Standardized Language Tests

My Japanese textbooks

Every language has a standardized test to help you, and potential employers, determine how well you can live using that language.

For English, there is the TOEIC, the TOEFL (mainly used for helping you get into college in English), and a few others you can learn about here, if you're curious.


For Japanese, you have the gold-standard Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), which is called the Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken (日本語能力試験) in Japanese.


The JLPT currently has five levels. The fifth level is the easiest, meaning if you passed it then you probably studied Japanese for a year. Passing the first level means you can go to college in Japanese.

I have been trying to pass the JLPT Level One for over a year now, and the test is excruciatingly difficult for me.

To make matters worse, even if I were to pass the Level One exam, that doesn't make me anywhere near Expert of Japanese.

There's the J-Test, for example, which is another standardized test that is lesser known, but harder. This test goes from levels A-F, with Level F being the easiest. Pass Level A and you are at the same level as an interpreter.



The problem with studying a language is that you start out believing that because what you say is getting through to the other person, you are amazing at the language. It gives you unwarranted confidence, which is what you need as incentive to study the language more.


However, the more you study the language, the more you realize just how much you don't know and just how happily ignorant you were of that when the native speaker was nodding at what you said with a slightly puzzled look to their smile.


The JLPT is on July 7th, and because I am going to be devoting my life to studying for it (since I really don't want to have to take it ever again after this), I am going to try to devote the following entries to sharing some Japanese with you.

You never know, it could give you the unwarranted confidence needed to study the labyrinth that is Japanese.

Myth: All Japanese People are Geeks

A Gundam on display in Odaiba

I think it is a testament to this myth that many people I know who are studying Japanese are also madly in love with Japanese comics, anime and video games. Many of them have the air of an aspiring computer programmer as they talk excitedly about memorizing 500 kanji the night before.



My grandmother visited Japan before I did, and anytime anyone brings up Japan, the first anecdote she will present is this, almost verbatim every time:

"When I rode the train in Tokyo, there was a gentleman in a business suit standing next to me, and he was reading a comic book just right there in the middle of the train. And it was a comic book with naked women in it!"

That is my grandmother's lasting impression of Japan.



Now while I think comic books here are socially tolerated better than in America, it does not mean that all of Japan is a haven for geeks to flock to.

Geeks in Japan are a fringe society just like in other countries. Their largest haven is a section of Tokyo called Akihabara. To call Akihabara a representation of Japan is like saying that Dallas, or any other city, represents all of America.

I have a Japanese friend who rolls her eyes and shakes her head sadly whenever she hears anyone say they've been to Japan if they've only been to Akihabara. It's like people who say they've gone to America because they've gone to Disney World.

Akihabara is its own unique little world crammed into the northeast section of Tokyo. You can find all things geeky there: From electrical parts to anything imaginable for sale to entire stores devoted to selling rare anime items. It's like a 24/7 anime convention, I think.





Japanese people are interested in everything else the rest of the world might find interesting. There are many, many Japanese people who can't name the characters to One Piece or Naruto any better than a non-geek in America can.


Yes, you will find comics and other geeky things for sale in other parts of Japan, but for the most part you will find that Japan is not as geek-friendly as you might suspect, or hope.