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An incoming batch of JLPT books is on it's way. It might take a few weeks until I get these books, but once I have them I should have enough to tackle the test. Passing is another matter.
１・２級対策 文法・語彙（unicom）
ハイスコア文法1級―日本語能力試験で差をつける出題基準外の表
完全マスター1級 日本語能力試験文法問題対策
完全マスター1級 日本語能力試験読解問題対策
日本語能力試験合格への道1級対策模擬テスト
予想と対策 日本語能力試験1級受験問題集
If you are looking for some books to help you prepare for the JLPT then try the following two links:
> http://www.sogakusha.co.jp/
> http://www.thejapanshop.net/jlpt.htm
[Thanks to Taylor for these links.]
This is an idea I came across for kanji recognition/reading which I thought I'd share.
Get a Japanese friend to sit down with you and pick an interesting article from a newspaper/leaflet etc. Then, instead of trying to read it word-for-word from start to finish, try just reading the kanji/kanji-verbs, skipping the other parts. Where you get stuck, your study partner can kindly come to the rescue.
I've found this really useful and can be less tedious and a nice change from slogging through a long article from start to finish.
さっき、インターネットで日本にいるアメリカ人と話してた。彼も日本語能力試験を受ける人で知り合った。楽しく日本語でＩＭチャットしてて、彼が顔文字を使った。それで、俺は「自分で書くの」って聞いたら、「ううん」と言われて、リンクを教えてもらった。
それから顔文字辞書というものをダウンロードして、インスタールしたら、簡単に顔文字を書けるようになった！打ち方は漢字といっしょ。例えば、「あくま」打って、スペースを押したら、「悪魔」とか「悪魔ビーム!!^(＃￣□￣)^o―∈‥・・━━━☆」とか「バタン ヘ(。_+)★━…………￢_(｀－´ )ψ アクマビーム!!」が出てくる！
笑う -> ヽ(;´Д｀)ノわらいすぎた～っ!
ねむい -> (=_ヾ) ネムネムゥ
元気 -> “o(￣‐￣*) ゲンキゲンキ!!
チョウ便利だ。(..)(^^)(^。^)(*^o^)(^Ｏ^)ウレシーーー!!
> Oranges 顔文字3.1 (636.3K)
> Kaomoji.com IME 2000.20-5554.zip (171.9K)
> http://www.kaomoji.net/
> http://ns.31rsm.ne.jp/~orange/oranges-kaomoji.html
> http://yurirei.pinoko.jp/kaomozi.html
As I've started up some language exchange sessions and got out my old level 2 JLPT books I've realised a horrible truth - my Japanese reading skills are so rusty. Well, not my reading skills per se, but many of the words I used to be able to read are now just beyond my reach. It's so frustrating when I look at a word, know that I could read it last year but not be able to find the right readings in my head.
On the other hand, when I looked at some practice test questions for the kanji part of the level 2 papers I realised that I've learnt a lot of new kanji since last December, so it's not like I've been going backwards - just a little sideways perhaps ;)
Most Japanese people don't know much about Japanese verbs and can't explain how to inflect them. I suppose English speakers are the same with English.
At Starbucks the other day, I met my language exchange partner. The subject of Japanese verbs came up and I found myself explaining what I know about them, and how to inflect them. She seemed quite amazed that such a thing even exisited.
I explained about the 3 groups for verbs which I have been taught, and how depending on the group, the inflections will be different. If I hear a new verb, I naturally (not quite so forced as when I was a beginner) guess the group in order to inflect the verb. However, this isn't always so simple. For example, verbs like 起きる and いる are group II and not group I.
The reason this discussion came up was because of the verb 'to rust', さびる. I guessed it to be group I, hence I thought the past tense was さびった. She corrected me, saying さびた, so I then realised the verb was group II, one of those exceptions you have to remember.
So I asked her, if I told her a new word (verb) in Japanese, would she always produce the right inflections? Surely a Japanese child would come across this problem from time to time? Anyway, she looked a little puzzled, but then again, I don't suppose she'd ever thought about it before.
In a recent post, I discussed a few points I'd like to focus on when speaking Japanese. My language exchange partner has spread further light on the matter.
When talking about point ③, I had claimed that my Japanese wasn't particularly feminine because I don't use words which only women tend to. But that isn't the only issue: certain types of intonation, problem ①, can make you sound feminine.
