Japanese Language Discussion

[samu]

On my way to Helsinki, test starts in about 2,5 hours. Wing leader to base commencing operations. A huge JLPT2 is approaching fast. I always wanted a thing called JLPT2 certificate. Going through one more JLPT2 from 2005 on the train right now.

Good luck again to other test takers!

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Out for my test in New York. Good luck everyone!

[samu]

Just finished my test a while ago. Thought dokkai was more difficult than expected. Didn't have time to read the text with the graph. But judging by my earlier attempts i should have about 20% points to fuck up with so i think i should be fine. The first part was easy as usual, choukai went all right.

I hate those stupid texts like where that guy's brother threw the hat off the train and then the guy realized how beautiful the sky was or some crap like that.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Just came back. I think the test was harder but the difference wasn't that much. I did very well in the vocab but badly in the listening. The reading part was tough but I know I did much better than the listening. It would suck if I fail because I blew the listening part. I think I have a good chance of passing, but no matter what happens, I'm going to start studying for 1kyuu.

[adversity1]

Good work guys, hope you get the results you wanted.

[A_Civilian]

That listening part is worth an awful lot of points for only 17 questions...but then again I only did Level 4 today. Gotta start somewhere, right?
By the way, has anyone else here taken the Kanji Kanken?

[GaijinPunch]

Best thing about the test, is that they've used the same "test line" for the listening part for all 4 times I've taken it.

お天気がいいから、散歩しましょう
And that's a span of about 8-9 years!

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

They're still using that . They're also still using the same second example for the image questions (they change the first one with each test which is weird) and the same example question for the no-image questions since at least 2006. It must be their love of the environment, recycling and plain good old laziness.

[samu]

People may already have heard about this, but I thought it was pretty funny. Since I took level 2 I didn't get to experience it live of course. http://magweasel.com/2009/12/06/evangel ... ency-exam/

I'm definitely gonna start working on level 1 now, with a more reasonable time frame this time. I had to do quite a lot of studying to prepare myself in about 2 months.

GaijinPunch: Did you move from 4 -> 3 -> 2 -> 1 or did you retake some level?

To me the 4 and 3 levels seem a bit useless. I don't see why you'd need a certification that you barely know how to speak a difficult language Well at least it's fun to test yourself by doing the JLPT, at least I thought so.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I think they're trying to pull one on us...

If it's too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true.

[samu]

Who's trying to pull a what on whom?

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I'm just being skeptical. That listening question sounds like something made up by the intarwebs.

[samu]

Well I overheard some guys talking about JLPT1 after the test and they seemed to be talking about how one of the questions had been about some robots or something, so I'm pretty sure this is true. I mean if you listened to the mp3 it totally sounded like a genuine JLPT question.

[GaijinPunch]

GaijinPunch: Did you move from 4 -> 3 -> 2 -> 1 or did you retake some level?

Never took 4 or 3. By the time I took 2 I had a Uni degree and a year of residence. I barely passed it, but I did. Level 1 took me 3 tries, but I tried them in '99, '05, and '06.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Impressive determination. Not many people can keep going after experiencing defeat so many times. I hope I'm not too arrogant in thinking I'll pass 2kyuu the first time with my humble credentials.

[GaijinPunch]

'99 was the only crushing blow, and I didn't really study for it. '05 I only studied 3 months (and had lived out of Japan for a year) so I was pretty happy with me 62% or whatever I got. I decided to have determination for the next year, which is when I passed. It was a weird year, and the outcome proved it, but it was enough to get the 'goukaku' stamp, so I took it.

[adversity1]

I passed Level 2 in 2004, failed level 1 in 2005 then passed it in 2006.

To get to Level 2 test site I had to take a Chinatown bus from Boston to New York in the middle of a fucking blizzard.

Level 1 is a bitch, but it did eventually get my foot in the door at various workplaces.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Hmmm, just wondering. What kind of jobs there are for people with a 1kyuu certificate? What are you guys doing right now? I'm doing various jobs now, but my main one is working part-time at a college as a computer lab technician. I do a bit of pretty much everything. Not a great job, but the pay is decent and I'm free to pursue my networking (Cisco) certifications and study Japanese.

[GaijinPunch]

There are very few jobs in Japan that state "you must have JLPT Level X", but it comes in handy. There's differently levels of articulousness (if that's a word), but you won't get either of them by accident. I guess if you were going to translate professionally you'd probably need to say you have level 1 if it's something other than game interviews

But there are plenty of people that have long-standing jobs with a bright future simply because they "speak high level Japanese". None of my interviewers ever asked for the certification, but whenever applicable they'd bring in some Japanese fucker that was apparently an auctioneer in his private time.

