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Foreign language and translation C2 (Japanese)

Code: 101398
Credits: 9
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Translation and Interpreting OB 2

Contact lecturer

Name :
Ayumi Shimoyoshi
Email :
ayumi.shimoyoshi@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

It is advisable to have mastered the contents of Language and Translation C1 (Japanese) before starting this course.

Objectives

The function of this subject is to consolidate the development of students’ basic communication skills in Japanese to prepare them to translate from the language into their mother tongue.

At the end of the subject students should be able to:

  • Understand written texts about everyday topics.
  • Produce written texts on everyday topics.
  • Understand information in short, simple oral texts about everyday topics related to their specific, immediate environment.
  • Produce very short, simple oral texts on everyday topics related to their specific, immediate environment.

Learning outcomes

  1. Implementing strategies in order to produce written texts of different fields and with specific communicative purposes: Implementing strategies in order to produce written texts of different fields and with specific communicative purposes.
  2. Applying lexical, morphosyntactic, textual, rhetorical and linguistic variation related knowledge: Applying graphic, lexical and morphosyntactic basic knowledge.
  3. Applying lexical, morphosyntactic, textual, rhetorical and linguistic variation related knowledge: Applying graphical, lexical, morphosyntactic and textual basic knowledge.
  4. Applying lexical, morphosyntactic, textual, rhetorical and linguistic variation related knowledge: Applying graphical, lexical, morphosyntactic, textual, rhetorical and linguistic variation related knowledge.
  5. Implementing strategies in order to understand written texts from different fields: Implementing strategies in order to comprehend written texts about general topics.
  6. Implementing strategies in order to understand written texts from different fields: Implementing strategies in order to comprehend a diverse typology of written texts of a certain complexity about general topics from a wide variety of fields and registers.
  7. Comprehending the communicative purpose and sense of written texts of several fields: Comprehending the communicative purpose and sense of written texts about general topics.
  8. Comprehending the communicative purpose and sense of written texts of several fields: Comprehending the communicative purpose and sense of a diverse typology of written texts about general topics from a wide variety of fields and registers.
  9. Working effectively in teams: Working effectively in teams.
  10. Implementing strategies in order to produce written texts of different fields and with specific communicative purposes: Implementing strategies in order to produce written texts about general topics.
  11. Producing written texts that are appropriate to their context and possess linguistic correctness: Producing written texts about general topics with linguistic correctness.
  12. Applying lexical, morphosyntactic, textual, rhetorical and linguistic variation related knowledge: Applying phonological, lexical and morphosyntactic basic knowledge.
  13. Implementing strategies in order to understand verbal texts from different fields: Implementing strategies in order to comprehend information of short and simple verbal texts about the immediate environment.
  14. Comprehending the communicative purpose and sense of verbal texts of several fields: Comprehending the sense of short and simple written texts about subjects related to the immediate environment.
  15. Applying lexical, morphosyntactic, textual, rhetorical and linguistic variation related knowledge: Applying phonological, lexical, morphosyntactic and textual basic knowledge.
  16. Implementing strategies in order to produce verbal texts from different fields and with specific communicative purposes: Implementing strategies in order to produce really short and simple verbal texts about topics related to the immediate environment.
  17. Producing verbal texts that are appropriate to their context and possess linguistic correctness: Producing really short and simple verbal texts about topics related to the immediate environment.

Contents

Students will thoroughly study the second half of the textbook Tobira II: Beginning Japanese. Its content is designed to develop not only students’ language skills but also their pragmatic, textual and sociocultural skills, as well as their ability to learn independently and in groups.

Phonetic content

  • Improving the pronunciation of Japanese sounds
  • Correcting common pronunciation errors; consolidating prior knowledge

Lexical content

  • Reinforcing vocabulary acquired previously
  • Learning about 320 new words
  • Calligraphy: elements of characters, radicals and strokes. Approximately 95 new kanji characters. Formation and etymology of characters

Grammatical content

  • Learning to use new common structures (passive, causative, formal and colloquial language, comparisons, assumptions and hypotheses, etc.)
  • Learning new conjunctions for forming compound sentences
  • Consolidating the knowledge acquired through reading

Communicative and sociocultural elements

  • Tourism, culture, job, interview, honorific language, plan, etc.

Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Supervision and review of exercises 10 0.4 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15
Lecture 30 1.2 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15
Reading and oral comprehension activities 10 0.4 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15
Written and oral production activities 10 0.4 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16
Exercises 10 0.4 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15
Preparation of reading comprehension activities 20 0.8 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15
Preparation of written and oral production activities 40 1.6 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16
Study of new characters and new lexical and syntactic structures in each lesson 60 2.4 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 15
Supervision and review of reading, oral and writing activities 20 0.8 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15

Students will carry out the following types of activities:

Directed activities

  • Lectures
  • Oral expression and comprehension exercises
  • Grammar exercises, individually or in small groups
  • Practice of new grammar points and lexicon
  • Role-play exercises
  • Correction of homework

Supervised activities

  • Grammar and translation exercises to be done at home
  • Supervised reading assignments
  • Oral comprehension and expression exercises to be done at home and in class

Autonomous activities

  • Calligraphy practice
  • Reading, preparing and reviewing new texts and grammar points
  • Exercises for dossiers and others set by the lecturer
  • Oral comprehension practice
  • Review of content studied previously
  • Review and consolidation of all vocabulary
  • Translation exercises

Students must spend at least 20 hours studying each unit, including supervised and autonomous activities (preparing, practising by doing exercises, and reviewing). Given the content and the structure of the subject, it is important that students attend class regularly, and essential that they spend time each week preparing new materials, doing exercises and reviewing materials seen previously. It is assumed that they will do so in order to keep up with the pace of the subject. Some classes involve the flipped classroom approach.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Kanji, vocabulary, and grammar exercises 10 2 0.08 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15
Written production and comprehension assessment activities 10 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15
Grammar tests 40 6 0.24 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15
Kanji and vocabulary tests 30 3 0.12 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15
Oral production and comprehension assessment activities 10 2 0.08 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

All information on assessment, assessment activities and their weighting is merely a guide. The subject's lecturer will provide full information when teaching begins.

Continuous assessment

Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing various tasks and tests. These activities are detailed in the table at the end of this section of the Study Guide.

Review

When publishing final marks prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the lecturer will provide written notification of a date and time for reviewing assessment activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the lecturer.

Missed/failed assessment activities

Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5.

The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved, in writing, when publishing final marks prior to recording them on transcripts. The lecturer may set one assignment per failed or missed assessment activity or a single assignment to cover a number of such activities. Under no circumstances may an assessment activity worth 100% of the final mark be retaken or compensated for. In case of retaking, maximum grade will be 5 (Pass).

Classification as \"not assessable\"

In the event of the assessment activities a student has performed accounting for just 25% or less of the subject's final mark, their work will be classified as \"not assessable\" on their transcript.

Misconduct in assessment activities

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the student involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject. Assessment activities in which irregularities have occurred (e.g. plagiarism, copying, impersonation) are excluded from recovery.

Single assessment

This subject may be assessed under the single assessment system in accordance with the terms established in the academic regulations of the UAB and the assessment criteria of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting. Students must make an online request within the period established by the faculty and send a copy to the teacher responsible for the subject, for the record. Single assessment will be carried out in person on one day during week 16 or 17 of the semester. The Academic Management Office will publish the exact date and time on the faculty website. On the day of the single assessment, teaching staff will ask the student for identification, which should be presented as a valid identification document with a recent photograph (student card, DNI/NIE or passport).

Single assessment activities

The final grade for the subject will be calculated according to the following percentages:

- Grammar 40%

- Vocabukary and kanji 30%

- Oral production and comprehension 15%

- Written production and comprehension 15%

Grade revision and resit procedures for the subject are the same as those for continual assessment. See the section above in this study guide.

Bibliography

1. Textbook

  • Oka, Mayumi et.al. 初級日本語 とびら. Tobira II: Beginning Japanese. Tokyo: Kurosio, 2022.

2. Reference books

  • Takahashi, Masatake (ed.), Diccionario japonés-español, Tokyo: Hakusuisha, 1980.
  • Kuwana, Kazuhiro et al., Diccionario español – japonés, Tokyo: Shogakkan, 1991.
  • Makino, Seichi; Tsutsui, Michio. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. 日本語基本文法辞典. The Japan Times. 2025.
  • Matsuura, Junichi; Porta Fuentes, Lourdes. Nihongo. Japonés para hispanohablantes. Bunpoo. Gramática. Barcelona: Herder, 2002.

3. Web-based resources

  • Maynard, Senko K. Learning Japanese for Real: A Guide to Grammar, Use and Genres of the Nihongo World. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2011.
  • http://www.rikai.com
  • http://www.kotoba.ne.jp/
  • http://minato-jf.jp --> Minato (Japan Foundation)
  • https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/project/japanese/education/resource/index.html --> Sakura Network

Software

Word or similar software will be used for the written production and comprehension assignments.

PowerPoint or similar software will be used for the oral production and comprehension assignments.

Microsoft Teams or similar software will be used if online sessions are scheduled.

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Japanese second semester morning-mixed