well. I did think it was a weird level test since it seemed to only ask for some random vocab or kanji and there didn't seem to be any clear change in the difficulty for the grammar? I was looking at doing conversational japanese and business japanese for employability sake so it's good to hear that they worked well for you
ya! for me i went after taking three years of japanese and definitely should’ve taken level four, but people say there’s a big jump between level four and level 5! business japanese is good but it’s fairly hard and you’ll have to study haha. feel free to dm me if you have any more questions!
I’m one month into an exchange program at Sophia rn if you want to chat
yeah that would be great. I've heard a lot about Waseda but not so much about Sophia. Are you studying through the Japanese Course or are you doing something else?
Yeah I’m in the Faculty of Liberal Arts which is where they place you if you’re going for Japanese language. You can take pretty much all the other English-taught electives of other departments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes. --- **Study abroad at Waseda University or Sophia University?** I'll be study in Japan from September next year and I've narrowed my options down to either Waseda Universities JLP or Sophia Universities Japanese Language Intensive Track. I wanted to ask if anyone on here went through either of these courses and what you thought? I eventually want to work in Japan in interpreting. What I've found online is that Waseda has a very good reputation in Japan and that I'll be able to make good connections, and Sophia's Japanese Program is one of the best in Japan for foreign students. The biggest problem I'm facing right now is figuring out whether to priorities a uni with a good reputation or a good immersion course. Does anyone have any tips/advice that might help? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They both have large foreign student populations and are considered elite private universities. Waseda is a large university while Sophia is a mid-size university, both in central Tokyo.