Skip to main content University of Leeds homepage
Module and Programme Catalogue home page

2025/26 Undergraduate Programme Catalogue

BA Arabic and Japanese (For students entering from September 2025 onwards)

Programme overview

Programme code
BAARAB&JPN-R
UCAS code
TT62
Duration
5 Years
Method of Attendance
Full Time
Programme manager
Maria Chiara La Sala
Contact address
m.c.lasala@leeds.ac.uk
Total credits
605
School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme
Languages, Cultures and Societies
Examination board through which the programme will be considered
Relevant QAA Subject Benchmark Groups
Languages, Cultures and Societies

https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/sbs/sbs-languages-cultures-and-societies-23.pdf?sfvrsn=3c71a881_10

Entry requirements

Entry Requirements are available on the Course Search entry

Programme specification

The information on this page is accurate for students entering the programme in 2024/25 or before. For students entering the programme from September 2025 or after, you can find the details of your programme: BA Arabic and Japanese

This programme equips students with the linguistic skills needed to understand a range of written, spoken and broadcast material in Japanese and Arabic, and the ability to communicate effectively with Arabic and Japanese speakers. The deliberately modern bias of the programme aims to produce graduates with an all-round proficiency in both languages, along with a range of transferable skills and insights.

Students begin both languages from scratch (although there is provision for those with some prior learning of Arabic or Japanese) and follow an intensive language programme in their first year. The second year is spent at a university in Japan, and the third year is spent in an Arabic-speaking country. This compulsory period of residence abroad provides students with the unique opportunity to develop language skills in a rich and varied context of use, while engaging with other cultures and societies, thereby fostering intercultural awareness and pluricultural competence, self-reliance and flexibility.

Students return to Leeds in their fourth year to follow advanced upper-level language and non-language modules in both subjects. By the final year of the programme students should be able to interpret relevant material in a wider sense, fitting it into the broader social, political, economic and cultural context of present-day Japan, and the Arab World.

Students are expected to graduate with a strong command of both Arabic and Japanese, enriched by immersive experiences in both linguistic regions, and a nuanced understanding of their diverse historical and cultural contexts. Throughout the programme, students will develop valuable interpretative, analytical and digital skills, as well as becoming confident researchers. Students will demonstrate these qualities when they undertake a Final Year Project on a topic of their choice in one of the language subjects they study.

Year 1

(For students entering from September 2025 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Compulsory Modules

Students will be required to study the following compulsory modules

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
ARAB1001Beginning Arabic 120Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARAB1002Beginning Arabic 220Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)PFP
ARAB1171Studying the Middle East and North Africa20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
EAST1252Modern Japan20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Optional Modules

Students with no prior knowledge of Japanese will be required to study the following modules

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
EAST1210Basic Japanese Language (1)20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
EAST1220Basic Japanese Language (2)20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)PFP

Students with prior knowledge of Japanese will, subject to a placement test, be required to study the following modules

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
EAST1280Intermediate Japanese (1)20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
EAST1281Intermediate Japanese (2)20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)PFP

Year 2

(For students entering from September 2025 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Students will spend the second year of their programme in Japan.

Compulsory Modules

Students will be required to study the following compulsory module:

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
MODL9500LCS Year Abroad120Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)PFP

Year 3

(For students entering from September 2025 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Students will spend the third year of their programme in an Arabic-speaking country.

Compulsory Modules

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory module:

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
MODL9501LCS Year Abroad 2120Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)PFP

Year 4

(For students entering from September 2025 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Compulsory Modules

Students will be required to study the following compulsory modules

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
ARAB2010Advanced Arabic Grammar and Translation20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
ARAB2020Essential Skills in Practical Arabic20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)PFP
EAST2719Japanese 2: Pre-Advanced Communication Skills 120Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
EAST2720Japanese 2: Pre-Advanced Communication Skills 220Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)PFP

Optional Modules

Students will be required to study 20 credits from the following list of optional modules: 

