Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
I am so going to Disneyland* to celebrate. In three days.
*Tokyo
Showing posts with label JLPT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JLPT. Show all posts
Monday, September 6, 2010
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Why the JLPT is Hard
I know I've been lazy about updating this blog, but I have a good excuse. At the end of September, Stef's brother Ryan and his wife Erin came to Japan to visit us. Knowing that I'd never study while they were here, I pushed extra hard in my preparation for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which I am going to take in a little over a month. I wouldn't even have taken the time to blog, were it not for a recent revelation I had: I'm going to absolutely bomb the JLPT.
This isn't such a bad thing. While my grammar and listening abilities are pretty strong, my reading and writing are still coming along slowly.
In order to understand my struggles in learning how to read and write, I need to explain a few things first. Japanese is made up of three different types of writing systems: kanji, hiragana, and katakana. The three systems are used together, and it's extremely common to see sentences that use all three. Kanji is the group of characters originally borrowed from Chinese, which usually represent abstract ideas like "movement" and "feeling", or more concrete things like "tree" and "wheel". When you see a complex group of chicken scratch and squiggles, you're likely looking at Kanji. The following characters are kanji:
Hiragana is a syllabary, which is like an alphabet except that it represents sounds. In English, the letter g, for example, can be pronounced a few different ways, as evidence by these words:
In Japanese, like Spanish, the letters you write are always pronounced the same. The Hiragana syllabary is made up of vowel sounds and consonant-vowel combinations (with one exception, n, which is its own syllable). The vowel sounds, pronounced very similar to those in Spanish, are a, i, u, e, and o. The other "letters" in the hiragana alphabet are made up of a consonant with those same vowels, as in ka/ki/ku/ke/ko, ma/mi/mu/me/mo, na/ni/nu/ne/no, and so on. The symbols in hiragana are much more simple than most kanji, and they're typically very curvy and loopy:
Hiragana is used for grammatical function words like the Japanese equivalents of to, from, and, and is. Many normal words (like verbs) are written partly in kanji, with the last bit in hiragana. In English, a verb like shuffle can be turned into a past tense verb by adding the letter d to the end, making shuffled. Many other tenses are possible in English, like shuffling, shuffles, and shuffler. In Japanese, the functional pieces of words are written in hiragana. Sometimes kanji characters are uncommon or extremely difficult to write, in which case they can be written out in hiragana. Understanding hiragana is essential.
Katakana is the other syllabary in Japanese, used for words borrowed from other languages and foreign names. It's basically the same as hiragana, in that it is made up of consonant-vowel groupings (ma/mi/mu/me/mo) and the vowels. Katakana characters are typically more angular than their hiragana counterparts:
Like I said before, it's common for a sentence to use all three writing systems, as in this example:
The blue characters spell the name "Mark", so they're written in katakana. The pinkish words are hiragana, and mainly serve grammatical purposes. The black characters are kanji. The sentence reads: Mark is a naughty boy.
Now, on to what I really want to say. Hiragana and Katakana are pretty easy to remember once you've learned them. The main difficulty in learning how to read Japanese is the massive amount of readings that have to be learned. For example, the character "行" means both to go and to do, among other things. The Japanese romanization can either be i or okona (among many other readings, actually), depending on which of the meanings you're using.
For example, if it appears as "行く", it's iku. "行う" is pronounced okonau. The second characters in the two sets are hiragana characters, pronounced ku and u, respectively. However, when paired with another kanji character, "行" is pronounced kou. Kou is the reading originally associated with the Chinese character. There are often multiple ways to say the same thing, with differing levels of formal-ness. Erabu, which uses the Japanese reading, means to choose, and uses only one kanji. Sentaku suru, which is a compound of two kanji characters, also means to choose or make a choice, and even uses the same kanji as erabu for its first character. The second one, however, sounds a bit more stiff, and would be used in more formal settings. In order to pass JLPT, I'll need to study thousands of words that I already know how to say in a simpler way.
See, the JLPT has four levels, the easiest being level 4. Level 1 is nearly impossible to pass if you aren't Chinese or Korean, since it requires knowledge of multiple readings of at least 2000 kanji characters. I'd need a bit more time than what I have to pass level 1. Level 2 is a beast in its own right, but you only need to know the readings of around 1000 kanji. I've been studying like mad, to the point where I remember the meanings of about 900 kanji characters. Unfortunately, most of those characters have two or more different readings, and I've only studied one of them.
In preparation for the test, I've looked at some practice tests online, as well as example sentences. I can generally read the reading comprehension paragraphs just fine, and can even answer the questions with a passing score. The listening portion shouldn't be impossible, either, since I have a pretty good ear and a solid grasp of Japanese grammar. The portion of the test that will absolutely kill me is the part where I have to identify the hiragana spellings of kanji compound words. It's basically impossible for me at this point to keep all the sounds sorted in my mind. I just need more time to study and learn the readings.
