Japanese and JLPT (my language year)
Exactly 11 months ago, I started learning Japanese. I wanted to write about my journey so far since it has been one of my big projects of 2011, and I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test on Sunday, December 4th.
I am the kind of person who likes to reflect on anniversaries and special occasions, so after the cut I will describe how I even got started with Japanese and how I continued it to get to this point.
First of all, I am a language enthusiast. I already knew bits and pieces of a few languages, and I had no intentions of adding new ones. I just wanted to take the ones I did already know and improve them if I could. I wasn't doing anything specific to improve that, but I would sporadically practice now and again.
The languages I knew before this year were, in alphabetical order, English, Finnish, German, Russian and Spanish. I had made a substantial try at Hungarian, but I no longer considered it a language I wanted to spend mental energy on maintaining.
My library got a month long trial to Mango languages database for the month of January. I decided to evaluate the product by picking a language that I did not already know. It seemed the best way to get an accurate impression of how well a person could learn with it. Then I had to pick a language that I wouldn't mind knowing. There are already a lot of languages in here, but some I had no interest in learning. I didn't want the mental clutter.
I eventually decided on Japanese. It seemed different enough from that which I already knew, and I figured I wouldn't mind the information rolling around in my head. As I tested the Mango product, I realized that I was learning Japanese quite easily. I know the date I started learning because it is my step-dad's birthday. That was a major point in favor of the database. I also realized about two weeks into the trial that I was so charmed by the language that I wanted to continue learning it even after our trial period was over.
Mango has a color coded learning system, and because that was my first exposure to Japanese, it influences how I think about the language. It all seems to me that there are chunks of information that I know that I just have to rearrange when putting things into Japanese. Doing that seemed part of the fun. I am a person who has always liked puzzles, so it seemed as if I was doing one of those.
At first I concentrated just on speaking as that seemed the way to get the most out of the beginner level. I played with Mango some more, and I also joined some language for a to discuss Japanese and others.
In March, I bought myself my first MP3 player, and in Japan-specific news, the great earthquake hit it. I was able to get some free audiobooks from Audible.com to help me on my way to learning.
Somewhere around the spring of the year, I the first inkling of the idea that I wanted to take the JLPT N5 exam. I thought it would be a great way to highlight something I had done this year. In April I began a program known to friends as “hoopenese,” which consists of me hula hooping while using Japanese audio lessons. I made a big effort that I would do something every day to work on my Japanese.
In May for my birthday I bought more books, and during summer I worked on getting the full Pimsleur program. I had been buying that from Audible.com. Finally in August, I started working with Pimsleur every day for 90 consecutive days. It helped that in August I participated in a 6 Week Challenge through one of the language fora I used. I worked a lot on speaking during that time with the full knowledge that I would have to learn how to read.
As for reading, I had some N5 vocabulary flashcards, and I would carry those in my purse to work on them. I could even read the kana in isolation. I didn't start putting allt he parts together until mid-October. So in all actuality, I've only been reading Japanese for 6 weeks. Considering that, I'm doing quite well!
In November there was another 6 Week Challenge, so my focus at that point was learning how to read. I bought more books with a focus on learning kanji, and one that had short passages with comprehension questions.
It's a wonderful feeling to realize that I can read Japanese. It feels interesting in my head as I perceive it. It's like it's smooth, circular and flowy. If that doesn't make sense, that's okay. It's a description of a perception.
On the Friday after Thanksgiving, I was studying very hard and taking lots of practice tests. I also knew when I'd reached my saturation point. My brain felt broken! So the week before the test, I didn't really work on anything. I just trusted that all the preparation I had put into the language over the last year would be enough.
When I actually took the test two days ago, I had a good feeling from it when it was all said and done. In the vocabulary section, I did not answer all the questions. I thought I was answering quickly because I knew the words, except for one really weird one. Still, I wasn't quick enough. For the reading and grammar section, I got to 5 questions before the end when we were given the 5 minute warning. At that point I was so distracted by time and by the fact that I had to go to the bathroom that I picked random answers in hopes that the gambling would be on my side.
The last listening section was hard for me, but not because I didn't understand the words themselves. I just had not done any practices in the same listening style, and it took me to the third question or so before I got the hang of how it all worked.
So... I know I did not get everything right, but I do think the test was basically how I expected it to be. I do believe I passed the test, but I won't get my official results until the end of February or beginning of March. I am thinking at this point that I will probably continue on and do the JLPT N4 next year.
