The present article gives a short introduction to the Japanese language and its writing system. After a synopsis of the historical development of Japanese Studies in this country, an attempt is made to give an evaluation of Japanese language programmes at German universities. In conclusion some proposals for improvements are made which are deemed to be desirable.
Japanese was first introduced into the curriculum of a few German schools about ten years ago. Since then it has been offered as a regular subject by more and more German schools. Japanese is well on the way to becoming established as a further foreign language, along with the traditionally offered languages such as English and French.
As a school subject Japanese is still being developed and tried out, and therefore it is not possible to formulate any final results at this stage. However the following report is an attempt to focus on the current situation of Japanese teaching in schools.