Japanese Studies

College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences
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Degree Options

Certificate of Japanese Conversation and Culture (15 Credit Hours)

Who Would be Interested in Japanese Studies?

Every area of daily life and career opportunities can be enhanced by the study of Japanese:

  • Tourism, Parks and Recreation
  • Visual Art, Music and Performing Arts
  • Manufacturing, Engineering, Automotive, Aeronautics, Business, and Retail
  • Telecommunications, Computer Design and Robotics, Social Services and Education
  • Television, Movie, Literature and Journalism Media

Why Japanese Studies?

Japanese Studies are not just memorization of facts, but the development of applicable skills that last a lifetime.

  • Learning Japanese opens so many doors. From a practical side, learning additional languages is medically proven to strengthen the mind throughout your lifetime. It enhances memory, logic, and mental agility as well as sharpening your critical thinking. It provides the tools to be a global citizen by engaging with locals in their native tongue through travel and study abroad.
  • From a career perspective, Japanese is a business, cultural, and spiritual necessity! Japanese is spoken by more than 88 million people globally, and is the third most widely spoken language over the internet. Understanding the Japanese language and culture gives you a major boost to many career choices you make, ranging from interpretation/translation, education, automotive industry, computer and software design, economics, and engineering, all the way to social services, imports/exports and artistic media. Japan has the second largest economy in the world! The study of Japanese language and culture provides a massive range of careers and creative employment opportunities.
  • Best of all, when you study Japanese at EKU, all of our courses are taught by fully qualified professors - no Teaching Assistants. Classes are small, so students have the opportunity to develop one-on-one relationships with their instructors in order to develop language skills in an immersion-like environment. Students gain practical skills and first-hand experiences in their field to prepare them for employment opportunities upon graduation or further study in higher-level education programs.

What Are the Requirements for the Program?

Students can declare a Certificate in Japanese Conversation and Culture program by contacting the Department of Languages, Cultures, & Humanities any time upon being admitted to EKU.

Where Are Recent Graduates Employed?

  • Teaching English to high school students in Japan through the Japanese Exchange Teaching Program (JET)
  • Development of new language teaching software for start-up company in Richmond, Ky.

How Do I Get More Information?

Visit www.foreignlanguages.eku.edu/japanese-studies

Contact any of the following Japanese Program Advisors:
Christopher Rich
McCreary Building Room 223
859-622-2255
christopher.rich@eku.edu

Abbey Poffenberger
McCreary Building Room 114
859-622-2996
abbey.poffenberger@eku.edu

Are There Scholarship Opportunities?

  • Alpha Mu Gamma Foreign Language Honor Society Scholarships
  • Leslie Parrish Memorial Scholarship for Study Abroad