I was having a bit of a think about my current work project, and I remembered hearing about a conference that would be quite appropriate – Waterfall 2006.

I’m a member of the “build” team, which started “work” about 4 weeks ago. That would be “work” because we’ve basically had very little we can actually do, due to the fact that the design isn’t finished (and doesn’t look like it will be for quite a while).

Perhaps the fact that the detailed design document for our project requires the sign-off of 38 people could have been an indication of the way things were heading…

Be sure to register today!

A friend recently told me about nihongoresources.com. It looks like it has a number of things of interest to students of the Japanese language:

Beginners Lessons

12 lessons for complete beginners (currently only the first 4 are done). Looks like you need to spend a bit of time getting confortable with hiragana and katakana first, which is intimidating but I think is definitely a good idea.

Dictionaries

General Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionaries, as well as dictionaries for kanji, names, particles, and even onomatopoeia. These are (of course) based off the work of Jim Breen, who provides the excellent wwwjdic that I currently use.

Jouyou kanji lists

The 1945 standard kanji that Japanese are supposed to learn by the time they finish high school. The lists are broken into levels 1-6, plus general use, and the site allows you to customise the amount of information shown about each kanji (currently only level 1 allows customisation).

But the highlight of the site (at least for me)…

Grammar Book

An amazing Introduction to Japanese Syntax, Grammar and Language that’s 285 pages long, and must have taken a huge amount of effort to produce. Based on the author’s study of Japanese at University, it looks like a very useful reference, especially for intermediate or advanced students. I’ll be using this to try to check and re-enforce my understanding of some of the tricky areas of the language (most of it really!). If only I knew enough English< grammar to understand all the terms he uses!

You can download a pdf copy from the “books” section of the site, or read it online.

Well worth a look…

As always, がんばってね！

Updated May 2007: as Pomax (the author of the site) notes, the onomatopoeia dictionary is his own work. I’ve also updated the online link to the grammar book.

Next week I’m attempting the JLPT ３級 (Level 3) Exam in Melbourne. I don’t really expect to pass Level 3 this year, but figured I’d give it a go anyway. I thought I would write a little about my preparation (as opposed to actually preparing for the exam, which is what I should be doing!).

The first step is to apply for the test (which is run only once a year in early December). Applications must be made roughly between July and September, and are available from the host organisation in your country (see the link above for a list of host organisations). In Australia it’s Japan Seminar House. The test is offered in 4 Levels, with Level 1 being the hardest and Level 4 being the easiest. You need choose the level when you apply for the test. The test guide (available with the application form) explains the expectations for each level, so it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

The next step is plenty of study! But where to start? Luckily, the requirements for the test are well-defined. In fact, you can even download lists of the required vocabulary and Kanji for free! One excellent site for the JLPT resources (as well as general Japanese language resources) is the Meguro Language Center free downloads. You can also get study guides specifically for the JLPT.

I highly recommend sitting a practice exam as the exam approaches. The format of the exam is the same each year, and knowing what to expect makes the experience a whole lot less nerve-wracking. For example, the Level 3 test is multiple choice, and consists of three parts, with the following weightings.

1. Kanji and vocabulary (25%)
2. Listening (25%)
3. Grammar (50%)

A practice exam can also help you identify areas that you may have missed in your study, particularly for the grammar section. Previous exams, including the audio and the correct answers, should be available from a book store specialising in languages or Japanese.

A book featuring a previous year’s JLPT Level 3 and 4 exams.

Another option available for study is to attend a specialised JLPT preparation course. So far I haven’t done this, but I imagine it would help a lot more for Level 1 or Level 2.

Finally after all the hard work, you get to sit the exam! Oh, and you get to wait for the results – they don’t come out till some time in February!

がんばってね！

I arrived back in Melbourne yesterday morning. The experience was great, I really wanted to stay in Japan. I had a lot of fun, did quite a lot of sight-seeing, took lots of photos. I will try to write a bit more about it, and post some photos. But for now here’s a quick summary:

• Homestay was great, the 田中 (Tanaka) family were fantastic, it was really nice to get to know them.
• Speaking is a lot harder than understanding. During the homestay I understood a lot of what my host mother was saying (she used simple language for me), but I found it really hard to say anything back.
• School was good (insanely hard to begin with). Hopefully I retained at least a little bit.
• I can actually have a basic conversation in Japanese (where are you from, etc. etc.)!
• Restaurants and shopping are difficult. After 2 years of study, I could ask basic questions, but barely understand anything that people said in reply. After 5 weeks, I went from understanding nothing to the point where I could hear they were using the super-polite verb forms, but I still couldn’t catch the actual verbs or point of the sentence. I still managed to get by okay though.

I can’t wait to go back!

Tomorrow morning I’m flying to Japan for 5 weeks.

After a few days sightseeing, I’ll be spending 2 weeks home-staying with the Tanaka family (田中さんたち）, and attending the Ishikawa Foundation for International Exchange (IFIE). I hope to write a little more about my experiences.

After that, I’m spending about 2 weeks travelling in Japan. I guess this is the first real test of my “classroom” Japanese!

それでは、またね！