Asian Languages & Literatures faculty & staff

Carleton’s Department of Asian Languages and Literatures supports its broad based Asian Studies Program. Our Chinese and Japanese programs offer not only elementary, intermediate, and advanced language courses, but also a variety of content courses in literature, linguistics, and culture taught in English. In both Chinese and Japanese there are three dedicated faculty members.

Asian Languages & Literatures faculty & staff

Carleton graduates have been employed as translators and interpreters. Others have applied their Chinese and Japanese language training in such diverse areas as law, business, education, the arts, and diplomatic service, and in a wide variety of graduate and professional programs.

About Asian Languages and Literatures

The Department of Asian Languages and Literatures offers introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses in Chinese and Japanese language, plus a variety of courses in traditional and modern Chinese and Japanese literature and culture in English translation and some linguistics courses related to Asian Languages. Accommodation can be made for students who can speak, but cannot read or write the languages. At the intermediate level, students are encouraged to participate in one of several approved academic programs in China or Japan. A major in Chinese or Japanese is available by petition.

Requirements for the Chinese Minor

A total of six courses (36 credits), passed with a C- or better from the following two categories:

  • Four or five language courses beyond CHIN 204 including CHIN 205, CHIN 206 and any 300-level course except CHIN 310.
  • One or two content courses in English from CHIN 282 or any Chinese courses numbered 230-270.

Appropriate language courses taken on overseas programs can apply.

Requirements for the Japanese Minor

A total of six courses (36 credits), passed with a C- or better from the following two categories:

  • Four or five language courses beyond JAPN 204 including JAPN 205, JAPN 206 and any 300-level course except JAPN 310.
  • One or two content courses in English from any Japanese courses numbered 230-270.

With approval from the department, appropriate language courses taken through off-campus studies can apply.

Asian Language Courses

Chinese Courses

  • CHIN 101 Elementary Chinese

    Introduction to Chinese sentence structure and writing system, together with the development of basic aural/oral skills, with attention to the cultural context. Students who have learned spoken Mandarin Chinese at home or in another context, but who are unable to read or write, are encouraged to register for Chinese 280.

  • CHIN 102 Elementary Chinese

    Continuation of Chinese 101.

  • CHIN 103 Elementary Chinese

    Continuation of Chinese 101, 102.

  • CHIN 204 Intermediate Chinese

    Expansion of vocabulary and learning of complex sentence forms, with equal emphasis on the development of the four skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening comprehension.

  • CHIN 205 Intermediate Chinese

    Continuation of Chinese 204. Completion of this course with a C- or better fulfills the language requirement.

  • CHIN 206 Chinese in Cultural Context

    This course advances students’ proficiency in oral and written Chinese, at the same time integrating elements of traditional Chinese civilization and modern Chinese society. Emphasis is on cultural understanding and appropriate language use.

  • CHIN 239 Digital China: Media, Culture, and Society

    This course invites students to critically examine digital media technologies in relation to social change, cultural innovation, and popular entertainment. Drawing on literature from media, literary, and cultural studies, the course engages in topics such as new media institutions, Internet businesses, global activism, gender and sexuality, and mobile applications. Special attention is paid to the implications that digital media bring forth within particular social and historical contexts, as well as the ways in which the Internet serves as the site for the negotiation of various political, economic, and cultural forces. In translation.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 240 Chinese Cinema in Translation

    This course introduces to students the drastic transformation of Chinese society, culture, and politics over the past three decades through the camera lens. We will examine representative films from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Particular attention will be paid to the entangled relationship between art, commerce, and politics, as well as the role digital technologies and international communities play in reshaping the contemporary cultural landscape in China. This class requires no prior knowledge of Chinese language, literature, or culture.

