BY KEN NASUKAWA

For the students who set their hearts on being scholars, especially who major in language, to study abroad is an object of longing, and now becoming a required assignment. But the number of people who determinedly go abroad still remains quite few. So to enlighten and give a little preliminary knowledge to such students who are thinking of studying abroad, we carried out a questionnaire on studying abroad. The subjects were the Japanese students who have had experience studying abroad and the foreign students in Sapporo University. and significant answers from six Japanese and nine foreign were obtained. It is undeniable that the number of responders were too few, so it is hard to say What reliability the conclusions have. under the circumstances, I will point out some answers which can be used as references to some degree.

The Japanese responders in �@ are two from Nebraska University at Kearny in Nebraska, one from Marianne University in Indiana, U.S.A., and three from St. Mary University in Canada. In �B, subjects which they took are mainly literature, history, psychology, various art classes (e.g.: piano, photography, painting...etc) and science classes were also popular (algebra, astronomy, computer science). In �C, with the semester system used there, many of them had four subjects a week in their curriculum. In �F, five of six responders said their purpose was "to brush up their language ability." That was the major goal of studying abroad in English. Their average time spent studying at home there (�D) was seven hours, and it is up to you whether that is much or not. An interesting result was obtained in �E. Students who were on scholarship found their total costs low (1.3 million yen to 1.5 million yen), while the student from Marianne, which is a private school, spent over 2 million yen. Moreover, the cost seems to have been low depending on whether the planning was careful, and how much information was gathered before going abroad, and how it was managed there. This may be a chance for the people who have given up the idea of studying abroad for economic reasons.

The data between the Japanese and foreign students was compared next. The most extreme difference in answers was obtained in �G. Seen by the Japanese exchange students, native students are "hardworking and make a clear distinction between studying and playing," on the contrary, the Japanese students were criticized as "lazy and childish" by the foreign students here. And there also seemed to be a decisive gap in �H; almost all the Japanese responders emphasized "the high scholastic density" of classes abroad. Many answers included the meaning that students and professor constructed their class interactively.

There are analogous answers beyond of culture or nationality. In �I and�J, everyone felt "the difficulty" of studying in a foreign language, and everyone felt "delight" in exchange with people and trips during their vacation. This seems to be the essence of studying abroad. To learn one language is of course hard, and under that difficult condition, delightful experiences affect an individual's sense of values. It seems that the person who only felt it difficult, or only enjoyable, in his or her studying abroad, experienced only a half of the opportunity. In �K, we see opinions such as "studying one's own culture" or "brushing up language."

Having mentioned the above, I would pointed up the portions where there is a difference and where the answers are analogous. All the responders seemed to have a strict attitude toward themselves. I found them to be strong-minded. In the end, it may be the difference between the people who actually go abroad to study and the people who give it up. At least, I met no "idle and childish" students for this questionnaire. The Japanese low average score in TOEFL is often taken as a problem these days, but they are not like that. TOEFL is the pre-stage of studying abroad, and there are many dropouts at this stage. Isn't it important to start there? Now, the number of those who wish to study abroad certain to increase in the future, will the number of students who actually study abroad increase?

【Items】

�@In which nation and university did you study abroad, and how long?
�AWhere did you live?(e.g. dormitory, apartment...etc)
�BWhat subjects have you taken at there?
�CPlease tell me about the credits.
�DHow long time did you spend studying at home on average per a day.
�EPlease tell me details of your expenses.
�FWhat was your purpose in studying abroad?
�GHow did you feel about the native students there?
�HPlease tell me the differences between Japanese classes and native classes.
�IHow did you spent your long vacation abroad?
�JPlease tell me your delights and hardships studying abroad.
�KIf you were to study abroad again, what kind of preparation would you make?
�LHow did you feel about English spoken over there?
�MAnything else concerning study abroad, or comments about it.

(Adjustments were made to adopt the question appropriately for foreign students studying here.)

《Caption》 These questions were answered by both Japanese and native students in Sapporo Univ.