For example, I said the following to my language exchange partner:
「簡単な文章作って」
She said that because I inflected not just the く, but also the て in 作って, my request sounded slightly feminine! Aha! I feel a step closer to understanding how to improve my spoken Japanese.
As some of you may find these useful, here are some Japanese radio and news links:
http://news.tbs.co.jp/
www.fnn-news.com/OX/
www.yomiuri.co.jp/stream/index.htm
www.nhk.or.jp/r-news/
www.radiojapan.com
www.mrt-miyazaki.co.jp/
www.jetro.go.jp/tv/internet
Thanks to Michael for kindly sending me these links.
There are three points I'm going to have to watch out for when I speak Japanese:
①Intonation
I've been told that my accent is good, but some people accurately comment that my intonation can be awful. I'm not sure how to improve this without people pointing out to me when I use strange intonation. If I recorded my own voice I wonder if I could spot strange intonation myself? Probably not all of it.
②Getting Excited
Of late, I've noticed that for some strange reason I am far more excited and enthused when I am speaking Japanese compared to English. Shouldn't it be the other way around? In any case, in doing this I can rush speaking and use a higher pitch than when I speak English. My language exchange partner kindly pointed this out. I'd like to use my natural voice in Japanese, which perhaps means calming down a tad?!
③Masculine vs Feminine Speech
This is a minor point because I believe my Japanese isn't really heavily masculine or feminine. I know most of the major differences and the only reason I am listing this point is because recently one person commented that occasionally I sounded a little feminine - I'll watch out for this but it must be her mistake!
Thanks to some contacts I now have the Unicom level 1 grammar book and listening book/CDs for the price they were meant to be sold at (have you seen the prices in London's Japan Centre?).
JLPT 1kyuu Grammar 実力アップ!日本語能力試験1級 文法編
JLPT 1kyuu Listening これで大丈夫 聴解問題 1級
JLPT Past Paper 日本語能力試験1・2級試験問題（16年度）
JLPT Past Paper 日本語能力試験1・2級試験問題（15年度）
JLPT Past Paper 日本語能力試験1・2級試験問題（14年度）
My first thought on opening the grammar book was that the grammar is not significantly harder than that of level 2, just different. Like level 2, it looks like the area I could score well in if I simply apply myself to learn everything thoroughly.
As for the listening, I haven't had a chance to listen to the CDs yet, but I've been told that it should be one of the easier parts for me. Like the other levels, I am hoping this is true, leaving me more study time to wrestle with the hard parts.
My main challenge is to start learning about a 1000 kanji and who knows how many thousands of words in the next few months, if I'm to have any chance at scoring points on the words/kanji paper and the long reading passages.
イギリスに戻ってから今日二回目髪を切ってもらった。日本といるときと比べたらこっちの美容師と話すのが全然楽だ。でも、日本にいるとき、美容室に行くのが好きだった。いつも、親しい美容師さんと話してたし、いい日本語の練習だったし。
家から近くにある美容室に髪を切りに行ってて、金沢さんと高橋さんという美容師さんと仲良くなった。ある日金沢さんが急に大阪に帰っちゃって、びっくりした。でも彼女がたまに神奈川県に遊びに来てたと高橋さんから聞いた。
それで、高橋さんが俺の携帯番号とメールを聞いて、金沢さんが遊びに来るときにメールで俺も誘ってくれた。彼は金沢さんに「もう一人が来るよ」とメールで言ったら、金沢さんが「もしかしてダレン？」と言ったらしい！どうやって分かったかな？
相模大野の居酒屋で食べながらいっぱい話してた。金沢さんが「また会おう」と言ってた。「こんなエベント、何と呼ぼうか」と聞いてた。「関西関東会」とかと言われたら、俺は「飲み…会…でいいじゃない」って言ったら、ちょうおかしかったみたいで爆笑だった。
残念ながらその日からまだ一緒に遊んでないな。高橋さんが婚約して、実家のしずおおか県に戻ったけど、金沢さんが神奈川県に戻っちゃった！次にいつ会えるかな？
I've found a 顔文字 website which you can use for cut and paste. As I'm useless at making 顔文字 myself, this could be quite useful! (^-^*)/ｺﾝﾁｬ!
