How do Taiwan’s Japanese-Language Learners Comprehend Japanese Culture -- a Case Study on Japanese-language Learners in China Youth Corps

• Main Authors: KANEKO YUMI, 金子祐己
• Other Authors: YOKOJI KEIKO
• Format: Others
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/sfk6n8

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 跨文化研究所翻譯學碩士班 === 105 === 　A survey by Japan Foundation shows that a total of 233,417 people in Taiwan studied Japanese in 2012. Among them, 38,712 (16.6%) attended cram schools for Japanese lessons and compared to Japanese majors in universities, these cram school students come from different age groups with different occupations, sitting in the same classrooms studying the language together. This study, through observing these students, aims to explore how Taiwanese people form their impressions of Japan and how such impressions evolve. Most cram schools in Taiwan are privately run. Some offer only Japanese lessons while others offer lessons in Engli　s　h, Korean and other languages. There are also cram schools that provide oversea school program (both long-term and short-term) application service. Simply put, the former is more similar to language schools and the latter is more similar to culture centers in Japan. 　The research subject of this paper - China Youth Service Association (China Youth Corps)　is more similar to a cram school that is closer to culture centers in size. It provides a comprehensive selection of Japanese courses, ranging from beginner to advanced courses including Gojūon, grammer, conversation, Japanese karaoke, Japanese Language Proficiency Test lessons and “How to understand NHK news” lesson. 　 　This paper aims to explore and analyze how cram school students taking Japanese lessons learn about Japan and their impressions of the country. It also aims to provide an insight of the thoughts and needs of these Japanese students, which will be beneficial to Japanese curriculum and lesson planning. Therefore this paper first describes the positioning of the cram schools and China Youth Service Association (China Youth Corps) in Taiwan. On the other hand, since these students do not simply learn about Japan through Japanese lessons, this paper explores how they learn about the country of Japan and analyzes how their impressions of Japan evolve before and during Japanese lessons as well as the factors influencing the formation of such impressions.