Saturday, December 5, 2009

3 Kyuu Preparation


Heroo, my name is Kine and I enjoy self inflicted pain. That's why I'm studying Japanese


Yesterday a bunch of the foreign students were invited for some food and mingling at a cosy café in one of Togane's hidden side streets. We all recived a "Hi, my name is ___ (and I'm an alcoholic)"-nametag sticker and the festivities began.

Cool Cat was there!

Food. In case you were wondering


The food was pretty gross. And I'm not a picky eater. It all pretty much tasted the same and had a strange chewy consistency. I still don't know what it was.

The café-shindig soon got pretty boring too. But it was a nice gesture.

There were mostly Norwegians, and we get to see each other all day every day. Even the teachers treat us like we're one big family, asking why him or her isn't at school today, telling us to pass on information/home work to each other.

Katinka

Tonje


I left the scene pretty early. Most of us have to take it pretty easy this weekend, since we're taking the much dreaded level 3 Japanese Language Proficiensy Test on Sunday.

Oh, yeah. Exams on a Sunday, you better believe it. That's how we roll in Japan.

So, bright and early Sunday morning we have to get up and get to school and catch a bus which leaves at 7.30 a.m, in order to be at Chiba University for the test that starts at 9.45.

The Japanese Language Proficiensy Test is a standardized test that is supposed to evaluate and certify the Japanese language proficiensy of non-native speakers, administrated by the Japanese Ministry of Education.

It is held twice a year in East-Asia and once a year in a bunch of countries in the rest of the world.

There are four levels: Level 4 is the easiest and Level 1 is the most difficult. I'm taking Level 3, which is pretty basic and requires us to know approximately 300 kanjis (Chinese characters) and 1,500 words. Next year I'll probably take the Level 2, which requires about 1000 kanjis and 6000 words. A piece of cheese, as my 連語(rengo)-teacher would say.

The test is divided into three sections: "Characters and Vocabulary", "Listening Comprehension", and "Reading Comprehension and Grammar".

The entire semester we've been preparing for this test. We've been doing a bunch of former tests in the "JLPT preparation"-class, so we're pretty familiar with how the test is built and how it's carried out.

I'm not too worried. The worst part is the "Listening Comprehension". We have to listen to a CD with dialogues and it' usually a lot of information to process - needless to add that they speak so fast. During our practise-tests in class, we've all more then once burst out in laughter or long, heartfelt sighs. It's pretty difficult.

Example:

"Thuesday, February 20th. Today's weather. The rain has continued since Thursday last week. It also looks like it'll rain throughout today. This rain is probably going to continue until Friday. On Saturday the wind will weaken, and it'll be nice wather. However, on Sunday it'll be cloudy, and it'll start raining in the night. It'll probably rain until midday on Monday.

How many days will it rain?"

You try figure that out when you are stressed, nervous and pressed for time - and it's being said really fast in Japanese.

Luckily, we don't have to pass the test in order to get to take the final exam when we're back in Norway. But if you score pretty decent it's something to put on your résumé, I guess.

Oh, and I should probably study

Test voucher

Nice picture, ey? I look like I fit right in with the Manson-family

Wish me luck!

2 comments:

Petter said...

Lykke til! Det kommer til å gå bra!!

Dag said...

Lykke til Kine! Break a leg.