This course is for beginners who are looking for a general understanding of the Japanese language and to practice some common expressions used in personal conversations. The course will touch a little bit of everything of the good-to-know basics as learners begin their Japanese learning journey.  Prior knowledge of Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana, & Kanji) is not required to take this course. Students will be able to:  

• Appropriately demonstrate a variety of greetings and parting phrases.
• Demonstrate the use of a variety of basic and essential daily expressions such as yes/no, thank you/sorry, and excuse me.
• Practice introducing themselves appropriately.
• Practice sharing simple personal details such as where they live, likes/dislikes, and talents and skills.
• Examine basic sentence structures and create simple sentences about themselves.
• Examine the roles of particles in Japanese and become familiar with some basic particles.
• Recognize basic hiragana characters and distinguish them from other characters (katakana and kanji).
• Examine how cultural values are reflected in Japanese language use, exploring not just its structure but the social and cultural contexts.

This course is for beginning level learners who have little to some knowledge of basic Japanese. The course goes deeper into understanding the basic Japanese sentence structures, especially noun and adjective sentences, while also practicing some common expressions used in personal conversations related to family, pets, occupations, and desires. This course also introduces a variety of basic particles that are essential to creating simple sentences. The course is designed as a continuation of Fundamentals 1, but completing Fundamentals 1 is not required to join this course. Prior knowledge of Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana, & Kanji) is not required to take this course.

Through this course, students will be able to

• Appropriately demonstrate a variety of greetings and parting phrases.
• Demonstrate the use of a variety of basic and essential daily expressions.
• Practice sharing personal details such as occupation, family, talents and skills, etc.
• Review and demonstrate some basic particles (はwa, がga, をwo, もmo, とto, のno, にni, etc)
• Examine basic sentence structures, particularly noun and adjective sentences, and create original simple sentences.
• Examine counters and how they work.
• Practice how to ask basic questions (What, What kind, How many, etc.)
• Recognize Hiragana and understand how it is different from Katakana, and Kanji.
• Examine how cultural values are reflected in Japanese language use, exploring not just its structure but the social and cultural contexts.

Prior knowledge of Japanese characters (Hiragana, Katakana, & Kanji) is not required to take this course. While taking Japanese Class 1 is highly recommended before taking Japanese Class 2, it is not a requirement. However, students should have some basic understanding of the following:

• The function of desu (です) in a sentence.
• The role of particles in Japanese sentences, especially some basic understanding of ka (か）wa（は）wo（を）mo（も） to（と）.
• How to ask and answer a simple question: Korewa nandesuka? （これは　なんですか。）
• Demonstrative Pronouns: Kore/Sore/Are（これ・それ・あれ）
• The difference between plain form vs. polite form

This course is designed for beginning level to lower-intermediate learners who understands the hiragana system and have some basic understanding of the Japanese language.  The course focuses on  learning basic structures of verbs and verb sentences while also practicing common expressions useful to describe daily activities and future plans. The course will also introduce useful conjunctive particles and continue reviewing and practicing basic particles from previous classes. The course is designed as a continuation of Fundamentals 2, but completing Fundamentals 2 is not required to join this course. Prior knowledge of hiragana and katakana, however, is required. Students will be able to: 

• Demonstrate familiar and basic expressions and phrases.
• Demonstrate a variety of greetings useful in daily conversations.
• Demonstrate sharing daily activities, future plans, and past events
• Examine 15 essential particles, conjunctive particles and the kara (から）particles
• Examine basic sentence structures, particularly verb sentences and create original simple sentences.
• Demonstrate asking questions about when, where, who, what and why (いつ、どこで、だれが、なにを、なぜ）.
• Examine how cultural values are reflected in Japanese language use, exploring not just its structure but the social and cultural contexts.

While taking Japanese Class 2 is highly recommended before taking Japanese Class 3, it is not a requirement. However, students should have some basic understanding of the following:

• Hiragana Characters (Ideally also katakana)
• The function of desu (です) in a sentence.
• Noun and adjective sentence structures.
• Adjective structures (い adj vs. な adj and basic conjugation)
• Particles: ka (か）wa（は）ga（が）wo（を）mo（も） to（と）,
• How to ask a simple question: Korewa nandesuka? （これは　なんですか。）
• Demonstrative Pronouns: Kore/Sore/Are（これ・それ・あれ）Kono/Sono/Ano (この ・その・あの）
• Understanding of Plain form vs. Polite form

This course is the final part of the Fundamentals series, designed for beginning to lower-intermediate learners. Serving as a Soshuhen 総集編 — a summary, consolidation, and practical application of what students have learned in Fundamentals 1, 2, and 3 — the course uses lessons from Starter, Irodori: Japanese for Life in Japan (Japan Foundation) to revisit key elements of the Japanese language. Topics include talking about hobbies, making plans and invitations, sharing event details (when and where), and sharing past experiences.  Students will strengthen their foundation through structured review and build confidence using Japanese in both speaking and writing. While completion of Fundamentals 3 is recommended, it is not required. However, prior knowledge of hiragana and katakana is necessary to join.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Independently create simple noun, adjective, and verb sentences in both present/future and past tense using basic particles.
• Practice and use essential particles: か、は、が、を、も、と、で、に、の.
• Ask and answer questions about their hobbies and favorite activities.
• Share information about events, including when and where, and ask/answer whether someone is attending.
  
• Express availability and handle invitations (both inviting and responding).
• Talk about what they usually do on their days off.

While completing Fundamentals 1–3 is highly recommended before joining Fundamentals 4, it is not required. However, students should have basic foundational skills, with some assistance as needed. Specifically, students should:

• Be able to read and write the 46 basic hiragana characters (ideally katakana as well).
• Be able to create simple sentences using です (noun and adjective sentences).
• Be able to create basic verb ます sentences to describe daily activities, future plans, and past events.
• Be familiar with the following particles: か、は、が、を、も、と.
• Have learned basic adjective structures (い-adjectives vs. な-adjectives, and basic conjugation).
• Understand and use demonstrative pronouns:
  これ・それ・あれ and この・その・あの.
• Be able to count from 1 to 100 in Japanese.
• Understand the basic difference between plain form and polite form.
• Be able to ask and answer common beginner-level questions, such as:
  • これはなんですか。
  • どこにすんでいますか。
  • しゅっしんはどこですか。
  • おしごとはなんですか。
  • そのしごとはどんなおしごとですか。
  • かぞくはなんにんですか。
  • なにがすきですか。
  • このひとはだれですか。
  • まいあさなにをしますか。
  • あしたなにをしますか。
  • きのうなにをしましたか。

Coming Soon!