日本語の道

Stress Cold

今日はちょっと風邪ぎみだ。ひどいタイミング、試験の前なんて！やっぱりストレスが余ってるときには風邪を引いちゃうよね。

今日は少しだけ勉強しないで早く寝よう。といってももう11時じゃない？！

Level 2 Review

Quite often JLPT level 1 grammar and comprehension questions involve a variety of level 2 grammar. If I remember correctly, this also applies to some extent to levels 2 and 3. So it's in your best interests to review the grammar points of the level below that which you are taking.

This being the case, I've just started reviewing level 2 grammar. I've forgotten quite a lot of it and considering the fact that I've been reading various formal and informal texts, this goes to show how little some of these grammar points are used.

Having said that, a lot of JLPT 2 grammar is very useful, more so than level 1 grammar, in my opinion. There is also more grammar in level 2 than level 1, so brushing up shouldn't be taken too lightly.

I need to revise my level 1 grammar next. It's definately more full-proof to learn the grammar thoroughly and score well if your reading comprehension is so-so. Of course, if your reading comprehension is fantastic then you'll probably pass without having to score much at all in the grammar section.

Comparisons

An interesting question, especially when you don't live in Japan, is how do you tell if your Japanese is improving, getting worse or more or less staying the same? It's a tough question.

Some of us use the JLPT in order to measure our Japanese proficiency, but as this test doesn't take into account speaking or writing it's hardly full-proof. Further, by studying specifically for the test you can significantly boost your marks: The JLPT is not a flawless way to measure Japanese ability.

Having said that, it still gives you some indication of how your Japanese has improved or worsened. That's one of the reasons I have decided to take the test in England again this year. Not only that, but it keeps me studying, for part of the year, at least.

2005 Paper, Then & Now

I've completed last year's 2005 JLPT level 1 test as practice. It's incredible that with many of the questions, as soon as I saw or heard them, I remembered parts of them from the actual exam (for example, the terrible cheeze joke in the listening section).

After marking my answers and comparing them with my actual marks from last year, my listening was about the same and my vocabulary was ever so slightly better (probably random variation where guessing was necessary...).

The pleasant surprise was the comprehension and grammar section, where I scored far more than last year. The most obvious difference was that I reached the end of the paper whereas last year I didn't get close to finishing. Has my newspaper skim reading started to pay off? Or is this a result of improved exam technique, perhaps?

When added everything up, I still didn't get a passing grade. Also, as I was doing the same questions for a second time you might say that it was likely that I'd score higher this time around. Still, I wouldn't expect that to be the only reason for scoring 10% more.

Goal for 2006

I'll have to take another practice test before the actual exam on Sunday to see whether I have actually improved or whether these results are misleading. This year, if I score higher than last year, I'll be pretty happy. I've set myself a target of 60-70%. 70%+ in the year 2007?

Zatoichi

友達はZatoichiていう映画を手に入れたけど字幕がなくて見れなかった。それでそのDVDをくれた！初めて日本の映画を見て話がほとんど分かった。この映画の日本語はそんなに難しくないかもしれないけどとても嬉しい！

Ripping Idea

こんばんは、勉強は進んでる？

前も言ったけど、最近通勤のときしか勉強をやってない。毎日大体1時間半電車に乗ってる。朝よく音楽を聞きながら日本語の勉強をする。それで今日いい考えがあった。

リスニングの練習はまだやってないからCDからmp3作れば電車に乗ってるときに練習が出来る！って思った。

それで今模擬試験と前の日本語能力試験の聴解テストのCDからmp3に直してるところだ。終わってからコピーしたmp3を携帯に入れて、明日仕事に行く時にやってみまーす！

Ami's Kanji

I've received a friendly message from a Japanese teacher, Ami, who is building an incredible JLPT kanji site which includes audio files for pronunciation.

At the moment, level four kanji are all there and I believe she has started on level three. If you are taking these levels then I hope you find this site useful.

> http://aminpo.blog.ocn.ne.jp/kanji/

Cafe

Hi everyone. How are your studies coming along for the JLPT in a couple of weeks? Time really is getting tight, isn't it?

I tried all week to find study time but only managed a tiny amount on the commute to and from work. Today, finally I had time to sit down in a cafe and get my books out.

For the first time I felt pleased after marking some comprehension questions. I scored the highest I ever have done, with one difference. Because I had been doing bits of the comprehension paper over the last two weeks whenever I could find time, I decided to do it untimed. I'm sure I took over two hours in total, as I decided to answer all the questions.

So my goals for next week are to speed up answering comprehension questions - or not wasting time pondering the right answers - and to brush up on some more grammar and a little vocab as well.

No Comment

It has come to my attention that many of my friends are reading this site and they often offer feedback regarding posts when I see them. That's great, of course, but why don't they just write me a short comment here? Don't be shy!

Speed Anki

http://speedanki.com/

Thanks to fellow JLPT taker Ben.

Breather

「息抜き（いきぬき）」って面白い言葉じゃない？なんていい音だ！これは英語でTake a breather・have a break・to get away fromという意味。

勉強ばかりしていたので、
いきぬきのためにテニスをした。

I was doing nothing but study so played tennis for a bit of a breather. I.e. to get away from study for a while, I went for a game of tennis.

私のことだったらいいけどこの文章は例に過ぎない！ (*'▽'*)

More Clashing

This follows on from my previous post about clashing appointments. A different friend said that he wasn't sure about バッティング, but had another couple of alternatives.

予定が重なる（かさなる）
予定がかぶる

The first of which is quite easily remembered as it actually makes sense, even in English. I'm not too sure about the second one - all I can think of is hats!

Clashing Heads

Apparently, in Japanese when two appointments 'clash', you say something like 「バッティング」- presumably from the word 'butting'!

Getting Better

この間頭もお腹も痛かった。少し休んだら俺は「ちょっとよくなった」と友達に言った。彼によると「楽になる」のうほうが自然だ。Ｍ先生、教えてくれてありがとう。今日のキーポイントでした！