Advanced Japanese language students at DePaul University don't have to go any further than a campus computer to converse with native Japanese speakers.

With the help of grants from the Association of Asian Studies and the university, seven computer terminals at DePaul have been equipped with Japanese language software, allowing students to exchange e-mail messages in Japanese with students at the University of Nagoya, one of the most prestigious national universities in Japan.

The project was launched last fall by Nobuko Chikamatsu, an assistant modern languages professor at DePaul, with a former classmate who is now a professor at University of Nagoya.

"E-mail has been getting more popular among foreign language learners," Chikamatsu said. "For less-commonly learned languages like Japanese, learners lack regular contact and exposure to the language. The e-mail project is a good opportunity for students to use their newly-acquired skills."

Because e-mail is an informal kind of writing that is similar to spoken conversation, the students are able to practice both forms of expression through the project, Chikamatsu said. The e-mail exchanges also help students become better acquainted with Japanese people, culture and society, she said.

Four third-year DePaul Japanese language students who plan to use Japanese in their future careers are currently involved in the project. The students are required to exchange at least 10 lines of e-mail a week with their Nagoya pen pals who are graduate students of Japanese pedagogy. The students usually discuss college life, hobbies and interests. To help the students learn the language, copies are sent to Chikamatsu, who corrects any grammatical errors and mistakes involving kanji, the Japanese language characters.

DePaul senior Michael Arbogast said the e-mail messages he exchanges with Nagoya student Yoko Hirabayashi have helped him "learn new ways to put words together."

"Their sentence structure is so different from ours. It helps to see how it's done," he said. While he has learned Japanese spelling and grammar in class, by seeing Hirabayashi's e-mails, Arbogast said he is better able to understand the connotations of words and to learn common Japanese sayings.

Arbogast said he is also learning more about the Japanese style of conversation. While Western speakers tend to be more direct, "the Japanese use more formalities, such as discussing the weather and then slowly building to their subject," Arbogast said.

The e-mail project is good experience for the Nagoya students, too, because they are learning to teach Japanese as a foreign language, Chikamatsu said. "They are very patient and know how to speak to non-native speakers," she said.

Nobuko Chikamatsu can be reached at 773/325-7000, Ext. 1868.