As as student in the Department of Global and Transcultural Studies, you can earn your undergraduate degree at Meiji Gakuin University by only taking courses taught in English, but the ability to use Japanese in your daily life and in your studies will open new doors for you.

If you have little or no background in Japanese, then the GTS Department expects you to fulfil your second language requirements for graduation by enrolling in the “Intensive Japanese” Program that taught by faculty of Meiji Gakuin University’s Center for Liberal Arts. (GTS students who come from a Japanse high school background or who can pass out of the Intensive Japanese Program are able to study French, German, Spanish, Chinese and Korean that are also taught by faculty in the Center for Liberal Arts. These classes are all taught in Japanese.) In addtion, you can take other classes to develop and strengthen advanced academic Japanese language skills that are offered by the Faculty of International Studies.

There are five class levels that range from Beginning to Upper Intermediate Japanese. All of sections of these levels have low student-teacher ratios, which means that you will receive personalized instruction. In these classes you are able to gain conversation skills, the rudiments of written Japanese and some reading experience. Every semester students from our exchange partner universities also take the courses in this program, which adds to their multicultural environment.

Starting in 2021 the Faculty offers the following new classes for studying the Japanese langauge. In these courses you can further enhance reading, writing and speaking skills that will help you to take Meiji Gakuin University lecture courses taught in Japanese. In addition, they will help you to prepare for Japanese language tests, for graduate studies in a Japanese university, and for working in Japan following graduation.