Japanese Department-江苏大学外国语学院

Chair: Zhou Rong

Associate chair: Quan Xiaojing, Su Zhenjun

CPC Branch: Du Xiaolei (Secretary), Liu Jing

Tel: 0511-88791194

The Japanese Department of the School of Foreign Languages of Jiangsu University was founded in 2001, among the first new majors when Jiangsu University came into being. In 2002, we launched the program of 4-year undergraduates, and in 2005 the graduate major of Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics began to recruit students. After years of effort, we were entitled in 2019 to grant the master’s degree of the first-class discipline of Foreign Languages and Literature (Japanese).

Our faculty members are rather young (80% under forty-five years old) , but very experienced in teaching as well as in research. The staff consist of fifteen full-time teachers, among which ten are associate professors, three MA tutors, eight with PhD and seven with MA. One of us has been honored with the title of Innovation Doctor of Jiangsu Province. Ten teachers got their PhD or MA from Japanese public universities while all others have been in Japan as visiting scholars for at least one year. There are also about three foreign teachers invited every year from Japan to work in our department and provide academic support. As a result of years of hard work, great research achievements have been made on Japanese Literature, Japanese Linguistics, Japanese Culture and Area Studies. More than forty projects headed by our department have been completed or under study supported by National Social Science Fund, Ministry of Education Social Science Fund, and many other vertical or horizontal Social Science Funds of Jiangsu Province. There also have been published nearly 100 articles, translated over ten books, and compiled over twenty textbooks.

Each year about thirty new students would be admitted to the undergraduate program, making a total of 150 majors. The students are required to learn the basic theories and knowledge of Japanese language, literature, history, politics, economy, diplomacy and social culture. They are well trained in Japanese listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating. With the help of computer and network skills as well as Japanese and other languages, the graduates can do some research and may undertake careers as teaching, translating, business and management. The main courses in our department include Basic Japanese, Advanced Japanese, Visual Audio Oral Japanese, Translation Theory and Practice, Japanese Writing, Introduction to Japanese Linguistics, History of Japanese Literature and Introduction to Japan. Undergraduate program is given much importance in our department and its focus is on training the students’ basic skills and practical ability. Their Japanese proficiency is well displayed in their excellent performance in TJM-4 and TJM-8, with a passing rate of over 97% in TJM-4.

To practise the students’ language skills and enrich their campus life, we encourage them to take part in various language competitions. They achieved excellent results in Casio Cup Jiangsu College Japanese Film Dubbing Competition, Japanese Writing Competition and Chinese Haiku Competitions. In the 8^th Chinese Haiku Competition, our department won the only Special Award and eight of the fourteen Excellence Awards.

Scholars home and abroad are regularly invited to give lectures and exchange academic results. We have cooperated for years with Kyoto University, Hiroshima University, Chiba University, Mie University, RyuKoku University and Yamanashi Eiwa University. With the “3+1” project of exchange students signed with Hiroshima University, our students have an opportunity to study at government expense in Chiba University, Mie University and other Japanese institutes. We are also engaged in a student training plan “Trinity” (that is, practice, study and work) established with many institutes including Kyushu Institute of Foreign Languages. Domestically, we worked together with Zhenjiang Government Foreign Affairs Office to send every other year a delegation to Japan, which has greatly promoted the friendship between the two cities of Zhenjiang and Tsu, Mie Prefecture. To prepare the Japanese majors for future careers, we collaborated with Aeon East China Business Company and built Aeon & Jiangsu University Employment Training Centre.

For the past few years in our department, 100% students have graduated while 94% have obtained their bachelor's degree. Graduates of Japanese language have a very wide range of occupations, such as foreign affairs, foreign trade, teaching, tourism. There are also more and more graduates who went for further study in Shanghai International Studies University, Beijing International Studies University, Tianjin Foreign Studies University, Renmin University of China, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Kyoto University, Nagoya University, Kyushu University, Chiba University, Mie University and other universities.