Hello! I’m Rhiannon, and I’m currently studying Creative Writing with English Literature and have done two years of IWLP Japanese, starting from a complete beginner. I had developed an interest for Japanese media and culture for a very long time due to gradual exposure to it, so I chose to study Japanese. For a while, I had an interest in learning the language but had never come across the right time to commit to it. Taking the IWLP module has helped me to understand the grammar constructs and social aspects of the language first hand, as well as continue to expand my cultural understanding of Japan. I had not known Reading University offered Japanese classes until choosing my modules for my main degree in English Literature and spotted the option when looking at the option list. This was when I decided that this was the time to study the language, and I don’t regret it!

I gradually gained more confidence in using Japanese in the classroom as we progressed through the module, and I can guarantee that this will be beneficial to me in the future, be it job employment or befriending those outside of the United Kingdom. I’m currently in the second year of the module, and it’s a great challenge! Learning the new scripts, be it hiragana, katakana, or the much more complicated kanji, was a challenge but not impossible at all! It was good to try a language that was so different from the English lexicon and Latin alphabet altogether, both literally, grammatically and culturally. I believe learning another language is essential to broadening your horizons and help communicating with others! So, if you’re interested, give it a shot!