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日本語 and me the next round TAC 2012 Team い | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6618 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes  Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 297 of 333 02 December 2012 at 11:33am | IP Logged |
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Wow! I thought 村上 would be really hard to read judging from my one experience reading one of his books in Norwegian. Maybe I'll have a go at it too next time I order from Amazon. Any recommendations? The only one I've read is the one about the sheep. (I think it's called A Wild Sheep Chase or something like that.) It was good, but it looked like it might be difficult to follow in Japanese which is why I haven't tried any of his.
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| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 298 of 333 02 December 2012 at 6:45pm | IP Logged |
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レキシントンの幽霊 looks good so far from the point of view of comprehensibility. Haven't read enough to comment on the story yet though! Lots of very every day vocabulary and you get a sense of his sense of humour. In translation I've only read Hard Boiled Wonderland which I thought was very strange. But this is my first attempt at reading 村上 in Japanese.
I am utterly shattered after the exam. Not sure where we're going for dinner tonight but I want something involving dessert! I have a new kind of respect for anyone who has made a serious attempt to pass N2. It was tough. On a whole new level to N3. I actually ran out of time on the language knowledge/reading paper and ended up having to put in random answers for some of the questions, which I'm a bit disappointed by. If I decide to face the exam again, I definitely need to work on kanji and vocabulary, and read a lot more to get both my speed and my stamina up. I also need to keep up Japonin lessons to keep my grammar up, and continue watching loads of TV to help with the listening. Actually, if I do all of that it will probably help my Japanese a lot whether I go for the exam again or not. So yeah, I'm not expecting a pass. But I have noticed recently another levelling up, at least as far as my reading and listening go, so I'm happy with that. And the best thing is, I haven't put myself off Japanese by studying too much. I've got the whole week off work now and am looking forward to spending more time relaxing, reading, and watching TV (in Japanese of course). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5182 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 299 of 333 02 December 2012 at 7:35pm | IP Logged |
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From the few people I know who have passed the N2, they didn't do it on the first try. I didn't know if the N3
would help that but I guess probably not. But then we don't know how they grade this thing lol. Who knows, you might have passed? I've got my fingers crossed heh. I think the N4 test is going to wear me out too. I just don't force myself to learn Japanese outside what's covered in the class textbook book except for vocabulary so especially for the readings parts it will be hard for me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 300 of 333 04 December 2012 at 11:54pm | IP Logged |
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Well I don't know anyone personally who has passed the N2, I think this gives it more of a mystical status in my imagination! Well, if I fail this time I don't think I'll be too disappointed (as long as I avoid getting 零点). I still remember maybe around a year ago looking at the N2 reading questions on the JLPT website and thinking they looked impossibly difficult to decipher, and yet in the test this weekend I managed to read, understand and answer (correctly, I hope) some of the reading questions on the paper. So I've definitely made some progress.
Actually, I'm even more pleased with myself for getting stuck into this book of short stories by 村上. I read the first two while I was in London and on the way back home today. I'm reading a real book, of short stories, for adults, by a famous author, and I can understand what's going on. I feel like I'm finally starting to make it! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4845 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 301 of 333 05 December 2012 at 2:31am | IP Logged |
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I just can't bring myself to go through the process of taking a JLPT exam. Maybe that will help me to work on some of my weak points, and it might be worth it to just go through some of the study materials even if I am not going to do the exam, but... I just don't see the value to me.
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| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 302 of 333 05 December 2012 at 9:57am | IP Logged |
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I think N2 or N1 could be worth having, as at that level it's a very straightforward way of proving your ability to potential employers. In my case I feel it would also give my ultimate macho geek project some legitimacy! Plus I was kind of motivated by a friend who was going for the exam at the same time (although they did it in Japan). And I quite like the post exam adrenalin high kind of feeling. And I did get a long weekend in London too. So on the whole I think it was worth it for me.
Anyway, I think the exam is actually quite practical in terms of content (if not format) so unless you are in a hurry for a certificate there's no real need to study for the test if this is a turn off for you. I spent too much time on test practice books for N3 and it really killed interest in Japanese after the exam. I think as long as you spend a little bit of time getting used to the format of the paper, you could use whatever methods you prefer to get up to a good standard, and then sit the test with a good chance of passing. Some of the N2 books are quite useful though. They tend to cover quite a lot of sentence patterns which seem to come up in real life surprisingly regularly. In terms of format, of course, some are a lot better than others. If you wanted some structured format for nailing some grammar/sentence patterns at an intermediate level you could do worse than look at the Shin Kanzen Master grammar book. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6618 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 303 of 333 05 December 2012 at 10:50am | IP Logged |
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I think if I ever take the JLPT, I will wait until I'm pretty sure I can pass level N1. The lower levels are fairly useless in terms of getting into a Japanese university or for getting a job. They can give you an estimate of your level, but I don't think I'd want to pay for a test and for a trip to Copenhagen just to do that.
To tell the truth, even N1 will most likely be useless for me, since I will not be studying in Japan, and there is no need for Japanese around here. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 304 of 333 05 December 2012 at 12:05pm | IP Logged |
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Yeah I don't think I'd bother if I had to travel to another country to sit the test either! Lower levels are definitely not worth it in career terms, but they can have personal value. But I know somebody here in the UK who has better Japanese than me and tried to go for a Japanese speaking job and was basically told to pass N2 and then try again. I'm not aiming for a Japanese speaking job, but the state of the economy is such that if I can turn a hobby skill into something that can go on my CV, it may come in useful in the future.
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