The Majors in Chinese and Japanese
Language
Programs
Senior Language Support Program
Language
Placement and Proficiency Examination
Language
Tables
Undergraduate Program Information
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Paize Keulemans
311 HGS, 432-2027
The
Majors in Chinese and Japanese
East
Asian Languages and Literatures offers majors in Chinese
and Japanese, two of the world's great literary traditions,
and language courses in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean
from the elementary to advanced level and beyond. Chinese
and Japanese are liberal arts majors that give students
a thorough knowledge of Chinese or Japanese literature
and a high level of competence in the respective language.
Students pursuing many other majors also enroll in the
department's language courses. These are relatively
difficult languages, so students interested in studying
them should start as early as possible, particularly
if they intend to major in Chinese or Japanese.
The
department offers courses on Chinese and Japanese literature
and Japanese and Korean film that are open to all undergraduates
and provide an introduction to these cultures and their
traditions of artistic expression. These courses are
taught in translation and do not require knowledge of
an East Asian language.
Students
who wish to major in Chinese or Japanese should consult
the Director of Undergraduate Studies by the beginning
of the sophomore year. The department strongly encourages
students to study abroad for at least one term. Students
who do not complete the language prerequisite for the
major (Intermediate Chinese or Japanese or the equivalent)
by the end of the sophomore year will have difficulty
completing the major unless they study abroad. In addition
to beginning their language studies, students considering
a major in Chinese or Japanese should take one or more
courses on the literature or film of the country early
in their Yale career.
Credit
toward the major may be earned for courses taken elsewhere
with the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Majors sometimes apply credits from approved junior
year abroad or junior term abroad programs in China
and Japan. Students interested in studying an East Asian
language abroad, regardless of their major, may qualify
for financial support through the Richard
U. Light Fellowship program. The Office
of International Education and Fellowship Programs
can provide information on a number of other opportunities
to study abroad.
For
official Yale College information on the requirements
for the Chinese and Japanese majors see Yale
College Programs of Study.
*
Guidelines for Senior Essays
Senior essays in East Asian Languages and Literatures
must be about Chinese or Japanese literature and the
primary material must be a literary text or texts written
in the target language. The senior essay course may
be one or two semesters. (A two-semester essay requires
significant research.) Most commonly students complete
the essay as a semester course in the spring, following
these steps:
1. an initial consultation with the Director of Undergraduate
Studies before registration in the course, preferably
by the end of the previous spring semester, but no later
than the first week of the fall term of their senior
year;
2. preparation of a proposal endorsed by a faculty sponsor
(not a language instructor) who will
serve as the senior essay adviser by the last
week of classes in the fall term; a second
faculty reader will also be selected at this stage by
the Director of Undergraduate Studies in consultation
with the adviser;
3. submission of a prospectus in the second
week of the spring term;
4. submission of an annotated bibliography with a thesis
statement in the fourth week of the spring term;
5. submission a rough draft for the adviser in the week
after spring break, and
6. submission of the final draft of the essay, approved
by the adviser and submitted to the second reader
in the second to last week of classes,
spring term.
The student will meet with the adviser on a regular
basis to discuss the project, and the adviser will help
the student with bibliography, the refinement of topic
and thesis, and issues of interpretation, composition
and argument. Translation projects are acceptable, but
only if at least one-third of the essay's length consists
of commentary on the translated text that would stand
alone as an essay in literary interpretation or historical
scholarship on literature. Such commentary is expected
to be as thorough and academically rigorous as a term
paper in a course on literature. There is no regulation
regarding the essay's length, but successful essays
in recent years have been in the range of 25-40 double-spaced
pages.
*
Student Advisory Committee
The East Asian Languages and Literatures Student Advisory
Committee serves as an important line of communication
between the department faculty and students interested
in and concerned with the department, its courses, and
activities. In recent years the committee has discussed
the Chinese and Japanese majors, course offerings (actual
and potential), and especially the language programs
in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The Director of Undergraduate
Studies chairs the committee. The membership of the
committee is open to all members of the Yale community.
Please contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies
if you are interested in participating in the committee.
