Please provide information about Japanese language courses available
in Oxford, England. Courses should be studyable on a part-time basis
(ie while doing a full-time job),
and ideally start at a beginner level and eventually reach a very
high standard of ability. I would like contact details, and
if possible cost information.

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Request for Question Clarification by lot-ga on 17 Aug 2002 14:32 PDT

Hello mstevens-ga
slightly tricky locating a 'classroom environment' type course in
Oxford,
- most are probably more informal 'one on one' tuition methods.
Are you prepared to widen your scope with a 1 hour drive down the M40
to London?..the rush hour traffic isn't too appealing, but at least it
is flowing outwards :-)
regards
lot-ga

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Clarification of Question by mstevens-ga on 17 Aug 2002 15:10 PDT

I'm already in London and know about the courses here (and even
spent a while doing one of them), but I might be moving to Oxford 
if various things work out. I want something local. Something a bit
closer than London might be good, though.

I'll accept the answer that what I'm looking for doesn't exist,
if that's really the case, but it needs to be a reasonable justification
of that conclusion.

I found http://www.brookes.ac.uk/courses/currentug/babsc_joint_japstuds.html
on my own, but it's unclear if that course can be studied part-time,
and what the costs are (especially for someone who has already
done an UK undergraduate degree with govt funding).

hello mstevens-ga

Gee swopping locations, more fresh air in Oxford!
I came across the brookes.ac.uk course too, it looks to be a full time
degree course.

Searching deeper through ‘local’ yell.com and Thomweb websites
revealed little, even on a generic ‘japanese’ search term (plenty of
restaurants and translators though)

However I did manage to find a course at the Oxford College:
Languages: OCN level 1 for Absolute Beginners
Oxford College website
http://www.oxfordcollege.ac.uk/thecourse.asp?CIScode=L001&redirect=/courses_list.asp?subsection=LA&nextlevel=LA-FL
It has full details and prices on the course, 1x2.5 hr session per
week, 6.30 -9.00 Termly enrolment in September and January.
They also offer a level 2 course:
Languages: OCN level 2/ GCSE
http://www.oxfordcollege.ac.uk/thecourse.asp?CIScode=L007&redirect=/courses_list.asp?subsection=LA&nextlevel=LA-FL
Again full details are on the site prices etc.

If you did consider distance learning as an option where the majority
of learning is done remotely with little physical attendance, only for
exams and intensive sessions, the University of Sheffield (which is
fairly close proximity to Oxford) offers a 6 month part-time course in
Japanese, enrolment is in October. Being a University it also adds
credibility and reassurance with regard to course structure and
quality of tuition over a more commercial concern. If you are new to
distance learning please read here:
What is Distance Learning? What's so special about it?

http://www.seas.ac.uk/DistanceLearning/Experience.shtml
University of Sheffield Japanese Language Course

http://www.seas.ac.uk/DistanceLearning/DLJapaneseLanguageCourse.shtml
“This is a well-rounded introduction to both written and spoken
Japanese, designed by the School of East Asian Studies. The only
knowledge of Japanese needed to start the course is the ability to
read the two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. It should be
possible for candidates to learn these in the few months before entry
to the course.

The course is delivered by distance-learning. Students study with
audio and text materials, and their progress is monitored by means of
written assignments and telephone interviews with native Japanese
speakers. Students must be able to commit to approximately 15 hours of
study per week. At the end of the course, they take a test in either
Hiroshima or Sheffield.

....Students who pass the course and also have a good university
degree are eligible to apply for the Postgraduate Diploma/MA in
Japanese language and Society.”
Price for this course is GBP 3,250
The information for that course is here:
MA in Japanese Language and Society
http://www.seas.ac.uk/PostgradTaught/DLJapaneseLanguage.shtml
Duration: 26-30 months
“The Diploma involves 18 months of part-time study (which includes an
Orientation Weekend, two four-day residentials and an examination
weekend at the end of the course in either Hiroshima or Sheffield). On
successful completion of the Diploma level, those who wish to gain the
MA write a dissertation in a further 8-12 months.”
Price for this course is GBP 4,250
They also have a
MA in Advanced Japanese Studies by Distance Learning

http://www.seas.ac.uk/PostgradTaught/DLAdvJapaneseStudies.shtml
Price for this course is GBP 5,250
Complete fee structure for distance learning is here:
http://www.seas.ac.uk/PostgradTaught/Fees.shtml

The main link to the University’s distance learning centre is here:
http://www.seas.ac.uk/DistanceLearning/index.shtml
Contact details:
Ms Sali Morris
Distance Learning Centre
School of East Asian Studies
The University of Sheffield
Floor 5, The Arts Tower
Western Bank
Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK 

Tel: +44 (0)114 222 8428
Fax: +44 (0)114 222 8432
E-mail: s.l.morris@sheffield.ac.uk 

Links of interest / resources:
You probably don’t need to be reminded of this but Linguaphone have
their self taught system:
Linguaphone
http://www.linguaphone.co.uk/
Japanese-online website
http://www.japanese-online.com/LANGUAGE/index.htm
Japanese Tutor.com
http://www.japanesetutor.com/
Japanese language learning tools on Web at Sabotenweb.com
http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/language.html
Google Web Directory: Japanese > Science > Social Sciences > Language
and Linguistics > Natural Languages > Japanese
http://directory.google.com/Top/Science/Social_Sciences/Language_and_Linguistics/Natural_Languages/Japanese/
Yahoo.com > ‘japanese language uk’ keyword search
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=japanese+language+uk

Search strategy:
"japanese" oxfordshire "part-time"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22japanese%22+oxfordshire+%22part-time%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N
"learning japanese" uk
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22learning+japanese%22+uk
learning japanese online
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=learning+japanese+online
japanese distance learning uk
://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+distance+learning+uk&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1

I hope that is a satisfactory answer,
kind regards
lot-ga

Good answer - demonstrates that what I was originally after is difficult
or impossible to find, but provides a very good alternative and lots of general
information on the area.