Hiroko F. Wagner, Coordinator The Japanese Program at SAIS offers language instruction at the Novice, Novice-High, Intermediate-Low, and Intermediate-Mid levels. The program has been specially designed, through many years of instructing graduate students with similar backgrounds and interests, to meet their needs for professional development in international studies. While solidifying the grammatical foundation of the Japanese language, students are introduced through reading and classroom discussions to a unique program with topics such as politics, economics, finance, diplomacy, foreign policy, the environment, energy and regional/global security. Classroom activities are carefully geared toward developing students’ language skills in listening, speaking, reading and some writing. We welcome both students who are proficiency-track and those who are not. Post-proficiency courses are offered for students who have met language graduation requirements and wish to further develop language skills in Japanese. The classroom activities include writing personal and business letters and discussions with specialists in the areas of their interests using the target language. Proficiency Requirements Japanese can be used to meet the MA or Ph.D. language graduation requirement of Japan Studies or any other Functional Studies Programs. To fulfill the language graduation requirement, students need to pass the Japanese proficiency exams in listening, speaking, and reading at the following levels. | Listening | Speaking | Reading | | Intermediate Low | Intermediate Mid | Intermediate Mid |
Ph.D. students of other fields only need to pass the reading proficiency exam to meet their second foreign language graduation requirement.
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