とうとう昨日は日本語能力試験を受け終わりました！よかったね！
やっぱり，聴解より文字と読解ほど簡単じゃないだ。聴解の問題がぜんぜ答えられませんでした。もし、聴解に合格したら、試験に合格すると思っている。これから祈ろうしかない。
試験は二時間ぐらいがかかりました。でも、試験の準備が六ヶ月前に勉強しおきましたね！この六ヶ月は大変ですね。毎週に漢字を書いて、文法を覚えて、日本語が同僚と話し練習しました。ときどき、アニメ番組を見ました。しかし、まだ分かりませんでしたね！残念だ！
これからどうするの？休みなそうだ。このごろ、仕事がたくさんあるし、忙しくなった。それに、もう試験を勉強し続けでいる。あれ試験はもっと大切で、必ず合格しなきゃ。それで、勉強しなければならない！
試験の二級はどう？来年受けるにする？今、決めない、しばらく休んだほうがいいね。
じゃあ、皆さん、どうもありがとうございます！
Finally, the wait is over. I undertook the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 3 yesterday. So glad that its finally over! よかったね！
As expected, the Listening section was not as easy as the Writing/Vocabulary/Reading sections. As for the Listening section, I would be happy to scrape through. If I can pass the Listening section (which I had little practice to begin with), I should be able to pass the entire test. From now on, I can only cross my fingers and toes and pray.
The test took a little more than 2 hours to complete. However, the preparations for the test went back almost 6 months ago. The images of having to practise Kanji writing are still vivid in my mind (though this is probably the easiest part of the test). Understanding and remembering the Grammer & Vocabulary was difficult as the Japanese language tends to be different from English. Needless to say, the Listening part was the hardest due to a lack of practice and Japanese tend to speak super casually amongst friends but super-duper politely in the presence of superiors and strangers. When I tried conversing with a fellow colleague, I could barely understand if he spoke too fast or used Japanese slang (yes, this exists in all languages I suspect).
On the same note, I sometimes switch to the anime channel (アニメ番組) and tries to catch what the anime characters are saying (to add a different flavour to my revision). ”What the !@#$” would come to my mind.「何だいよ？！」と思っている。I could not understand a single word. What a shame!
So the burning question is, where do I go from here? I guess I deserve a short break. Work seemed to have piled up recently. Moreover, I have another exam to study for. That exam is more important and I MUST pass. Therefore, I MUST put on my student’s cap and study hard! 勉強しなければならない！
How about attempting JLPT Level 2 next year? I have not decided as yet and I believe taking a short break would be good for me. しばらく休んだほうがいいね。
Some useful reference sites for anyone planning to learn Japanese. Its not really that difficult, especially if you already possess a functional knowledge of Chinese. I have to single out www.jlptstudy.com as well as Mr Tae Kim who has kindly provided most of my online study materials. Just a nugget about him, he is a native Korean who speaks English, Mandarin & Japanese fluently.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar
Well, everyone, thank you!!! じゃあ、皆さん、どうもありがとうございます！
Some pictures to remind me of my hard work.
My study guides as well as the exercise books for me to practise my 漢字. Used up 3.5 exercise books.
試験の三級の文法 .. Grammer list for Level 3 exams
試験の三級の文字 … Vocabulary list for Level 3 exams
漢字練習 … practise Kanji writing
More writing (*shudder*)
My GUIDES & companions for the last 6 months … its nice knowing you (literally)
Past years’ exam papers … “yes mum, I did my homework …”
[...] The all-important mail came from the Japanese Cultural Society which informed me that I had passed and scored 78.5% on my Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Level 3 exams which was well beyond my expectations. I feel really really pleased with myself as I had undertaken the test out of free will (out-of-pocket as well) and committed myself to a solid 8 months of self-study. This meant less time for frivolous activities (like blogging : )) and musing about the state of affairs of the economy. In addition, I also had to juggle work as well as my the CIA exams (No, I am not training myself to be an undercover agent … more on this in a future post). For my learning journey, you can click here , here and here. [...]