JLPT N4

On Sunday, I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test level N4. Out of the five levels, N5 is the easiest and N1 is the hardest. I think N4 was about the right level for me, but I'm not entirely sure I passed. There were three portions of the test. The first one, kanji and vocabulary, was the hardest for me. After I had finished marking all my answers, I went back and counted the ones I had been pretty unsure of, and those amounted to about 22% of all the questions. Which is not such a great sign. But, I still think I may have passed that section. After that came reading comprehension and grammar. Grammar is the thing I most enjoy studying, and what I probably know best. There were some questions I wasn't entirely sure of, but I think I did pretty well on that section. The final section, listening comprehension, was very easy. I may have missed a few questions but I would guess that I got nearly all of them right.

To pass the test, you have to get a passing grade on each of the sections. I don't think I did such a great job on the first section, but the required passing grade is very low, so I think I may have managed it. I'm fairly confident I did fine on the other two-thirds of the test. I won't get my scores until mid February. I'm thinking I'll just forget about it until the results come in the mail.

Anyhow, that's about all there is to report on the JLPT. If I stay another year, I might be tempted to try for level N3, but even a year of diligent studying might not be enough to get me to that point. So I'm not setting that as a goal just yet. However, I'd be very proud of myself if I managed to achieve that level before I come back home. Level N3 wouldn't be enough to get me a job at a Japanese company, but it might give me an edge if I were looking for work with an American company that has Japanese partners or customers.