Learning Japanese to a highly proficient or near-native level and combining that with some other marketable skill? Sure, especially if you’re planning on working in Japan (or somewhere else with a significant Japanese population, a company that does business with Japan, etc.)
>Should I do a certificate course in Japanese?
I’m not sure what course you have in mind, but most individual courses will not get you to a level where you can perform meaningful work in Japanese, and simply having a “certificate” will not mean anything if your skills aren’t genuinely impressive.
generally speaking learning a language is a really long journey so if you want to do it solely for purpose of seeking employment then i suggest trying something else
tl;dr – sorry, a certificate is not enough to make a difference when it comes to language.
jobs that hire solely for Japanese language ability would basically require you to be at the level of an instructor. a certificate will not suffice.
in jobs where Japanese is required for interacting with colleagues in Japan or from Japan, a Japanese company will usually explicitly require JLPT N1, experience of living in Japan, or working at other Japanese companies. The point is fluency, so a certificate will not suffice.
for jobs where some foreign language ability “is a plus”, there will be other candidates who are fluent in Japanese or other languages, so a certificate will not amount to a deciding factor.
3 comments
Just “learning Japanese” alone? No.
Learning Japanese to a highly proficient or near-native level and combining that with some other marketable skill? Sure, especially if you’re planning on working in Japan (or somewhere else with a significant Japanese population, a company that does business with Japan, etc.)
>Should I do a certificate course in Japanese?
I’m not sure what course you have in mind, but most individual courses will not get you to a level where you can perform meaningful work in Japanese, and simply having a “certificate” will not mean anything if your skills aren’t genuinely impressive.
generally speaking learning a language is a really long journey so if you want to do it solely for purpose of seeking employment then i suggest trying something else
tl;dr – sorry, a certificate is not enough to make a difference when it comes to language.
jobs that hire solely for Japanese language ability would basically require you to be at the level of an instructor. a certificate will not suffice.
in jobs where Japanese is required for interacting with colleagues in Japan or from Japan, a Japanese company will usually explicitly require JLPT N1, experience of living in Japan, or working at other Japanese companies. The point is fluency, so a certificate will not suffice.
for jobs where some foreign language ability “is a plus”, there will be other candidates who are fluent in Japanese or other languages, so a certificate will not amount to a deciding factor.