JPN-204
INTERMEDIATE JAPANESE
Not in Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that discussion is a clear strength. Difficulty runs on the high side even without a single dominant complaint theme. Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent. The sample is still thin, so treat this as directional rather than definitive.
DepartmentAMES
Terms offeredSpring
Typical enrollment10–10
Semesters of data1
5.9
Hrs / week
10
Responses
10
Enrollment
100%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
4.1
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.5
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.4
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
4.0
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysislow
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 37 comments across 1 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that discussion is a clear strength. Difficulty runs on the high side even without a single dominant complaint theme. Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent. The sample is still thin, so treat this as directional rather than definitive.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
Hard to get an A
Students repeatedly frame high grades as something you have to earn. This reads as hard to ace rather than casually easy, especially once the course pace or grading standards ramp up.
Homework Load
Heavy homework load
Homework load is one of the clearest friction points. Students repeatedly describe assignments, readings, or problem sets as time-consuming.
Lecture Load
Lighter lecture burden
Student comments describe this as more discussion-, seminar-, or workshop-driven than lecture-dependent. The lecture burden itself does not sound like the main source of friction.
Strengths
• Discussion is a clear strength; students repeatedly describe the class conversation as engaging and useful.
• Students repeatedly say the course teaches something concrete, whether that is content mastery, research skill, or a strong foundation.
Tradeoffs
• Difficulty runs high even when comments do not settle on one dominant complaint.
Best fit for
Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
Watch out for
• Most of the signal comes from a limited sample, so be careful about over-generalizing.
• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.
Student Responses
Speech registers, grammar structures, and how to talk about technology, food, society in Japanese
Spring 2024 · Saito, Azusa
Learned intermediary Japanese grammar Practiced different speech styles of Japanese Introduced to more of Japan's culture and social structures
Spring 2024 · Saito, Azusa
communication skills, cross-cultural knowledge, self-studying of concepts, vocab and grammatical structures
Spring 2024 · Saito, Azusa
Learned different speech styles and the ways of using the language in different settings which was very new.
Spring 2024 · Saito, Azusa
I learned more about Japanese culture, technology, food, speech styles, and a variety of grammar expressions.
Spring 2024 · Saito, Azusa
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2024 | Saito, Azusa 2.5Rate My ProfessorsQuality2.5Difficulty3.8Would retake17%Based on 16 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.1 | 4.0 | 5.9 | 10 |
Instructor
Saito, AzusaAMES
Also teaches
JPN-203 INTERMEDIATE JAPANESE4.1JPN-306 ADVANCED JAPANESE4.6