In the end, I am only a beginner right now, but I am proud because a year ago I didn't know any Japanese at all. That is the achievement I wanted.
I am the kind of person who likes to reflect on anniversaries and special occasions, so after the cut I will describe how I even got started with Japanese and how I continued it to get to this point.
First of all, I am a language enthusiast. I already knew bits and pieces of a few languages, and I had no intentions of adding new ones. I just wanted to take the ones I did already know and improve them if I could. I wasn't doing anything specific to improve that, but I would sporadically practice now and again.
The languages I knew before this year were, in alphabetical order, English, Finnish, German, Russian and Spanish. I had made a substantial try at Hungarian, but I no longer considered it a language I wanted to spend mental energy on maintaining.
My library got a month long trial to Mango languages database for the month of January. I decided to evaluate the product by picking a language that I did not already know. It seemed the best way to get an accurate impression of how well a person could learn with it. Then I had to pick a language that I wouldn't mind knowing. There are already a lot of languages in here, but some I had no interest in learning. I didn't want the mental clutter.
I eventually decided on Japanese. It seemed different enough from that which I already knew, and I figured I wouldn't mind the information rolling around in my head. As I tested the Mango product, I realized that I was learning Japanese quite easily. I know the date I started learning because it is my step-dad's birthday. That was a major point in favor of the database. I also realized about two weeks into the trial that I was so charmed by the language that I wanted to continue learning it even after our trial period was over.
Mango has a color coded learning system, and because that was my first exposure to Japanese, it influences how I think about the language. It all seems to me that there are chunks of information that I know that I just have to rearrange when putting things into Japanese. Doing that seemed part of the fun. I am a person who has always liked puzzles, so it seemed as if I was doing one of those.
At first I concentrated just on speaking as that seemed the way to get the most out of the beginner level. I played with Mango some more, and I also joined some language for a to discuss Japanese and others.
In March, I bought myself my first MP3 player, and in Japan-specific news, the great earthquake hit it. I was able to get some free audiobooks from Audible.com to help me on my way to learning.
Somewhere around the spring of the year, I the first inkling of the idea that I wanted to take the JLPT N5 exam. I thought it would be a great way to highlight something I had done this year. In April I began a program known to friends as “hoopenese,” which consists of me hula hooping while using Japanese audio lessons. I made a big effort that I would do something every day to work on my Japanese.
In May for my birthday I bought more books, and during summer I worked on getting the full Pimsleur program. I had been buying that from Audible.com. Finally in August, I started working with Pimsleur every day for 90 consecutive days. It helped that in August I participated in a 6 Week Challenge through one of the language fora I used. I worked a lot on speaking during that time with the full knowledge that I would have to learn how to read.
As for reading, I had some N5 vocabulary flashcards, and I would carry those in my purse to work on them. I could even read the kana in isolation. I didn't start putting allt he parts together until mid-October. So in all actuality, I've only been reading Japanese for 6 weeks. Considering that, I'm doing quite well!
In November there was another 6 Week Challenge, so my focus at that point was learning how to read. I bought more books with a focus on learning kanji, and one that had short passages with comprehension questions.
It's a wonderful feeling to realize that I can read Japanese. It feels interesting in my head as I perceive it. It's like it's smooth, circular and flowy. If that doesn't make sense, that's okay. It's a description of a perception.
On the Friday after Thanksgiving, I was studying very hard and taking lots of practice tests. I also knew when I'd reached my saturation point. My brain felt broken! So the week before the test, I didn't really work on anything. I just trusted that all the preparation I had put into the language over the last year would be enough.
When I actually took the test two days ago, I had a good feeling from it when it was all said and done. In the vocabulary section, I did not answer all the questions. I thought I was answering quickly because I knew the words, except for one really weird one. Still, I wasn't quick enough. For the reading and grammar section, I got to 5 questions before the end when we were given the 5 minute warning. At that point I was so distracted by time and by the fact that I had to go to the bathroom that I picked random answers in hopes that the gambling would be on my side.
The last listening section was hard for me, but not because I didn't understand the words themselves. I just had not done any practices in the same listening style, and it took me to the third question or so before I got the hang of how it all worked.
So... I know I did not get everything right, but I do think the test was basically how I expected it to be. I do believe I passed the test, but I won't get my official results until the end of February or beginning of March. I am thinking at this point that I will probably continue on and do the JLPT N4 next year.
In the end, I am only a beginner right now, but I am proud because a year ago I didn't know any Japanese at all. That is the achievement I wanted.