Course syllabus

In this course, you will read four original manga books in Japanese. You will study the structure and contents of these books, and thereby learn various aspects of Japanese language and culture.

Using manga, you will learn about various characteristics of spoken and informal Japanese. Conversational Japanese is quite different from the written style, and manga, which is constructed mostly by dialogue, makes very good material to learn about different styles of Japanese conversational language, slang and dialects.

You will also encounter numerous onomatopoeia and mimetic words in manga; expressions that are very commonly used in almost all registers of Japanese language. In addition, various idioms and words-play is often used in manga, and studying these will help you to enrich your ability to understand Japanese beyond what you find in ordinary course books.

Examination

The course is examined through your performance in the seminars and a number of written assignments.

You are expected to read several chapters prior to each of the classes, and several of the assignments are preparatory and should be finished before the classes to become meaningful. Active attendance at, at least, six classes is required to pass the course, but we recommend that you join all classes.

Course literature

Since original Japanese manga are used in this course, you will need to order most of them from Japan, so you should try to purchase them as soon as possible. New manga can mostly be purchased at Japanese Amazon https://www.amazon.co.jp/Links to an external site.. Second-hand books can also be available at Japanese Mercari https://jp.mercari.com/Links to an external site.. There may also be digital versions available at the Manga Ôkoku site https://comic.k-manga.jp/Links to an external site.. You can often read several chapters even without an account at this site, so it can be useful when you wait for a delivery. Digital versions are often available, but often you need to be in Japan (or use a vpn connection) for using such versions. A simple service for delivery outside Japan is also available at sites like https://neokyo.com/enLinks to an external site. and https://buyee.jp/?lang=enLinks to an external site.. 

Schedule

You find the schedule and an overview of the course's contents in the course outline: Course outline spring 2027