It's not so much that I just want to make money, as I am quite interested in Japanese language, culture and linguistics so would probably enjoy doing research anyway - it's more I'm worried I'll graduate with a Masters and find myself working in a coffee shop in NZ >>; I currently have a Bachelor of International Studies specialising in Japanese but with hardly any work experience it's very hard to find a job here or in Japan.
Does having a Master's make any difference overseas? Being born in England, I can go there to live anytime (and they probably have more need for Japanese speakers than NZ does, as there's already a lot here), but my cousin who's worked in IT for 12 years and is 3months away from her Masters in Comp. Science is having trouble finding a job :/ So if she can't do it in that area even with a Masters, then I don't know if it would help me at all...
Considering it's embarrassing being unable to find a job with a BIS, I can only imagine how embarrassing it'd be if you have a Masters ._.
I'd be aiming to pass the JLPT this year or early next, so this year's study would mainly be to get my level up so that taking PostGrad next year would be a possibility :) Then if I then decide research isn't for me, I could at-least try go into translation or something.
And yes :D I actually went to Japan in the first place because I got into visual kei - liking the language and culture came second, as I didn't really know much about Japan until I went on my exchange <3
I don't really know about other countries, but at least in Germany, a Masters degree or Ph.D. is required for most research areas and teaching (at universities). Also, in business areas, a Master comes in quite handy. Some people on the other hand say that if you have a Masters dgegree, you'd be "over-qualified" for a "normal" working job, in an office or so.
So if you'd be willing to focus on research, I'd definitely suggest you to do the Masters. And no matter what, it'll always look nice in your CV! Also, if you do the Masters, maybe you could try to find one where an internship is required. For example, to work in a company for 2 or 3 months during the Masters. With this, you'd gain working experience at the same time. Or try to become a teaching assistant (which is not so hard). There are many possibilites to broaden your educational horizon!
Hihi, me too, I first became interested in Japan because of the music (I fell in love with X Japan XDD) and that was also the reason why I wanted to come to Japan. Would you mind if I friended you?
It's also whether or not a Masters in JAPANESE will help - if I get 1kyu, it seems most people think that a Ma in Jp won't make a difference ^^;
Research is interesting though, but the PostGrad research seems to be more on cultural/anthropological/linguistical basis, so just knowing Japanese might not be enough to get a good research project.
Definitely!! :) I tend to be more into indies now, but I just spent all week catching up on the oldschool bands as I did a post on them for my blog - I started a Visual Kei New Zealand blog for my friend's forums, so it's starting off super-basic because not many people here know about VK, but once I get the major bands done then I can get onto indies bands! Yeyey!! I'm on Facebook more than LJ now though ^-^;
Well, for working in Japan, JLPT1 (or at least JLPT2) is definitely neccessary. I'm not sure about a Masters degree in linguistics, whether that really helps. I have a few friends who are doing their Masters in linguistics right now, but none of them wants to go on with the Ph.D. And they don't know about job possibilities yet, so I'm not such a big help, sorry! But like I said, for research purpose, postgrad is VERY important.
I have to confess that I'm mainly hooked up on X Japan. I even went to a concert of them last year, made my dream come true XDD Wow, you started a blog about Visual Kei? That sounds pretty cool!
Does having a Master's make any difference overseas? Being born in England, I can go there to live anytime (and they probably have more need for Japanese speakers than NZ does, as there's already a lot here), but my cousin who's worked in IT for 12 years and is 3months away from her Masters in Comp. Science is having trouble finding a job :/ So if she can't do it in that area even with a Masters, then I don't know if it would help me at all...
Considering it's embarrassing being unable to find a job with a BIS, I can only imagine how embarrassing it'd be if you have a Masters ._.
I'd be aiming to pass the JLPT this year or early next, so this year's study would mainly be to get my level up so that taking PostGrad next year would be a possibility :) Then if I then decide research isn't for me, I could at-least try go into translation or something.
And yes :D I actually went to Japan in the first place because I got into visual kei - liking the language and culture came second, as I didn't really know much about Japan until I went on my exchange <3
Thank you for your help!!
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So if you'd be willing to focus on research, I'd definitely suggest you to do the Masters. And no matter what, it'll always look nice in your CV! Also, if you do the Masters, maybe you could try to find one where an internship is required. For example, to work in a company for 2 or 3 months during the Masters. With this, you'd gain working experience at the same time. Or try to become a teaching assistant (which is not so hard). There are many possibilites to broaden your educational horizon!
Hihi, me too, I first became interested in Japan because of the music (I fell in love with X Japan XDD) and that was also the reason why I wanted to come to Japan. Would you mind if I friended you?
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Research is interesting though, but the PostGrad research seems to be more on cultural/anthropological/linguistical basis, so just knowing Japanese might not be enough to get a good research project.
Definitely!! :) I tend to be more into indies now, but I just spent all week catching up on the oldschool bands as I did a post on them for my blog - I started a Visual Kei New Zealand blog for my friend's forums, so it's starting off super-basic because not many people here know about VK, but once I get the major bands done then I can get onto indies bands! Yeyey!!
I'm on Facebook more than LJ now though ^-^;
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I have to confess that I'm mainly hooked up on X Japan. I even went to a concert of them last year, made my dream come true XDD Wow, you started a blog about Visual Kei? That sounds pretty cool!
Just added you!
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