Integrative Narrative:
The reason why I choose this major was because it
stuck out to me as being the most interesting major for me to take. During my
high school years, learning Japanese was the most interesting
subject to study. Another reason is that because I am half Japanese, I have
been exposed to miniscule ideas of Japanese language and culture through
growing up; thus this course has allowed me to better understand what my heritage
is. I have learned and
expanded my understanding of the Japanese language through what I have learned during my high school years. When I initially took these college courses , I thought I would
only be learning about the Language aspect of Japanese as I wanted to
improve it to the point in which I could speak it well enough.
During high school, I did really well when doing the work in my Japanese classes. However, through CSUMB’s courses, I learned that my knowledge from high school was just the small portion of how large and difficult the Japanese language was. I realized how different the Japanese language is compared to English. Not only that, but I also was able to gain new information about the Japanese culture as well as how they think and act in society. Now my goal in this major is to gain a professional or higher understanding on what Japanese really is.
At first I thought Japanese culture were things that were popular such as Anime and Manga. But through the Japanese CSUMB courses, I gained a better understanding that that part of Japan was only a small part of it; I learned that Japanese culture includes things that hold traditional value that Japanese celebrate on a yearly basis as well as what they do in celebrations and how they do things differently from how we do in America. Through CSUMB's courses I was able to gain better skills in Language and Communication, (MLO 1) I also gained more information about the culture aspects that has made Japan a famous country across the world, (MLO 2) use what skills and knowledge I gained in this class and applied it to a different culture, (MLO 3) used technology and research tools to help do research and gain information to better learn in this major, (MLO 4) finally this allowed me to be integrated into the actual society and culture of Japan as I went and spend a year there. (MLO 5)
Although I have learned many different things through the course of my major, I still have additional questions that I still want to answer through working in this major. One of the things I want to continue is to better improve my speaking, listening, and writing skills in Japanese. Although I have advanced far from what I had learned in Japanese since my high school days, I still have much more I can improve. Another area I want to improve is my understanding on what different types of culture Japan has. Although I have studied many parts of the culture through the courses here at CSUMB, I know that there are additional aspects of Japanese culture that I have not learned. Hopefully, I will be able to gain a better understanding of what Japan and Japanese really is in the near future.
During high school, I did really well when doing the work in my Japanese classes. However, through CSUMB’s courses, I learned that my knowledge from high school was just the small portion of how large and difficult the Japanese language was. I realized how different the Japanese language is compared to English. Not only that, but I also was able to gain new information about the Japanese culture as well as how they think and act in society. Now my goal in this major is to gain a professional or higher understanding on what Japanese really is.
At first I thought Japanese culture were things that were popular such as Anime and Manga. But through the Japanese CSUMB courses, I gained a better understanding that that part of Japan was only a small part of it; I learned that Japanese culture includes things that hold traditional value that Japanese celebrate on a yearly basis as well as what they do in celebrations and how they do things differently from how we do in America. Through CSUMB's courses I was able to gain better skills in Language and Communication, (MLO 1) I also gained more information about the culture aspects that has made Japan a famous country across the world, (MLO 2) use what skills and knowledge I gained in this class and applied it to a different culture, (MLO 3) used technology and research tools to help do research and gain information to better learn in this major, (MLO 4) finally this allowed me to be integrated into the actual society and culture of Japan as I went and spend a year there. (MLO 5)
Although I have learned many different things through the course of my major, I still have additional questions that I still want to answer through working in this major. One of the things I want to continue is to better improve my speaking, listening, and writing skills in Japanese. Although I have advanced far from what I had learned in Japanese since my high school days, I still have much more I can improve. Another area I want to improve is my understanding on what different types of culture Japan has. Although I have studied many parts of the culture through the courses here at CSUMB, I know that there are additional aspects of Japanese culture that I have not learned. Hopefully, I will be able to gain a better understanding of what Japan and Japanese really is in the near future.