  • CHIN 245 Chinese Vision of the Past in Translation

    China—the modern nation—never escapes the influence of the past. But why do Chinese literature and movies like discussing and presenting the past? Do these works truly reflect the past? How is the past presented? What techniques impact the narration of the past and the audience’s perceptions? Through comparison of historic texts and fictional retellings of the same stories, students will gain a better understanding of representation of the past and develop critical reading, analysis, discussion, and writing skills. Sources include historical narratives and biographies, classical texts, poems, fiction, and film. No knowledge of Chinese language required.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 250 Chinese Popular Culture in Translation

    This course (taught in English) provides an overview of Chinese popular culture from 1949 to the contemporary era, including popular literature, film, posters, music, and blog entries. The course examines both old and new forms of popular culture in relation to social change, cultural spaces, new media technologies, the state, individual expressions, and gender politics. Throughout this course, special attention is paid to the alliance between popular literature and the booming entertainment industry, the making of celebrity culture, and the role digital media plays in shaping China’s cultural landscape. The course requires no prior knowledge of Chinese language, literature, or culture.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 251 Heroes, Heroines, Exceptional Lives in Chinese Biographical Histories

    Through generic and historical analysis of the two-millennia long biographical tradition in Chinese historical writing, this project explores lives of heroes and heroines, including, but not limited to: dynastic founders, ministers, generals, poets, assassins, and exceptional women. In this introduction to premodern Chinese culture and literature, students will experience, in English translation, some of the most beautiful works of ancient Chinese literature from the second century BCE through the eighteenth century CE. No prior Chinese language study required.

  • CHIN 252 The Chinese Language: A Linguistic and Cultural Survey

    This course offers a unique introduction to the Chinese language for anyone curious about its defining characteristics and how they shaped, impacted, or relate to certain social, political, and cultural practices and traditions in China, present and past. This course will prepare students with the knowledge to make informed judgment on common misconceptions or prejudices, by non-Chinese and Chinese speakers, concerning the Chinese language or its writing system. Students are expected to learn about some general linguistic concepts and notions in regard to structural features of human language and its relationship with mind, society, and culture through this course. No prior knowledge of Chinese or linguistics is required.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 258 Classical Chinese Thought: Wisdom and Advice from Ancient Masters

    Behind the skyscrapers and the modern technology of present-day China stand the ancient Chinese philosophers, whose influence penetrates every aspect of society. This course introduces the teachings of various foundational thinkers: Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Sunzi, Zhuangzi, and Hanfeizi, who flourished from the fifth-second centuries B.C. Topics include kinship, friendship, self-improvement, freedom, the art of war, and the relationship between human beings and nature. Aiming to bring Chinese wisdom to the context of daily life, this course opens up new possibilities to better understand the self and the world. No knowledge of Chinese is required.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 280 Chinese Literacy

    This course is aimed at fluent Mandarin speakers who have not learned to read and write. Students will intensively study the same characters as taught in Chinese 101, 102, 103, and 204. Successful completion will allow students to register for Chinese 205 in the winter term.

  • CHIN 347 Advanced Chinese: Reading the News

    This course uses readings of various Chinese language news sources to learn about multiple Chinese perspectives on current events, and to become conversant in the prose style that is a model for formal written Chinese. Emphasis is on vocabulary expansion, text comprehension strategies, and differences between colloquial and written usage. Active use of the language (including oral discussion and regular written compositions) will be stressed. Students will learn to become savvy, independent consumers of Chinese-language news media.

  • CHIN 348 Advanced Chinese: The Mass Media

    This course introduces to students major milestones in the development of Chinese cinema since 1980, with additional materials including popular television shows and online materials. Emphasis will be on culturally appropriate language use, and on discussion of the social issues that are implicitly and explicitly addressed on the Chinese-language media. The course aims to increase students’ fluency in all four aspects of Chinese language learning (listening, speaking, reading, writing) and to deepen students’ understanding of China as a transitional society.

