Japanese Beginners

Course structure and requirements:

Preliminary Course (Year 11) – 120 indicative hours

The Preliminary Course has outcomes as its organisational focus. Topics provide contexts in which students develop their communication skills in Japanese and their knowledge and understanding of language and culture.

HSC Course (Year 12) – 120 indicative hours

In the HSC course students will extend and refine their communication skills in Japanese in contexts defined by topics, and will gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of language and culture.

Preliminary and HSC focus areas:

• Objective 1 – Interacting

• Objective 2 – Understanding Texts

• Objective 3 – Producing Texts

• Develop and extend communication skills in Japanese through prescribed topics from two perspectives:

  • The Personal World

  • The Japanese-speaking Communities

• Topics include:

  • Family life, home and neighbourhood

  • People, places and communities

  • Education and work

  • Friends, recreation and pastimes

  • Holidays, travel and tourism

  • Future plans and aspirations

Skills developed:

• Valuable to have: Interest in languages, willingness to practise speaking, and curiosity about other cultures

• Skills developed:

  • Communicating effectively in a second language (listening, speaking, reading, writing)

  • Analysing and interpreting information from texts

  • Applying grammatical structures to express ideas

  • Understanding cultural perspectives and conventions

  • Organising ideas for different audiences and purposes

• Students need to be prepared to:

  • Engage in regular language practise

  • Learn and apply the Japanese writing system

  • Participate in listening, speaking, reading, and writing tasks

Assessment requirements:

Year 11:

• 3 assessment tasks, such as:

  • tasks focused on listening, reading, writing and speaking

  • a formal written examination

Year 12:

• 4 assessment tasks, such as:

  • tasks focused on listening, reading, writing and speaking

  • a formal written examination (Trial HSC)

The HSC Examination includes:

The examination will consist of a written paper worth 80 marks and an oral examination worth 20 marks. 

Written Paper (80 marks) - monolingual and/or bilingual print dictionaries may be used.

• Section I – Listening (30 marks)

• There will be approximately 10 questions phrased in English requiring a response in English

• Each question will be based on an aural text in Japanese

• Section II – Reading (30 marks)

• Candidates will be required to demonstrate their understanding of written text

• There will be approximately five questions phrased in English relating requiring a response in English

• Each question will be based on a written text in Japanese

• Section III – Writing in Japanese (20 marks)

Part A (10 marks)

• There will be two short-answer questions phrased in English requiring a response in Japanese

• Questions may include stimulus material in Japanese

Part B (10 marks)

• There will two questions phrased in English and Japanese requiring a response in Japanese

• Candidates will be required to answer one question

Oral Examination (20 marks)

• Time allowed: approximately 5 minutes

• The oral examination will consist of a conversation between the candidate and the examiner. In the conversation, the candidate will respond to the examiner’s questions, which will relate to the prescribed syllabus topics from the perspective of the personal world

Future careers and possible study paths:

Japanese Beginners complements subjects such as Modern History, Geography, and Society and Culture. It provides a strong foundation for further studies in Japanese, international relations, business, tourism, and education. Careers may include translation, interpreting, diplomacy, trade, travel, tourism, and cross-cultural communication.