06f-07
CURRENT SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING TOPICS
–TECHNICAL JAPANSE A: PART I–

Hideko KITAHAMA (International Student Center and Graduate School of Engineering)

Objective
  The International Student Center will offer a “Technical Japanese Program” to overseas students who expect to acquire a proficiency in and knowledge of technical Japanese. The Technical Japanese A course is especially intended for students who have studied basic science or engineering. The objective of this course is to equip students with the basic skills required for reading technical papers written in Japanese and for communicating with scientists and engineers in Japanese research and industrial settings. The topic of this course will be “Current Science Topics in Japan” which mainly concerns “Energy”. The course is designed for students who have taken Japanese instruction to at least the second year college level. These lectures will be mostly conducted in plain and simple Japanese.

Course Outline
  The study components are designed with the following goals in mind.
  (1) To acquire a basic knowledge of technical Japanese
  (Practice for understanding basic technical words)
  (2) To read and comprehend Japanese literature
  (To gain an understanding of current topics in science and technology)
  (3) To understand the scientific and technological background of Japan through short-visit-program studies
  (Training in communication with scientists and engineers in industry and research settings)
  Visits to research institutes and companies on field trips are planned. During these visits, students can apply their acquired technical knowledge as well as Japanese skills in practical situations. In the classroom, experiences on trips are reviewed by making oral presentations, holding discussions in Japanese and preparing reports using a Japanese word-processor.

Textbook
  There is no assigned textbook. Various materials will be distributed in class.

Grading
  Participation in class 20%
  Assignments 30%
  Final written examination 30%
  Final oral examination 20%