  • CHIN 349 Tasting China: Regional Geography and Food Culture

    This course creates a virtual journey that enriches students’ knowledge and understanding of Chinese food culture in geographical context through a range of textual and non-textual materials including essays by renowned writers and food critics, illustrated book chapters and magazine articles and reports, and acclaimed documentary films and videos. The course will familiarize students with culturally authentic and stylistically appropriate vocabulary and structures commonly found in cultural narratives, increase their ability to converse with extended discourse in topics relating to food culture, and enhance their comprehension and writing skills of literary and written Chinese.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 350 Reading Chinese Comics

    This course selects a range of popular comics as reading materials, including stories based on traditional novels and fantasies, science fiction, children’s literature, and non-fiction. Students will gain important cultural and historical knowledge about China, expand vocabulary on a variety of cultural and societal topics, and most importantly, develop proficiency in producing descriptions and third-person narratives both orally and in writing.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 355 Contemporary Chinese Short Stories

    This advanced Chinese language course focuses on contemporary short stories. The course is designed to help students enhance reading skills, expand students’ mastery of advanced vocabulary, and prepare students to analyze authentic materials. The historical, cultural, and literary forces that shape these cultural works also will be examined.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 358 Advanced Chinese: Everyday Life in Ancient China

    Were chopsticks originally eating utensils? Did ancient Chinese sleep on beds and sit on chairs? What did they wear? In this course, students will find answers to questions like those in a series of expository writings concerning various aspects of daily life in ancient Chinese society, while enhancing their proficiency in comprehending authentic materials and producing extended discourse on related topics through a variety of oral and written coursework. This course also provides a fair amount of exposure to common sources for historical studies of China, and thus expands students’ vocabulary and knowledge about Chinese history and archaeology.

  • CHIN 360 Classical Chinese

    This course introduces to students the essentials of classical Chinese through a close reading of authentic materials. A wide range of genres, including prose, poems, idioms, and short stories, will be introduced to enrich students’ understanding of various writing conventions and styles. The historical, cultural, and literary forces that shape these cultural works also will be examined.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 361 Advanced Chinese: Readings in Twentieth Century Literature

    Students will read, discuss, and write about major literary works from twentieth century China in order to both improve their language abilities and increase their understanding of the artistic and intellectual milieu in which the works were produced. Readings will include selections from modern and contemporary Chinese literature, including poetry, fiction, novels, and letters in the original Chinese.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 362 Advanced Chinese: Traditional Culture in Modern Language

    This course explores Chinese traditional culture in advanced Mandarin Chinese. The long history and rich culture in premodern China have produced a precious legacy that has been widely inherited by contemporary China and significantly impacted the modern society. To better understand present-day China and the Chinese language, it is crucial for advanced learners to track the evolution back while acquiring higher-level vocabulary and structures. Lesson topics center on literature, language, writing, and so on. Many of our texts are from ancient Chinese stories (Mencius, Brotherhood, Language of Flowers, Dream of Red Mansions, etc.)

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • CHIN 364 Chinese Classic Tales and Modern Adaptation

    This course introduces to students influential Chinese classic tales and their modern adaptation across media platforms. Students improve their listening and speaking skills through viewing and discussing visual materials. Students develop their reading and writing proficiencies through analyzing authentic texts, formulating their own arguments, and writing critical essays. The overarching goal of this course is to increase students’ fluency in all aspects of Chinese language learning and to deepen students’ understanding of the role that cultural tradition plays in shaping China’s present.

    Not offered in 2024-25

Japanese Courses

  • JAPN 101 Elementary Japanese

    Introduction to the Japanese sentence structure and writing system, together with the development of basic aural/oral skills, with attention to cultural context.

  • JAPN 102 Elementary Japanese

    Continuation of Japanese 101.

  • JAPN 103 Elementary Japanese

    Continuation of Japanese 102.

  • JAPN 204 Intermediate Japanese

    Emphasis is on the development of reading skills, especially the mastery of kanji, with some work on spoken Japanese through the use of audiovisual materials.