Language
Programs
The
department teaches elementary, intermediate, and advanced
courses in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in a semi-intensive
format, requiring substantial daily preparation and
meeting three to five times per week. The department
offers a separate track in Chinese designed for students
who have had varying degrees of exposure to Chinese
in a family or other setting. Courses in this track
are not more "advanced" than those designed
for students with no background in Chinese but rather
address a different set of needs. Placement in all courses
is determined by the teaching staff.
*
Guidelines for Independent Tutorials in Chinese, Japanese
and Korean (CHNS 470a/471b, JPNS 470a/471b, KREN 470a/471b)
Independent tutorials are not language courses but are rather academic courses in which a student pursues a research and reading project in the language of interest. Students must already have advanced knowledge of the topic in question. The course culminates in an exam on content (not language proficiency) or a term paper, in English or the target language depending on the nature of the topic. Tutorials are usually intended for Chinese or Japanese majors. A tutorial may not substitute under any circumstances for a course regularly taught at Yale. On the contrary, such a course would be essential preparation for a tutorial which by its nature constitutes advanced work.
Students
interested in proposing an independent tutorial must
consult the Director of Undergraduate Studies before
the beginning of the semester in question and must provide
a detailed written proposal for approval by the Director
of Undergraduate Studies by the end of the first week
of classes. The tutorial must begin by the second week
of classes. Students are responsible for finding an
instructor in the department who is able to supervise
the tutorial. In some cases the Director of Undergraduate
Studies will find an additional reader to help evaluate
the work.
Independent
Tutorials must meet at least one hour per week. Preferably
the tutorial session are longer. Proposals must include
an explanation of the rationale for the tutorial, a
plan of readings, a projected schedule of meetings,
and an explanation of an schedule for evaluations, whether
these are written work or exams. The proposal must be
signed by both student and instructor.
The
Director of Undergraduate Studies is the instructor
of record, and will consult with the instructor and
reader (if any) to determine the grade.
Senior Language Support Program
Undergraduate students who are using East Asian-language resources to write their senior thesis or complete their senior research project are eligible for assistance in finding and using these resources. The program will match the undergraduate student with a graduate student course assistant who will provide individualized assistance in locating and utilizing sources for the thesis. This program is open to undergraduates across all majors and departments and is available in both fall and spring semester. For further information, please contact either the Director of Undergraduate Studies of East Asian Languages (paize.keulemans@yale.edu) or the graduate student coordinator (edwin.vanbibber-orr@yale.edu). This program is sponsored by the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University and the Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures through generous funding from the United States Department of Education.
Language Placement
and Proficiency Examination
Course placement and foreign language proficiency exams in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are given at the beginning of every fall semester, the beginning of spring semester if needed, and can be arranged on an individual basis in special cases. In Fall 2008 the tests will be given between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. on Sept. 2nd. The Chinese test and Japanese tests include online components that students should complete in August and in any case before coming to the exam on Sept. 2nd. Click here to access the online components for the Chinese exam and the Japanese exam. The Korean exam will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, 9-11 am in Rooms 115 and 116 WLH.
The following students must take a placement examination: students who are enrolling in the department's language classes for the first time but who have studied Chinese, Japanese, or Korean elsewhere; students who have skills in one of these languages because of family background; students who have missed one semester or more of language instruction; and students of Japanese and Korean returning from programs abroad. Students of Chinese returning from programs abroad do not have to take a placement exam, but should consult with the language-teaching staff on the first day of classes. If you are in doubt about your status please come to the placement exam or contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Paize Keulemans) in advance. Questions about the examinations themselves can be addressed to Wei Su for Chinese, Yoshiko Maruyama for Japanese, Angela Lee-Smith for Korean.
The
language placement exam also measures students' progress
toward fulfilling the Yale College foreign language
requirement. Students wishing to use Chinese, Japanese,
or Korean to fulfill all or part of the requirement
must take the placement exam. See your residential college
dean for details about the requirement for your class
year.
Language
Tables
The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures,
with the generous cooperation of the residential colleges,
maintains weekly lunchtime language tables for Chinese,
Japanese, and Korean. Contact Hiroyo
Nishimura (Japanese), Ninghui Liang (Chinese), or Angela Lee-Smith (Korean) for details.
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Graduate Program
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