Even though I'm positive that I'm going to be completely destroyed by this test (which I've already paid for), I'm not discouraged. I took the practice tests for the Level 3 test, which itself requires a pretty deep understanding of Japanese--and they were a piece of cake. I could've signed up for the level 3 test, but that ultimately would've been a waste of money, since my goal is to reach level 2 by the time I leave. Also, I wouldn't have needed to push myself so hard to study for the test. Instead, I'll continue to prepare myself for the level 2 test, knowing I'll be better off when I take it again next year, since I got off to a good head start.
I'll continue to study hard, but now that I know I'm going to fail, I can take a few moments here and there to keep everybody informed through this blog. Next time, I'll write a bit about Ryan and Erin's visit.
This isn't such a bad thing. While my grammar and listening abilities are pretty strong, my reading and writing are still coming along slowly.
In order to understand my struggles in learning how to read and write, I need to explain a few things first. Japanese is made up of three different types of writing systems: kanji, hiragana, and katakana. The three systems are used together, and it's extremely common to see sentences that use all three. Kanji is the group of characters originally borrowed from Chinese, which usually represent abstract ideas like "movement" and "feeling", or more concrete things like "tree" and "wheel". When you see a complex group of chicken scratch and squiggles, you're likely looking at Kanji. The following characters are kanji:
Hiragana is a syllabary, which is like an alphabet except that it represents sounds. In English, the letter g, for example, can be pronounced a few different ways, as evidence by these words:
- Dog
- Gerbil
- Tough
- Drought
In Japanese, like Spanish, the letters you write are always pronounced the same. The Hiragana syllabary is made up of vowel sounds and consonant-vowel combinations (with one exception, n, which is its own syllable). The vowel sounds, pronounced very similar to those in Spanish, are a, i, u, e, and o. The other "letters" in the hiragana alphabet are made up of a consonant with those same vowels, as in ka/ki/ku/ke/ko, ma/mi/mu/me/mo, na/ni/nu/ne/no, and so on. The symbols in hiragana are much more simple than most kanji, and they're typically very curvy and loopy:
Hiragana is used for grammatical function words like the Japanese equivalents of to, from, and, and is. Many normal words (like verbs) are written partly in kanji, with the last bit in hiragana. In English, a verb like shuffle can be turned into a past tense verb by adding the letter d to the end, making shuffled. Many other tenses are possible in English, like shuffling, shuffles, and shuffler. In Japanese, the functional pieces of words are written in hiragana. Sometimes kanji characters are uncommon or extremely difficult to write, in which case they can be written out in hiragana. Understanding hiragana is essential.
Katakana is the other syllabary in Japanese, used for words borrowed from other languages and foreign names. It's basically the same as hiragana, in that it is made up of consonant-vowel groupings (ma/mi/mu/me/mo) and the vowels. Katakana characters are typically more angular than their hiragana counterparts:
Like I said before, it's common for a sentence to use all three writing systems, as in this example:
The blue characters spell the name "Mark", so they're written in katakana. The pinkish words are hiragana, and mainly serve grammatical purposes. The black characters are kanji. The sentence reads: Mark is a naughty boy.
Now, on to what I really want to say. Hiragana and Katakana are pretty easy to remember once you've learned them. The main difficulty in learning how to read Japanese is the massive amount of readings that have to be learned. For example, the character "行" means both to go and to do, among other things. The Japanese romanization can either be i or okona (among many other readings, actually), depending on which of the meanings you're using.
For example, if it appears as "行く", it's iku. "行う" is pronounced okonau. The second characters in the two sets are hiragana characters, pronounced ku and u, respectively. However, when paired with another kanji character, "行" is pronounced kou. Kou is the reading originally associated with the Chinese character. There are often multiple ways to say the same thing, with differing levels of formal-ness. Erabu, which uses the Japanese reading, means to choose, and uses only one kanji. Sentaku suru, which is a compound of two kanji characters, also means to choose or make a choice, and even uses the same kanji as erabu for its first character. The second one, however, sounds a bit more stiff, and would be used in more formal settings. In order to pass JLPT, I'll need to study thousands of words that I already know how to say in a simpler way.
See, the JLPT has four levels, the easiest being level 4. Level 1 is nearly impossible to pass if you aren't Chinese or Korean, since it requires knowledge of multiple readings of at least 2000 kanji characters. I'd need a bit more time than what I have to pass level 1. Level 2 is a beast in its own right, but you only need to know the readings of around 1000 kanji. I've been studying like mad, to the point where I remember the meanings of about 900 kanji characters. Unfortunately, most of those characters have two or more different readings, and I've only studied one of them.
