Surprisingly I passed JLPT N3 back in July. I honestly thought it was going to be very close, but it was a rather comfortable passing grade. However, my reading is still my weakest aspect. I did study for that pretty thoroughly, though I think I didn't manage my time, and mistook the amount of time allocated as being shorter than it really was, leading me to rush through that portion. Next time, I'll be sure to bring a watch with me to help manage my time.
Currently, I'm studying for N2 to take in December, and I've started thinking about the number of opinions I've read online with regards to JLPT qualifications, with many saying it is not an effective measurement of one's Japanese proficiency. I am inclined to agree with that and, obviously, I will explain why I think it's not effective.
Admittedly, I think saying it's not an effective measurement is not entirely true. It does test one's knowledge of vocab, reading, and listening skills. However, I think it needs one more section which I think is probably the most important and more relevant to people wanting to live and work in Japan: Speaking. I have read many people saying that they have passed N2 or N1, but their Japanese speaking ability is not up to that same level. I believe that if Japan was serious about having foreigners getting qualifications for Japanese language proficiency, I believe they need to make a separate section for speaking.
Back when I was doing Italian many years ago in High school, there was a proficiency test called the Dante Alighieri. It was in a way the Italian equivalent of the JLPT. What would happen is that one date was set aside for students to take the written part of the test (usually at your own school), but a separate date was set for the speaking portion. When I took it at that time, it was held at a university campus so you could have everyone gathered at one place. You would be assigned in advance a time and a room for where you needed to go, and then do your speaking test. It was usually in two portions - First was relating to a specific topic or theme, and the second portion was general conversation. I remember when I did this test, and took my final exams for high school, I had the same examiner for both of my speaking tests. She was pretty chill, and didn't put any pressure on me for a response, showing she really understood the stress that students were under during exam time, especially something like speaking in a foreign language. I don't think I did that well overall, but I remember I was at ease during both instances, probably more so for my high school finals for the fact it was a familiar face.
In addition, the Japanese reading/writing and speaking systems are two totally different things. When it comes to reading/writing, the way a kanji is read can vary depending on what kanji it is paired with. You can get an idea of the meaning of a kanji, and still not know how to read it. Furthermore, two different kanji can sometimes have the same pronunciation. However, with speaking, you don't have to worry about that kind of difficulty. From the context of the conversation, you can get a good idea of what they're talking about. On the other hand, speaking does come with it's own difficulties - specifically keigo. While the concept of it is easy to understand, the fact that it has no English equivalent to relate to does make it difficult. I admit, I cannot use keigo all that well. I can use a few of the terms, but that's about it.
Considering that many jobs outside of ALT work require Japanese proficiency anyway, it would have been obvious that there should be some sort of test that would measure one's speaking proficiency. It's probably one of the most important skills to have on hand in order to get around Japan.
Of course, I could be completely out of the loop, and there turns out to be an actual Japanese speaking proficiency test that employers/companies recognize. If that's the case, can you let me know? I would certainly like to give it a try and add it to my resume.
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