Introduction to Japanese studies through elementary level of linguistic competence --- a group of teaching materials for that purpose

(Si riporta il riassunto in inglese del paper) The author conducts a two-year course in Japanese language and culture at the University of Bologna. After about 160-170 hours of language lessons given by 'direct method', the students are introduced to the study of Japanese cultural history through oral and written Japanese. The smooth passage is made possible by virtue of four textbooks strictly correlated between them. The author presents these texts and explains how they work profitably. He says that after 50-60 hours of lessons on Japanese cultural history delivered in elementary Japanese, almost all the learners acquire not only a competence sufficient to pass the 4th level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test adiministered by the Japan Foundation, but also basic knowledge of Japanese cultural history comparable to that of an ordinary Japanese. However, he points out that the students do not acquire sufficient ability in listening comprehension of colloquial Japanese almost certainly because of content-oriented nature of the course, where content means knowledge acquired intellectually by studing. He then turns his eyes toward the poor working conditions of Japanese language teachers in European universities. He insists on the necessity of establishing a career-pass of language instructors. He is sure that the first step towards that end consists in giving content-oriented language lessons worthy of university instruction.