Japanese

What is it? Japanese is studied primarily through topic areas. For example, in your AS year, you might study Japanese food, health, current affairs and the media. In the second year, you'll look in more depth at history and literature. There's a selection of 20th-century books you may study, including Akutagawa Ryunosuke's The Spider's Thread, a reworking of a Buddhist parable.

Why do it? Most students take it because they have an interest in aspects of traditional or modern Japanese culture such as martial arts, films, food or comics. Others do it for career reasons.

What skills do you need? GCSE Japanese is required. Flexibility of thinking is important as Japanese differs greatly from European languages. It has two phonetic writing systems as well as an idiographic system, or Kanji, based on Chinese.

How much practical work is there? None.

Ratio of coursework to exams: 0:100.

Is it hard? "Most find it easier than they expected because their preconception is that it's impossibly difficult," says Damian Stanford-Harris, chair of examiners for Japanese at Edexcel. "The pronunciation is straightforward and there's little irregularity in the grammar."

Who takes it? It is frequently taken by science students looking for a balance in their subject choices.

How cool is it? "Japanese redefines the whole concept of cool," says Mr Stanford-Harris. "There's so much in Japanese popular culture that's trendy. In cutting-edge technology, Japan is a year ahead of Europe. The World Cup will mean a lot more exposure. Japanese pop music, known as J-pop, is potentially exportable; quite of few of my students have developed an interest in it."

Added value: Trips to Japan tend to be costly, but more schools there are organising exchanges with British students.

What subjects go with it? Science subjects, economics, history and geography.

What degrees does it lead to? Many students will go on to take Japanese at degree level. Most university courses teach it from scratch, but prior knowledge is, of course, an advantage. Japanese can be combined with business, management or law.

Will it set you up for a brilliant career? Yes. It is very useful if you want to go into business or technology; Japanese is the second most-used internet language after English. But employers in all fields will be impressed that you have taken on the challenge of mastering such a complex language.

What do students say? "The basics are simple, but it does get more demanding later on," says Jonathan Beagle, 17, who is also studying A-levels in economics, maths and geography at Eton College, Windsor. "I'm definitely going to study Japanese at university and then I'd like to go into business. I'm also interested in the culture: I read translated classical Japanese literature in my spare time."

Which awarding bodies offer it? Edexcel.

How widely available is it around the country? At present it's not very widely available, but entries for GCSE Japanese have increased markedly over the last few years, and this will lead to an increase in numbers taking the A-level.

c.rudebeck@independent.co.uk