Questions about L.C Japanese

H2student

Well first of all thanks for reading, I am currently in 5th year and I decided to self study japanese a month ago but I'm a little bit uncertain about some things.

I read the syllabus and I was just wondering could anyone tell me a little bit about the oral exam?

Oral Assessment
Consists of
1. general conversation based on the syllabus
2. Role-play
3. development of theme of role-play through discussion of related themes/topics
4. description of a picture and discussion of related theme/topics

I got lost after point 2 , would anyone please help me understand what's involved in the role-play? Also , in the oral exam , would I have to be aware of japanese things like bowing etc. ?

Finally , do anybody know where I can get the audio of previous japanese lc listening comprehension or would I have to buy them?

Thanks for the help in advance.

lou91

Just posted a similar question in the LC forum, probably would have made more sense to post it here first..
I'm in the same boat, but I'm in 6th year. Really desperate to find out about the oral. Anyone have any info? I always considered the orals to be the easiest part of languages but this seems completely different. I have no idea how I could do a role play in Japanese. All we've practiced really is self introduction, and not a very advanced one at that.
Any info or guidelines about it?
Thanks

Aard

It's a while since I did the Japanese oral. I don't know what is meant by the role-play; maybe something simple like the examiner asking some questions about you (age, where you live, what subjects you study, etc) ... I have a vague recollection of something like that.


The picture is pretty simple. I was shown a Japanese family sitting down for dinner. What you have to do is describe in Japanese what's going on, and how it differs culturally from Ireland. In my case, you could say something like how the Japanese eat with chopsticks, whereas in Ireland we use knives and forks.


It's pretty simple really. OP, if you're studying by yourself, maybe try to find some Japanese people or other LC students to practice speaking. Not only will it help in your oral, but it will improve other aspects (reading, writing, listening) too.


Ganbatte kudasai!

H2student

Thanks for the reply Aard .

Back to my quest to learn 1006 kanjis.

Aard

I wouldn't worry about the kanji tbh. If you know the kanji for the days, months and numbers then you're already ahead of the pack. You don't need to know much more than that, despite apparently needing 100 kanji for HL Japanese. I know about 60 (ok, I can recognise more, but that's not the point..) and I got an A2 in the LC. I'm studying Japanese in college atm, and I already know all the kanji being taught.


Seriously, I can't emphasise enough not to get worried with kanji. For the beginner (and I still consider myself a beginner) I think having everything written in kanji can be extremely confusing. Textbooks usually use a limited number of kanji, but other learning tools usually have very complicated kanji, whereas the beginner would be fine with just hiragana. (Most of the ones I'm talking about don't use furigana - the little hiragana above a kanji to show how it's pronounced.)


A book I've found particularly useful in this regard is Japanese Verbs & Essentials of Grammar. Everything is in romaji. Some people would say this is a downside, but I've found that retention is better than if it were all in kanji. Seriously consider getting this book; it's cheap and great for putting all the little grammatical bits into context - after every grammar point there are example sentences.


Also, I don't think that the aural audio is available to students, unfortunately.

FruitLover

With my dislike of rōmaji, I'll have to throw my cents in here to recommend avoiding it wherever possible. You'll need to be proficient in hiragana for the exam in the first place, so it makes sense to practice as much as possible as early as possible. A natural progression of this would be to learn all your grammar, vocab, etc through kana (then gradually through kanji).

Although kanji can be intimidating when you're starting off, the list of kanji required for the LC won't take long to learn, particularly as they're some of the most common symbols in use. As for the rest of the kyōiku kanji, I wouldn't worry too much, as you can easily visit and live in Japan knowing only a few hundred. If you want to learn more, you can always do it at your own pace later.

Aard

FruitLover wrote: »

A natural progression of this would be to learn all your grammar, vocab, etc through kana (then gradually through kanji).

I completely agree. What I probably didn't explain too well in my above post is that it's near impossible to find a concise grammar book that is written in kana (or at least kanji with furigana). The lesser of two evils for the beginner (kanji and romaji) would be romaji imho, as it allows the learner to pick up grammer and vocab immediately, without the added dimension of how to actually *write* the darn thing!


But yes, the ideal situation would be a furigana grammar book. *business idea* :P

H2student

Wow that book is really cheap , I might get it , just trying to figure out that does amazon charge extra for delivery to the republic of Ireland.

Thanks for the advice , I'm trying to avoid romaji but I'm having trouble writing hiragana because of all the curves and I find that Kanji is quite easy to learn , I know about 300 at the moment .