日本語能力試験 once again

[dorchadas]

That rhymes, when it's transliterated.

Today was the JLPT again. I took N3 last year and I passed, but I'm much less confident that'll happen this year. I went one step up, to the N2, and half the time I had no idea what was going on. The listening was the worst part, of course, but I didn't finish the grammar and vocab section within time and had to just guess on a few questions with one minute left and no time to read the page-long essay the questions were about. It's hard right now for me to take a particular message away from my performance, since I felt overwhelmed. I scored in the 90% percentile on the N3 and when I went into the N2 I felt like I didn't speak Japanese at all, and I didn't really have a particular area I should focus on other than "everywhere." I guess I just need to study more and step things up. At least I'm not alone--I overheard two people talking as I left about how confused they were most of the time.

Also, the man sitting next to me was coughing every twenty seconds or so for the entire 105 minute run time of the vocab and grammar section. I was really looking forward to the listening section, but fortunately they moved him to a corner away from everyone else.

Tonight is also the first night of Chanukkah, so I lit the candles. There's a picture here if you like.

This upcoming week might be the busiest week of the year for me. I have events every night through Saturday, including hosting a Chanukkah party on Friday night. I'm probably going to try making a test batch of latkes on Wednesday night to see if I can get the hang of it, but the sufganiyot will have to wait until Friday. Hopefully I can figure it out!

Comments

[aeslis]

Please excuse this random person stumbling upon your post. (It was in the 'explore/recent' pool when I was wandering through.) I am also a person who intends to take the JLPT at some point, hopefully soon, so your post jumped out at me. :)

Congrats on taking it, and being done with it!

I think the difference between the N3 and the N2 is considerable, although I haven't taken either. And then the leap up to N1 is like an ocean to cross. I get the impression that it's insane.

Crossing my fingers for you!

[dorchadas]

No apology necessary! This is a public post--I can hardly complain if the public reads it. <

Thank you!

I passed N4 on my first try (in 2011), and I took N3 in 2012 and did okay, but not well enough to pass. I found N4 to be really easy when I took it and I thought N3 was hard but I was slightly hopeful, and then I failed (though barely), and when I took N3 last year I thought it was hopeless, and then I passed with flying colors, so maybe it's my expectations that are miscalibrated.

It is a little discouraging, though. I've played through ~15 video games in Japanese this year, I can read manga without much trouble, and I'm reading a novel with my Japanese tutor, and then N2 is sometimes like I'm trying to decipher Linear A. But that's language learning!

Good luck with your own JLPT journey! Hopefully you don't end up staring at 保存 and trying to figure out how it applies to non-tech contexts!

(I went with the sentence involving refrigeration)

[aeslis]

Oh man, that's intimidating. I've never taken any but I expected myself to be about N2 level. I've never played a game or read a novel through, though--I read manga that have ruby characters with some ease, and I'm conversationally fluent, but my kanji knowledge is lacking. I'm working on it because I want to actually improve (thus having a goal of taking the JLPT) but that sounds a lot more difficult than I expected! Dang dude.

Welp, one can only try and see what happens!

[dorchadas]

The JLPT is kind of focused toward my strengths--it's entirely passive, all reading and listening. Which is good for me, since my speaking is definitely my worst Japanese skill, maybe high N4 level, whereas I just ordered a copy of the Cowboy Bebop light novel because a friend was complaining that it's never been officially or even fan-translated and I want to take a crack at it. The JLPT nothing like the 英検, even though honestly it probably should be...

But yeah, give it a try! At the worst, you're out three hours and $50 and you'll have an objective assessment of where you need to concentrate your studies. And at best, you'll pass and have official proof of your 上手ness.

[aeslis]

Oh give the translation a go! That would be awesome.

For me to take it I'll probably have to fly to Canada, hah! The December weekend of the JLPT is the same weekend as a conference that I administer, every year. Apparently the only NA venue that gives it in July is in Canada. I mean, I could fly to Japan for it, too, but it was like $2000 at that time of year and if I'm spending that much money, I want to stay, you know? It gets complicated, and even more expensive. Honestly the fact that it's only once in (most of) North America is such a hassle. Why, test? Whyy?

But it's definitely something I'd like to get in an effort to maybe, at some point in my life, get a job involving Japanese, so! JLPT it is.

[dorchadas]

Oh wow, that's way more involved that the process I had to go through! I live in Chicago and it's offered in Chicago, so it was a 15-minute train ride away for me. And especially because it's probably all bureaucracy. I've had people already ask what my score was and they're shocked when I tell them I have no idea and the results don't come back until mid-February.

Me too! Living in Japan taught me how much I love translation, and maybe someday I'll get a job doing it. In the meantime, though, it's self-study, tutoring and taking the JLPT.

[dreamkist]

Hanukkah Sameach!

[dorchadas]

Thank you!