    • Fall 2024
    • 6
    • No Exploration

    • Student has completed any of the following course(s): JAPN 103 – Elementary Japanese with a grader of C- or better or equivalent.
    • ASST Language CL: 200 level
    • Miaki Habuka 🏫 👤

  • JAPN 205 Intermediate Japanese

    Continuation of Japanese 204. Completion of this course with a C- or better fulfills language requirement.

  • JAPN 206 Japanese in Cultural Context

    This course advances students’ proficiency in the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing in Japanese. The course also integrates elements of traditional Japanese civilization and modern Japanese society, emphasizing cultural understanding and situationally appropriate language use.

  • JAPN 231 Tradition and Modernity: Japanese Cinema in Translation

    This course examines the extraordinary achievement of Japanese cinema, from the classic films of Mizoguchi, Ozu, and Kurosawa to the pop cinema of Kitano and the phenomenon of anime. The films will be studied for their aesthetic, cultural, and auteur contexts. Particular attention will be paid to the relationship of the film to traditional arts, culture and society. This course is conducted in English and all the course materials are in English translation or in English subtitles.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • JAPN 241 Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature

    The course offers a historical survey of modern Japanese literature that covers the period from 1868 to 1945. The course engages in analysis and appreciation of major works, genres, and authors such as a Nobel Laureate Kawabata Yasunari. In parallel with this, the course explores the intellectual history behind the formation of literature as a new field of knowledge in the late nineteenth century and examines its role and value in modern times. All readings are in English. No prior knowledge of Japanese language, literature, or history is necessary. Taught in English.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • JAPN 248 Modern Japanese Literature: A Survey on Modern Japanese Aesthetics

    This course offers an introduction to modern theories of art, with an emphasis on the origin of modern Japanese literature (1868-1945) and its newly cultivated aesthetic sensibilities. What are the defining characteristics of literature and what are its values in society? How is our aesthetic taste for beauty determined? The course surveys the field of modern Japanese literature, exploring the newly instituted notion of “literature” and the lofty role its pursuit of “beauty” played, as writers insisted, in enlightening the modern denizens living the age of uncertainty. Topics of inquires include how the shift in aesthetic taste for beauty correlated with the change in human relation to the natural world, and what moral implication it entailed. We explore answers to these questions by close-reading various cultural texts. Other readings will range historically and cross-culturally from premodern indigenous discourse on beauty to the nineteenth century Western aesthetic

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • JAPN 249 Introduction to Contemporary Japan and Literature

    This course provides an introduction to contemporary Japan through a variety of literary works dating from the early postwar period (1945) to the present. While becoming familiar with prize-winning Japanese writers, literary genres, and various artistic conventions, we will examine how writers reacted to, shaped, and critiqued historical events and social situations in which these literary texts are written. Topics for discussion include: war memory, postwar economic success, loss of national identity, shifting concepts of families, gender roles, and lifestyles, minorities, alienation, and disaster. Through readings, lectures, and discussions, you will become familiar with major cultural and historical movements that comprise the complexity of contemporary Japan, and develop the critical skills necessary to analyze literary texts. All readings are in English, and no background knowledge of Japan is required.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • JAPN 250 Gothic Literature in Twentieth Century Japan—Empire, Colonies, and Subjects

    This course looks at Gothic both as a genre born in the colonial and imperial context and also as a post-colonial discursive practice that criticizes the colonial condition. The course focuses on the engagement with the Gothic genre in modern Japanese literature of the twentieth century. We will examine the Gothic elements, such as the haunted mansions, female ghosts, supernatural phenomena, and the fantastic animals and beasts within Japanese literature as they relate to issues, such as gender, race, and identity, in the colonial history of the Empire of Japan. All materials are in English.