EDIT: I'm a technology whore. Right now, my Japanese is required only some times, when certain vendors don't have strong English skills, or when I have to go dig up dirt. But during economic crisis, you really do need to speak the langauge if you want to gain employment, simply b/c your competition does.

[adversity1]

I've worked in Tech and Games since I got 1kyuu.

Once I had 2kyuu I was able to get some jobs doing translation, which built a resume. That's the first step. Don't scrub out.

[Minzoku]

Hi.

So.

I have this book I'm writing that, because I was too lazy to invent a(nother) completely new language, uses a bunch of Japanese. I'm VERY rusty, though, so I would like to enlist the services of someone moderately proficient to proof my work. It's only part of one chapter, but I don't want to just throw in whatever and have it be wrong.

I am willing to pay a reasonable amount for proofing if this is problematic, though it's only about 25 sentences, which seems trivial for hiring an actual full-blown translation service. I guess PM me, or post if you know any inexpensive-but-reliable services.

thx

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Japanese Language Learning Tips

I'm sure many of you are interested in learning Japanese, so I thought it would be a good idea to post some advice. This is based on my own experience, so I'm not sure everybody will agree but feel free to digress.

Inform yourself about the language before you start
Gosh, I'm almost ashamed to admit that I knew zilch about Japanese when I started. Didn't know about Kana, Kanji, the freak grammar, or speech levels at all. I would likely never have started if I knew what I was stepping into but never starting is better than backing out after spending considerable time, effort and cash. Not to discourage you but check the following article http://pepper.idge.net/japanese/. It's somewhat informative and you'll get a laugh out of it.

Keep motivation high
You have a long road ahead of you, and you'll often want to call it quits. Beginner Japanese classes are always full of people, but as you advance, people start dropping out faster than flies sprayed with insecticide. Anime and games are the reason I started learning Japanese, which is very common. However, I have stuck with it for 5 or so years, whereas a lot of other people I knew stopped going after a couple classes. I don't know when it happened, but I started to like learning Japanese and that's the main reason that keeps me going.

Attack the language from different angles
Different learning methods complement each other and you'll become skilled much faster. For example, I read through a lot of vocabulary books, but it's after I've seen or heard the words used in other places that their usage becomes clear to me. Everything you do is important. Don't make excuses like, "I don't need to learn Kanji because I just want to learn how to speak." I've heard that a lot and couldn't disagree more if I wanted to.

Immerse yourself as much as possible
Try to get native speakers to talk with you and fix your shitty writing. Move to Japan, preferably, but that's just wishful thinking for most people.

Suck it up and study, study and study some more
There are thousands of Kanji, a gazillion words and encyclopedic tomes of grammar to be learned, so you can't afford to take it easy. At times, you'll feel that there's no reward for all your hard work, but that's not true. It just takes a long time for the results to be evident. Keep going forward and don't forget to look back and review what you learned before.

[ROBOTRON]

And as I've said before....don't trust Babelfish (and similar translators), you'll just end up sending gibberish and looking like a fool.

[Animaitor]

Lived in Japan 4+ years and know very little Japanese... sad but true. Working hours are a bitch (CG industry) and after a few months of going to a school here in Nakano, I had to stop. Some companies don't require you to know Japanese but obviously if you know it, makes your life much easier. Love the language though, not like Chinese or Korean, they sound not as soft and melodic? Now that I'm planing to leave Japan I might have some more free time to study the language. What a paradox! My wife and daughter sure will come in handy!

[GaijinPunch]

makes your life much easier.

The handful of blow job shops that accept foreigners only take ones that speak Japanese, I've heard.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

How hard is it to order a fera?

[Animaitor]

How hard is it to order a fera?

Not too difficult I guess but I'm sure you won't get it from a Japanese lady. They are reserved for the pure blooded (drunk salariman).

As for getting a job with no knowledge of Japanese, I heard is common practice among language schools. For CG and VFX studios, well, most of the software is in English (Maya had his first Japanese release a few years back but almost nobody made the switch) and most of the terminology is in English as well. Reading a storyboard is not too difficult and there's always someone who know English to give you a hand. If you know your shit, you'll get hired. Japanese are terrible 3D animators in general.

[GaijinPunch]

Easy to order, easy to get rejected. A friend of mine made a massive fucking scene when he got flyered for such a place, and went in and they dissed him (in a very polite way). It got ugly. He really wanted a blow job.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Maybe they afraid of you biggu dikku Americans?

I wonder if asians other than japanese have the same troubles getting their fix. Might have to try if I get the chance to visit nipponland. No visit is complete without defiling the master race.

[GaijinPunch]

A gaijin's a gaijin. The train of thought is that Japanese are immune to STDs, which is why the service is by and large exclusively aimed at them. Hey, living in a gigantic fucking bubble that shields you from reality is cool sometimes.