日本語の道

Ichiro

日本に戻って、友達、3，4人に「いちろに似てるね！」と言われた！まぁ、、、ハリーポッターに似てることよりいいから別にいいんだけど　；）

久しぶり

日本に戻って、日本人の友達に会えて、すごくうれしい。来る前にお酒はたまにしき飲まなかったけど、着いた日からだいたい毎日飲んでる。体に悪いなぁ。イギリスに帰ったらDETOXモード！

Arrival

昨日日本に着いた！なつかしいことばっかりだな…

今サンクスの肉まんを食べた。すごい美味しいと思わなかったけど、超嬉しい！！

そうえいば、昨日美味しいカレー食べちゃった！そのカレーの店にお笑いの人がいたと友達が言ってた。３、4人くらいで、何とか姉妹・兄弟？っていう人達？みんな知ってるかな？

To Japan

今年の5月にイギリスに帰ってきた。そのときから日本が変わったかな？俺の友達は元気でやってるかな？会いたいなぁ。

今週日本に遊びに行きまーす！飲みに行きましょう！

十分・充分

日本語能力試験３級を受けたとき「「じゅうぶん」は漢字でどう書きますか」という質問があった。漢字があるの？！って思った。４つの答えの中から「重分」を選んでしまった。正解は「十分」だった。忘れられないな。

最近もう一つの「じゅうぶん」を知った…充分！

十分と充分は全く同じ？違い教えてください。

Moving Target

Recently I've begun to think that even if I reached the JLPT 1級 level, it wouldn't be enough. Not so long ago I used to regard 1級 as a level so high that to reach it your Japanese would have to be almost flawless - almost native level.

Of course, I haven't even reached this level yet, so I may not even have the right to say these things, but with a little (ok, quite a bit) of effort, I feel that 70% should be manageable by the end of next year. And to achieve that, it's not like you have to understand every word written on the exam paper. Would I be content for my Japanese ability to stay at that level? I don't think so.

It's true that we tend to set new goals when we reach our old ones, and in this case it's obvious that I am doing this a little early. But so what? In a few years, I would expect my Japanese to be far better than now. There is far more beyond getting 70% on the 1級 paper.

One of my main goals has not changed, and I have a feeling I will be chasing it forever. This is because for me it's practically unattainable. I'd like to be able to speak Japanese almostly perfectly. I am not talking about using impressive words, nor about using incredibly difficult grammar, but about talking with near perfect accent and intonation.

How long will that take to even come close to that aim, especially given the fact that I need not use Japanese in my everyday life these days? True, I may use plain style Japanese with friends now and then but when will I ever practice speaking keigo? Still, a worthy, if not challenging goal to aim for.

JLPT Over!

...over for at least this year anyhow.

My expectations were that:

①I'd do bad-fair on the vocab/kanji test, depending on luck.
②The listening would prove easy and boost my overall score.
③My grammar would be good-v.good.
④The reading section would be bad-fair, depending on luck.

My experience was:

①I got a licking on the vocab/kanji test.
②My trump card, listening, turned out to be difficult in places.
③The grammar was v.good.
④The biggest reading passage confused me, but following sections were fair.

Overall, I was dissappointed with how it turned out, particularly with my 'trump card', listening. This was the 4th real listening test I've attempted and by far the hardest.

Thanks to those of you who have given me good advice on the reading sections. I did much better than I was doing a couple of months back, but not good enough, unfortunately.

If I had done the 2004 paper last year with my current knowledge I think I might have done better. Still, if you are going to score around the 50% mark then there are obviously huge gaps in your knowledge and you shouldn't be too disgruntled if this culminates in a couple of poor papers on the day. I can't complain... next year!!

Last Minute

I've had an incredibly relaxing evening away from study, though I did want to achieve a little more revision today. I hope you've all revised as much as you'd hoped.

みんな、頑張れ！(>_<)

JLPT Desire

In the run up to the JLPT I've started to feel more and more that I don't just want to set a benchmark for next year, that I actually want to pass level 1 this year.

I honestly expected to fail when applying for the test, but as long as the experience was positive and my Japanese improved I would be content. But when I did a couple of past papers and fell short by just 15% I had already surpassed my goal of scoring 50% (true, I might score lower on the real test).

So although my target is now to score over 60%, I really do feel like I want to pass the test.

Don't Forget

I just wanted to raise a point about the grammar questions in 1級. Actually, I asked the question I'm about to answer only a month or so ago. The question was,

'How much of an overlap is there in the 1級 and 2級 grammar sections? Are many 2級 grammar points tested on the 1級 paper?'

Finally, after looking at some past papers I can confirm what others have told me - yes, there is a significant overlap. Don't forget to revise your 2級 grammar when taking 1級.

My main before the exam are to revise last year's grammar, taking one reading comprehension I've got left over and to revise the words in my Word Tank.

Anyone panicking yet?? 頑張ろう！

No Time

Two days left and I already feel that, 'There's no point worrying now.' emotion.

Still, I think I'll put in a few hours today mainly on vocab and brushing up my grammar.

It's unlikely that cramming the day before the 1級 exam will help all that much. In fact, I suspect it could do the opposite, so I think I'll just have a relaxing day tomorrow. Anyone for tennis?