  • JAPN 251 The Tale of Genji—A Thousand Years of Words and Images

    Considered by many as the world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji, written around 1000 CE, depicts the lives and struggles of the Heian aristocrats. This class will introduce students to the celebrated classic, theories on the work, and one-thousand-years of visual history. Unlike today’s solitary reading activities, the tale in premodernity was experienced as the combination of texts, images, and sounds. This course observes and discusses an intertwined history of words and images from premodernity to modernity, examining the dynamics between texts and images through the screen art, incense, manga, theater, and movies. All materials are in English. 

  • JAPN 254 World of Japanese Manga in Translation

    This course will examine manga (Japanese comic books that first appeared in post-World War II Japan). Manga are avidly read in Japan as a main component of Japanese popular culture. They have a huge influence on other media such as films and anime. The genre has greatly expanded its readership outside of Japan during the last decade. We will read a variety of manga aimed at different gender and age groups, in English translation. The texts will be interpreted as a means of understanding the world-views of the Japanese, and how Japanese society has evolved in recent decades.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • JAPN 342 Advanced Reading in Modern Japanese Manga

    Introduction to canonical authors in modern Japanese manga in the original with exposure to a variety of themes and styles. Some practice in critical analysis.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • JAPN 343 Advanced Japanese: Nature in Popular Media

    This course examines Japanese popular media through an environmental lens, spanning from the thireteenth century to the present. It explores how novels, films, and animation depict the evolving human relationship with the non-human world amidst political, cultural, and philosophical shifts. Topics include modernization, internal colonization, gender dynamics, and industrial disasters, with a focus on canonical authors and global issues. Students develop skills in cultural comprehension through discussions and written assignments.

  • JAPN 344 Japan Trends: Lifestyle, Society, and Culture

    In this advanced Japanese language course, we will explore a wide range of concepts, social media buzzwords, and cultural phenomena that constitute the fabric of everyday life in Japan today. From “geeks” and “idols” dominating the cultural scene to the “working poor” and “hikikomori,” who represent the precarity Japan faces in the contexts of economic, political and psychological crisis, the course delves into the aspects of key phenomena surrounding contemporary Japanese society. You will develop skills to read, analyze, summarize, and critique various texts written in Japanese, including newspaper articles, scholarly essays, literary texts, and films, while becoming familiar with historical contexts in which these keywords emerged and are used.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • JAPN 345 Advanced Reading in Modern Japanese Literature: The Short Story

    Introduction to modern Japanese short fiction in the original, with exposure to a variety of styles. Some practice in critical analysis and literary translation.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • JAPN 346 Advanced Japanese: Consumerist Culture in Contemporary Japan

    This course focuses on the consumerist culture in Japan. It will look at the contemporary Japanese short stories, movies, new media, and critical theories that focus on  the overt consumption of material and immaterial commodities, such as food, fashion,and brands, in contemporary Japan. This course will help students develop reading andlistening skills, situated in the contemporary Japanese cultural context. Students will practice and integrate their Japanese through in-class discussion and written assignments.

  • JAPN 355 Advanced Reading: Contemporary Japanese Prose

    This course explores various aspects of contemporary Japanese culture and society through an intensive reading of a variety of texts written in Japanese. Students become familiar with diverse genres of writing and formality of styles by analyzing authentic materials, which include popular fiction, newspaper articles, and scholarly essays. The course aims to develop all aspects of communicative skills (reading, speaking, listening, and writing) in addition to enhancing academic skills such as close-reading, summarizing, and critiquing texts.

    Not offered in 2024-25

  • JAPN 357 Puppets, Dolls, Robots, and Vocaloids in Japanese Culture

    This course examines the representations and meanings of puppets, dolls, robots, and vocaloids in Japan from the seventeenth century until the twenty-first century. The Japanese developed their own strands of puppet cultures, starting in early modern Japan where the Japanese came to privilege puppets in the form of bunraku theater. Puppets functioned as a useful means for Japanese rhetoric and self-expression, and this has been the case especially in popular culture. We will watch films, videos, and read works of fiction and manga to interpret Japan through puppets and their recent equivalents.

    Not offered in 2024-25