In preparation for the test, I've looked at some practice tests online, as well as example sentences. I can generally read the reading comprehension paragraphs just fine, and can even answer the questions with a passing score. The listening portion shouldn't be impossible, either, since I have a pretty good ear and a solid grasp of Japanese grammar. The portion of the test that will absolutely kill me is the part where I have to identify the hiragana spellings of kanji compound words. It's basically impossible for me at this point to keep all the sounds sorted in my mind. I just need more time to study and learn the readings.
Even though I'm positive that I'm going to be completely destroyed by this test (which I've already paid for), I'm not discouraged. I took the practice tests for the Level 3 test, which itself requires a pretty deep understanding of Japanese--and they were a piece of cake. I could've signed up for the level 3 test, but that ultimately would've been a waste of money, since my goal is to reach level 2 by the time I leave. Also, I wouldn't have needed to push myself so hard to study for the test. Instead, I'll continue to prepare myself for the level 2 test, knowing I'll be better off when I take it again next year, since I got off to a good head start.
I'll continue to study hard, but now that I know I'm going to fail, I can take a few moments here and there to keep everybody informed through this blog. Next time, I'll write a bit about Ryan and Erin's visit.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
JLPT Application
Today was not good for my confidence.
I'm studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which I'm hoping to take in December. In order to take the test, you have to purchase an application form that's only sold at specific bookstores, the closest of which is found in Matsuyama. After my language course, I tried to go to the book store to buy it, but they said that they didn't offer them there.
A couple days later, I called the store to confirm that they didn't offer them, and they said that they planned on getting their shipment during the first part of September. When I called back today, I couldn't even communicate with the employee on the phone.
First, I asked if they had received their shipment. The lady put me on hold, and when she came back to the line, asked me if I reserved one. I told her I hadn't done anything yet, since the store clerk I had asked in person said they weren't even offered there. I told her I wanted to apply, but I just wanted to know if they had received their shipment.
She put me on hold again. When she came back the second time, she asked for my name and phone number. When I gave them to her, she put me on hold again briefly, and then came back to tell me that she couldn't find my name. She asked if I had registered with them, to which I again replied that I had not yet done anything at all, and that I was calling right then to ask if they had the application forms so that I didn't make an expensive trip to Matsuyama for no reason. When she seemed confused at my request, I dejectedly hung up the phone.
Why I couldn't get a yes-or-no answer is beyond me. It's possible that I didn't say things as succinctly as I should have.
But, lest I let my frustration with Japanese communication consume me, I just now called another bookstore in Matsuyama that supposedly offers the applications, and found out that they expect them to arrive in two or three days. He took down my name and number and promised to call me when they came in. It was an effortless conversation, and everybody was happy.
With the second guy, I gave minimal information and let him fill in the blanks. Sometimes I forget that this is the preferred method of communication in Japan. When I give unnecessary information like "I came in the other day to ask about the applications, but they weren't in stock," people don't really know how to respond. While I think I'm showing off my ability to speak Japanese when I give wordy answers, it actually goes a lot farther to prove that I don't know how to communicate in a Japanese way.
I'm studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which I'm hoping to take in December. In order to take the test, you have to purchase an application form that's only sold at specific bookstores, the closest of which is found in Matsuyama. After my language course, I tried to go to the book store to buy it, but they said that they didn't offer them there.
A couple days later, I called the store to confirm that they didn't offer them, and they said that they planned on getting their shipment during the first part of September. When I called back today, I couldn't even communicate with the employee on the phone.
First, I asked if they had received their shipment. The lady put me on hold, and when she came back to the line, asked me if I reserved one. I told her I hadn't done anything yet, since the store clerk I had asked in person said they weren't even offered there. I told her I wanted to apply, but I just wanted to know if they had received their shipment.
She put me on hold again. When she came back the second time, she asked for my name and phone number. When I gave them to her, she put me on hold again briefly, and then came back to tell me that she couldn't find my name. She asked if I had registered with them, to which I again replied that I had not yet done anything at all, and that I was calling right then to ask if they had the application forms so that I didn't make an expensive trip to Matsuyama for no reason. When she seemed confused at my request, I dejectedly hung up the phone.
Why I couldn't get a yes-or-no answer is beyond me. It's possible that I didn't say things as succinctly as I should have.
But, lest I let my frustration with Japanese communication consume me, I just now called another bookstore in Matsuyama that supposedly offers the applications, and found out that they expect them to arrive in two or three days. He took down my name and number and promised to call me when they came in. It was an effortless conversation, and everybody was happy.
With the second guy, I gave minimal information and let him fill in the blanks. Sometimes I forget that this is the preferred method of communication in Japan. When I give unnecessary information like "I came in the other day to ask about the applications, but they weren't in stock," people don't really know how to respond. While I think I'm showing off my ability to speak Japanese when I give wordy answers, it actually goes a lot farther to prove that I don't know how to communicate in a Japanese way.
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