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
ARAB2066Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
ARAB2095Global Media: Discourse, Representation and Society20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
ARAB2181Cultures of the Arab Middle East and North Africa20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARAB2190Global Jihad: From the Taliban to ISIS20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
ARAB2310Modern Middle Eastern History20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
ARAB2312Islamic Law: Authority, Continuity and Change20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students will be required to study 20 credits from the following optional modules:

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
EAST2007Japan's International Relations20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
EAST2025Global Korea in Context: Sociocultural and Political Dynamics20Not running in 202526
EAST2480Japanese Development Assistance in a Globalising World20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
EAST2714Death in Japanese Society and Culture20Not running in 202526
EAST2715Japanese Cinema in the World20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
EAST2716Nature and Technology in Japan: Cultural Images20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Year 5

(For students entering from September 2025 onwards)

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]
View Timetable

Students are required to take a minimum of 40 credits in each subject. Overall, students must take 100 credits across their two subjects. All students must take 40 credits as a Final Year Project module, which can be taken in - and count towards - either of their two subjects (EITHER Japanese OR Arabic).     

The remaining 20 credits should be taken in either of the named subjects or taken as MODL or Discovery modules.

Compulsory Modules

Students will be required to study the following compulsory modules

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
ARAB3020Advanced Skills in Arabic Language20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)PFP
EAST3285Japanese 3: Advanced Communication Skills20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)PFP
MODL3050Final Year Project40Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)PFP

Optional Modules

Students who take their FYP in Japanese are required to take a minimum of 20 credits and may take up to 40 credits from the following list of optional modules. 

Students who take their FYP in Arabic may take up to 20 credits from the following list of optional modules. 

ARAB3xxx - [Title to be defined: module about cinemas and audio-visual cultures in the Middle East and North Africa] - 20 credits

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
ARAB3072Islam and Modernity20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
ARAB3090The Qur’an and the Hadith: Muslim Scriptural Sources20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
ARAB3110Middle Eastern Politics: Regimes, Societies and Conflict20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
ARAB3888Advanced Media Arabic: Translation Skills in Text Typology20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students who take their FYP in Arabic are required to take a minimum of 20 credits and may take up to 40 credits from the following list of optional modules (from Basket 1 AND Basket 2). 

Students who take their FYP in Japanese may take up to 20 credits from the following list of optional modules (from EITHER Basket 1 OR Basket 2). 

Basket 1

EAST3xxx - Advanced Japanese in Context (Social Sciences) - 20 credits

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
EAST3156Nature and Technology in Japan: Cultural Images20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
EAST3271East Asia's Regional Political Economy20Not running in 202526
EAST3355Death and Religion in Japan20Not running in 202526
EAST3525Globalising China and the Developing World20Not running in 202526
EAST3580Advanced Japanese in Translation20Not running in 202526

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Basket 2

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
EAST3016East Asian Performing Arts20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
EAST3017Japan-Korea Relations in the Shadow of Empire20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
EAST3252Modern Japanese History20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
EAST3286Advanced Japanese in Context: Culture and Identity20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
EAST3350Japanese Cinema in the World20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
EAST3707Buddhism: A Lived Tradition20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Students may study up to 20 credits from the following optional modules:

CodeTitleCreditsSemesterPass for Progression
MODL3200Representing the Holocaust: Transgression and the Taboo20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL3410Contemporary World Literature20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)
MODL3600Material Cultures and Cultures of Consumption20Not running in 202526
MODL3610Adventures of the Imagination: Crime and the Fantastic Across Continents20Not running in 202526
MODL3620Decolonial Approaches20Semester 1 (Sep to Jan)
MODL3630Social Movements across Cultures20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL3650Minoritised Languages, Dialects and Cultures from Past to Present20Semester 2 (Jan to Jun)
MODL3800Linguists into Schools20Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun)

Please note that optional modules run subject to enrolments. An optional module may not run if only a low number of students choose it.

Discovery Modules

Students may take up to 20 credits of discovery modules

Last updated: 24/07/2025 15:44:29

Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team