Japanese
Japanese is spoken as a native language by approximately 128 million people. Many theories have been put forward about the origin and kinship of the Japanese language, but according to current understanding, the language does not belong to any language family, but is a so-called isolate, i.e. a language that has no relatives. The official Japanese name for the country of Japan is Nippon, but it is commonly called Nihon. The Japanese language is Japanese. Japanese.
Learning Japanese
A Japanese course, studying the language, or learning pronunciation does not cause difficulties for the average Finn, even though there are sounds that are foreign to the Finnish language. The most complex part of the language is the writing system. Three types of writing characters are used in modern Japanese: native cana-syllables (hiragana and katakana characters) and those originally borrowed from Chinese kanji characters. However, the Japanese language can also be written in the Latin alphabet. In our course, we use a book that is also written in these so-called roomaji –characters (i.e. transliterated into the Latin alphabet familiar to us), so it is not necessary to learn the characters right from the start. The characters are studied gradually in the beginner course, alongside other things.
The politeness system of the Japanese language
The Japanese politeness system is notoriously complex, but there is a polite form of speech in the language, which is studied first in the course. This polite style enables natural communication in various situations and between people of different status. This style is most widely used when talking to strangers.
Japanese language courses
Japanese language courses include courses for both beginners and those who have studied for a longer period of time.
Beginner Japanese language courses Levels 0-A1.3
Beginner level courses (0–A1.3) introduce the Japanese language, practice hiragana and katakana syllables and kanji, and encourage the use of the language. New for the autumn season are the August Japanese Basics Quick Review and Basic Japanese Quick Review short courses and a couple of Saturdays Tea and Japan A short course where you will learn a little about the basics of Japanese and Japanese tea culture while sipping different types of tea.
Basic Japanese language courses A2.1–A2.2
The basic level courses (A2.1–A2.2) also develop reading and writing skills and increasingly practice speaking and listening. The courses teach more about Japanese culture, especially in communication situations.
“Thanks for the great course! It was great to be able to use Japanese with other people”
Student
japanese
See also our Korean language course
It's easy for us to come
College facilities Located with good transport connections, the courses are easy to get to. The courses are held at the university building on Runeberginkatu or in the center of Helsinki on Annankatu.
About study advice You will receive help with course selection and study-related questions. Feel free to contact us and together we will find the right course for you!
Course info
The lesson length is 45 minutes.
You can request a certificate from the office once the course has been completed.
Textbooks are not included in the course fee. We recommend that you purchase a textbook immediately after the first lesson. Textbooks for language courses can be purchased from bookstores, online bookstores, and through the publishers' websites. The college is not responsible for purchasing textbooks.
Learn more about language proficiency levels to choose the right language course for you.
Language courses cannot be paid for with sports and culture benefits, but if you want to study foreign languages and use the voluntary allowance provided by your employer for them, tax-free cultural benefit (max. €400 per year), the institute can make a separate agreement with your employer. In this case, you choose the language course yourself and the institute will invoice the entire course fee or the part of it determined by your employer directly from your employer, i.e. payment is not made via Edenred, Epass or Smartum. Ask our office for more information.
Distance teaching
Some of the teaching at Helsinki Adult Education Centre is organised via distance learning. The distance learning applications are easy to use and you can join the class even from home. The link you receive will automatically direct you to the distance learning class.
If you are using Moodle as your learning platform, you will receive a username and password by email before the course starts.