I Wasn't Yellow-Carded!

I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test on Sunday in Sendai. I've waited all day to take the test and now it's over and done with. It was okay. It wasn't super easy, but it wasn't super hard. After doing a practice test, I came the conclusion that the test isn't trying to trick you (even though it's easy to accuse it of doing so)... it's merely testing whether or not you can take their test.

There are 4 levels to the test, with 4 being for beginners and 1 meaning you are ペラペラ (pera pera = fluent). I wish I was the latter, but unfortunately I am not. I took level 3.

A few days before the test I found myself angry for signing up for it. I just wanted to play guitar, but I couldn't.

I was talking to my Japanese friend who is obsessed with learning English - and she plainly asked me,

'Why are you taking the test? You don't need it. I can just test you.'

And she is right. Over a year of teaching in Japan has taught me that ace-ing language proficiency tests doesn't mean squat. I've met countless numbers of Japanese people who have passed the highest levels of the TOEIC or STEP Eiken test, but still struggle with face-to-face conversation with a foreigner. They can write killer essays/journal entries, but fail at describing where the next gas stand is.

When on the other hand, my Japanese friend who despises tests but loves to practice and incorporate as much English in her daily life as she can (she drives her family crazy because of this), has no problems with communication. Granted her grammar isn't perfected, she is still able to say more than 'How are you?' and 'Oh, it's cold today isn't it?'

I am amazed and inspired by her. She's traveled all over the world in her younger years, and to this day she still loves English and is always learning. She's given me a lot of advice on learning languages... advice that I might have recognized at the time but have not taken to heart until now. Advice such as:

• Grammar books aren't as good as real-life practice.
• Don't be afraid to speak in Japanese.
• Don't get tangled up with forming grammatically correct sentences.
• Don't get all fussy about making much more complex and long sentences because you think it will reflect your intelligence level.
• Instead, keep it simple. Keep your sentences short. After all, that's how we tend to communicate in day-to-day English.
• Don't beat yourself up if you make a mistake, or if things aren't perfect.
• Speak - speak - speak!
• Screw tests! Just talk to Japanese people!

So you can understand why I was angry at myself after I spoke to her. Cause the score on my test doesn't necessarily equal my real-life communication abilities in Japanese. My listening is sooooo much better than when I was in college cause we exhaust that sense to death living here. I LOL'd during one of the listening section's dialogues. It was between a guy and girl. The girl asked the guy what he was doing the night before... she had an inkling that he was cheating on her. He immediately responded that he was out with a friend who was OF COURSE A GUY (hilarious that he said this!). She said he was lying and eventually she found out that he was out buying a gift for her... a ring. Doh! Someone feels stupid LOL.

Kanji is my weakest point, and grammar is fun for me but I am far from perfect at it.

Then, after all my rawring, I remembered why I took this test after all. I thought it would be fun.

Fun!?

Can you believe that? Waking up at 5 in the morning, driving to another prefecture, sitting for 6+ hours in a stuffy room, having yellow and red cards flashed at you ... was in my preconceived mind, supposed to be fun!? I guess the experience was interesting - experiencing it w/friends made it better... and it gives me something to write on my blog.

But I also wanted the practice. Any practice is probably good practice.



At least I am able to communicate w/my kids and the hooded obaachans... that's all that matters in the inaka anyway.



It's over...

...and I am walking away from the test much more motivated to learn Japanese, but this time...

...I will take FULL advantage of the fact that I live in Japan.