Random Japan/Japanese related glee
You have been warned: this is a long Japan/Japanese related entry. May cause confusion due to rambling and unwittingly-left-unexplained things. It's 4am... so I really can't be held accountable for this mess XD
So I'm finding I remember more kanji than I thought I did... though I had a great moment today where saw 血液型 and went "blood drop type/model? o.O.... oooh wait, does that mean blood type?" XD
I've been thinking about the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) the past few days. I'm of course hoping that I'll have a job later this year with JET *crosses fingers* and I'm thinking I want to try and take it next year (as in 2011). I could technically take it this December, in the US or Japan, but I'd like to wait until I've had more exposure to Japanese, each and every day of my life XD I figure with some grammar work I could pass 2kyuu this year... but I might just buckle down, try to tackle 1kyuu material over the next year or so, and try to reach for the stars with 1kyuu.
And in case someone reading this has no idea what this 2kyuu/1kyuu stuff is, 2kyuu (level 2) and 1kyuu (level 1) are indicators of Japanese ability, proven by taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. 1kyuu is the highest level of proficiency; basically, congrats, you're a native speaker! It is ridiculously hard >.< 2kyuu basically says you can handle day-to-day situations but your knowledge of words/characters is narrower and less helpful in specialty fields. The gap between level 2 and level 1 is huuuuge. The amount of kanji doubles from approximately 1,000 to 2,000 and vocabulary from 6,000 words to 10,000... please, kill me now. I actually feel as though the kanji would be less of an issue than the vocab o.O
I've done some practice problems from older Level 2 tests and I do well until I hit the grammar/reading comprehension section ^^;; Vocab/kanji and listening comprehension are my friends but not so much the fill-in-the-blank-with-the-most-appropriate-phrase/grammar-from-below bits >.< BUT I know I can learn it, I just need to make time. The problem is that the grammar they expect me to know isn't grammar I've been formally taught. So I feel slightly better in that it's not like I've completely forgotten how to use grammar I've learnt, but that I've just never been taught a lot of this stuff, period.
So hopefully I'll acquire new grammar bits between daily exposure by working and living in Japan and possibly taking some Japanese lessons in the evenings/on weekends. I have no idea if this is possible but it would be nice! I'll improve enough to go all 挑戦 (chousen) on the 1kyuu! (NOTE: This was one of those moments where my brain gave me Japanese in the middle of the sentence and would not be denied >.< Chousen suru is like... well, according to WWWJDIC, it can mean 'to challenge', but I think of it as 'take on' or perhaps attempt? Both kanji have to do with battle/war, so I also tend to think of it as 'politely opening a can of whoop-ass and hoping you succeed'.... Yes, I'm insane today, how are you? XD)
So in short, I may/may not attempt to get certified level 2... most jobs would want level 1 but I guess you never know? Might be able to get my foot in the door with level 2 ^^ I've also just stumbled across an article saying there's thought of making it easier to get residency VISAs as skilled foreign workers who are proficient in Japanese (aka JLPT 1/2 certified)... which is actually pretty awesome. All I need now are some skills XD I've been saying I'm considering getting a masters in Information Science but it may be an even better idea now that I've read about this. Well, assuming anything happens... the article is just over two years old, so who knows, amendments of some sort might juuuust be starting to happen at this point... if we're real lucky.
I feel like I was going to ramble about something else but have forgotten what XD So now I'll say goodnight (or technically good morning!) and possibly practice some kanji... as while my reading ability is somewhat sticking, I'm not so hopeful with writing... good thing they don't actually test that! ^^;; Mata ne!
So I'm finding I remember more kanji than I thought I did... though I had a great moment today where saw 血液型 and went "blood drop type/model? o.O.... oooh wait, does that mean blood type?" XD
I've been thinking about the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) the past few days. I'm of course hoping that I'll have a job later this year with JET *crosses fingers* and I'm thinking I want to try and take it next year (as in 2011). I could technically take it this December, in the US or Japan, but I'd like to wait until I've had more exposure to Japanese, each and every day of my life XD I figure with some grammar work I could pass 2kyuu this year... but I might just buckle down, try to tackle 1kyuu material over the next year or so, and try to reach for the stars with 1kyuu.
And in case someone reading this has no idea what this 2kyuu/1kyuu stuff is, 2kyuu (level 2) and 1kyuu (level 1) are indicators of Japanese ability, proven by taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. 1kyuu is the highest level of proficiency; basically, congrats, you're a native speaker! It is ridiculously hard >.< 2kyuu basically says you can handle day-to-day situations but your knowledge of words/characters is narrower and less helpful in specialty fields. The gap between level 2 and level 1 is huuuuge. The amount of kanji doubles from approximately 1,000 to 2,000 and vocabulary from 6,000 words to 10,000... please, kill me now. I actually feel as though the kanji would be less of an issue than the vocab o.O
I've done some practice problems from older Level 2 tests and I do well until I hit the grammar/reading comprehension section ^^;; Vocab/kanji and listening comprehension are my friends but not so much the fill-in-the-blank-with-the-most-appropriate-phrase/grammar-from-below bits >.< BUT I know I can learn it, I just need to make time. The problem is that the grammar they expect me to know isn't grammar I've been formally taught. So I feel slightly better in that it's not like I've completely forgotten how to use grammar I've learnt, but that I've just never been taught a lot of this stuff, period.
So hopefully I'll acquire new grammar bits between daily exposure by working and living in Japan and possibly taking some Japanese lessons in the evenings/on weekends. I have no idea if this is possible but it would be nice! I'll improve enough to go all 挑戦 (chousen) on the 1kyuu! (NOTE: This was one of those moments where my brain gave me Japanese in the middle of the sentence and would not be denied >.< Chousen suru is like... well, according to WWWJDIC, it can mean 'to challenge', but I think of it as 'take on' or perhaps attempt? Both kanji have to do with battle/war, so I also tend to think of it as 'politely opening a can of whoop-ass and hoping you succeed'.... Yes, I'm insane today, how are you? XD)
So in short, I may/may not attempt to get certified level 2... most jobs would want level 1 but I guess you never know? Might be able to get my foot in the door with level 2 ^^ I've also just stumbled across an article saying there's thought of making it easier to get residency VISAs as skilled foreign workers who are proficient in Japanese (aka JLPT 1/2 certified)... which is actually pretty awesome. All I need now are some skills XD I've been saying I'm considering getting a masters in Information Science but it may be an even better idea now that I've read about this. Well, assuming anything happens... the article is just over two years old, so who knows, amendments of some sort might juuuust be starting to happen at this point... if we're real lucky.
I feel like I was going to ramble about something else but have forgotten what XD So now I'll say goodnight (or technically good morning!) and possibly practice some kanji... as while my reading ability is somewhat sticking, I'm not so hopeful with writing... good thing they don't actually test that! ^^;; Mata ne!