Exams are over!

Finally!!! After a week of late nights studying, exams are finally over!!! And the studying paid off. Here are the results:

My final grade for the course: 96.5% Go me! : )

And concerning the Japanese Language Proficency Test (JLPT) Level 2 : When we first took the exam in April, I only managed to score 157.21 out of 400. And to pass, you need 240 or more points. I was far from that. On Monday we took the test again to see whether or not we'd improved over the course of four months. And.... I scored 298,21 out of 400, easily passing the exam with almost 60 points extra. Hurrah!!!

But the studying isn't over by far. I really want to keep improving my Japanese. I also plan on taking the JLPT #1 (the highest level). But when I go back, it's definitely going to be more difficult to keep improving. For one thing, I'll be studying on my own, not in a class. I've bought plenty of great textbooks to help me study but it will be up to me to keep motivated. The environment is completely different as well. In Japan, I can just go take a walk around campus and listen to conversations in Japanese. Or turn on the TV and listen to the news in Japanese. That's why they say that the best way to learn a language is to live in that country. Even if you're not taking any classes, you learn a few words here and there just by hearing them everyday spoken by the people around you. So I'll have to work twice as hard to maintain what I've learned.

Exam week!

Sorry for not writing in such a long while.. This time, it's really been a while. And unfortunately, I don't have time to write a lot because exam week starts tomorrow!

Finally! Classes sometimes seemed to go by so slowly, but it's been 4 months since we started the second semester in April. Looking back, those 4 months went by so fast.

This week, we have exams on every day of the week except Friday, where we get the results back.

The schedule:

Monday: We're taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Level 2. We took this test at the beginning of the semester as well and I didn't pass it at that time. I needed about 100 more points to pass. But now, after studying loads of grammar, kanji characters and new vocabulary words, I think I just might be able to pass this time.

Tuesday: We have to do an oral explanation of a graph that we'll be given the day before. For example, identify the tendencies, describe any big changes indicated in the graph, etc. Not that hard but of course, it's in Japanese. Then the same day, we also have to read a text and summarize it in 200 characters or less. Finally, we have to write a short argumentative text.

Wednesday: Kanji and grammar. We have to know how to write 90 different words in kanji characters (some have 3 or 4 characters) and read about twice that amount. Then we're also tested on all the grammar we've learned so far which is a lot.

Thursday: Reading and listening comprehension. Probably my two weakest points. Reading is hard because there are often lots of words I don't know or characters I can't read which prevents me from understanding the text properly. As for listening, I've always been someone who learns better visually so listening it's something I've had to work on. I've improved a lot so hopefully the test won't be too difficult.

Friday: We get the results of our tests and feedback from the professors. And then we're done!!!

So until then, I'll probably be living like a hermit, only going out of my room to go to class or practice.
I probably won't be posting until I finish so please be patient! And wish me luck in my exams! : )

Ganbarimasu! (I'll do my best!)

Here are three pictures taken when my brother and father came. I realized I haven't uploaded many pictures recently and I know for some people who read my blog and don't understand English, it's nice to have pictures.

Enjoying a meal together at the Iwasa's home

Trying to look cool : P

School's out for spring!

Officially done classes as of yesterday. All my tests went very well and were surprisingly pretty easy. My lowest mark, as I expected, was my listening comprehension, but I still finished with great grades. So I'm pretty satisfied with this first semester. I learned a lot of new vocabulary, grammar, kanji, and I improved my reading, speaking, and listening skills. On top of that, I now know the campus and its surroundings and I understand the train system fairly well, so I'm able to go pretty much anywhere I want to.

Now, it's spring break in Japan. In Canada, our spring break lasts about a week only but here in Japan, we get two months off. But I'm going to keep studying Japanese every day. It's a bit harder to do on your own of course because there's no teacher helping or pushing you to learn. But next semester, I really want to get into a much a higher class so I'm organizing my own Japanese study class : P And, on top of that, our teachers gave us a lovely present for the spring break: homework! Yay!!! lol so I won't be stopping my Japanese language studies completely.

Here's a video taken from Youtube I found was fitting for this time of year : Haru yo koi  (Spring, come!) It's a pretty famous song in Japan, sung by Yumi Matsutoya.

Exam week!

The first semester is finally coming to an end. Today was our last Japanese class for the semester. Exams start next week!

Our exam is divided into different parts. We have lecture and comprehension, listening comprehension, written composition, oral comprehension (we have to prepare a speech and be ready to answer some questions), vocabulary, kanji, and finally grammar. Probably the hardest for me is listening comprehension. Compared to when I first arrived, I have definitely improved but it still remains one of the hardest things for me. Because sometimes, I can concentrate and listen as attentively as I can and I still won't understand what's being said.

Probably the easiest part is the grammar. I'm pretty good at remember grammar rules so up until now I've fared well on that component. Thanks to my great memory, memorizing vocabulary words and kanji characters has also been fairly easy. But now, instead of being quizzed on only a limited of number of words and characters pertaining to the chapter we're working on, we are being tested on ALL the vocabulary and kanji characters we've learned since the beginning of the semester. So it's a lot more challenging. And I better get on it. Off to study now! Heads up: I probably won't be updating my blog until exams are over. After that don't worry, you'll be hearing lots from me : ) Wish me luck!