Before i start im in no way overly egotystical. My Japanese isnt perfect, im in no way fluent, but im also not near a beginner.
Ive been studying for 3 years, on and off because this has been the hardest 3 years of my life or else id of studied more.
When i started japanese class in college, i signed up for the lowest level, but they moved me up to Japanese 3, and encouraged me to not discredit myself, but even in that class, i was often ahead of my classmates, or we were learning things i already knew. But me and my class could still and most of the time did have conversations in just japanese.
A lot of the Japanese exchange students also befriended me and wanted to hang out with me (not sure why in comparison to my classmates). But i felt i could communicate enough with them on our outings, i even wrote a very long explanation off the top of my head about my family history and health issues (because they asked). Very complicated topics and words and stuff. My sensei actually asked me specifically to give a speech at the japanese speech contest our school participated in because she had hope i could do it. Ive also had political discussions in japanese.
I eventually realized that I am intermediate or slightly above, because i could so easily talk to my friends and text in japanese and such, it wasnt very hard for me, and i never had that many issues.
Now that i’ve moved to Japan for language school, im not fluent, i still dont know super big words. But i havent had any horrible freak out moments because i dont know how to explain something, if i dont know a word i can explain what i need with similar words, and for the most part my input and output are great, its reading and writing that cause me to struggle. Ive never been good at written tests, may just be an autism thing. Same with kanji.
My language school asked me to take a placement test, ill admit im out of practice because id been prepparing for the move and dealing with all the stress of it and problems that arose.
I scored pretty badly on the test, part of it was a kanji test (i can read kanji and pick whats correct but when it comes to writing it from memory i cant do very many yet) and some basic question sentences asking what word or response goes where. A lot of them i left blank because the test had a 20 minute limit and i take forever on tests, in any language. Ive always been known among my friends to be really good at speaking and writing, but bad at tests.
They suggested i go try the beginner course, which i didnt mind, i dont want to get ahead of myself. They told me its pretty slow the first month, theyre still learning the alphebets, but it will pick up later.
I tried it out and didnt mind, but when the intermediate class came out they were all speaking japanese and laughing together, it felt like my college class. Where as the people in my class dont speak japanese unless they are asked by the teacher.
I know i learn the best with immersion, i want to be in a class where everyones speaking japanese all the time, i feel out of place in my class because i answer questions very quick and with less simple answers, i feel like a show off.
I decided to ask if i could be moved up to the intermediate level. The teacher brought me into a little study room and pulled out a n5 book of some sort, flipped to multiple pages and asked if i understood them, i said yes to all.
She said that once i move up, if its too hard and i move down i cant move up again. I said thats fine and i wanted to try it. She said im sorry to say, but your test was so bad i cant let you move up, it would be too hard for you.
I said i understand and wouldnt press it anymore, but im confused. The staff and i had long conversations before, they said im very good at speaking. even the teacher said “ohh good your already good at japanese”. when i came to file my paperwork. I get that my test was funky, but im confused how they can limit me to my test results right after we have been talking in intermediate and above japanese for a week
i dont want to come off as a weird egoist, but how would you guys feel
Update: they moved me into the intermediate today, im not sure why since we agreed id stay in beginner yesterday, but today they told me i could move into the intermediate and it went really well, i was on the same level as all my classmates so im happy
13 comments
Idk, if you’re confident you’re as good as you describe yourself, then maybe you don’t even need a class. The reading and writing part you can do on your own with just anki or something. Most teachers tell me main benefit of a class is for the input and output, which you seem to be satisfied with already
So I guess if it were me, I’d just try another school or self study
Brevity is virtue my friend.
since the placement test doesn’t test speaking, maybe it makes sense for you to **cram for the test before asking to take it the next time**. Buy the books for N5, N4, and N3, study and take the mock exams. Practice writing Kanjis.
they didn’t make the rules for just one person but the whole school. Although they probably sympathize with you, it’s unlikely they’ll change the rules just for you. You might as well try other methods, such as studying for the test.
If you’re paying for these classes and they’re not at a level that works for you then you’re just wasting money. I would ask if you can retake the test, and if they allow you, actually put effort into doing as good as you can in it, because it sounds like you half assed the one you took and that’s what is holding you back.
In a large class at a language school, the teacher mighy not be able to spend much time on research when looking at the students’ levels, and might only have to rely on test results.
In Japan, there seems to be a recent trend in elementary and junior high schools to take dyslexia, autism, and ADHD into consideration, but I wonder what is happening in language schools.
Since language is originally a tool for communication, I wonder if it is possible to inform teachers of such individuality and have them assign you to a class that matches your level of speaking ability….
I hope your teacher will care about you more than now because I bet you’re doing great!
The school might be looking at you holistically for one. Being able to recognize kanji is great, but they might consider handwriting an important skill. If you can’t write kanji then they can’t give you a pass.
As someone who teaches Japanese, I can’t grade what I can’t see. Leaving blank spaces means “I’m at a complete loss. I cannot even begin to attempt this.” So that shows a real lack of understanding. If you tried and I can squint and turn my head and say “Oh! It might be this” it tells me that you’ve at least have an inkling, even if it’s wrong. I can give feedback, I can give support, I can work with you.
While this class is still slow, you can probably look ahead/fill in your gaps with some extra help and studying. Focus on the kanji. Focus on writing by hand. Have a Japanese friend help you (with in your class level). Hopefully it pays off and you can jump next semester – you could ask to sit in on the next round of placement tests and they might let you.
So here’s the funny thing about Japan: it’s all about how it looks on paper. Bureaucracy and all that, which is a trademark of the uglier side of Japan.
In other words- it doesn’t matter how good your speaking skills are; often, they’re going to judge you based on what’s written on paper. Mostly because that’s closer to “solid proof” of your skills… so if your test taking skills are terrible, they’re going to think your Japanese skills are ALSO terrible overall. Archaic, yes… but sadly there’s a lot of archaic things still around in Japan.
The advice to cram and studying for what you think is your approximate JLPT level is the best: that way, you can show solid evidence of where you think your skill level is.
Many language schools in Japan focus on reading and writing skills. We’re really bureaucratic as you know. I think your score on the placement wasn’t good enough for the intermediate level Japanese class.
We also focus on what you cannot do rather than what you can do. Your speaking skill may be really good but your reading and writing skills might not be good enough for the intermediate level class.
I don’t know where you are from. There are so many Chinese speaking students in the intermediate classes in Japan, in general. They speak Japanese well and read and write it really well and fast as well.
It must be a problem for you. Your classmates read Japanese much faster and understand really complicated vocabulary without any problem.
KCP per chance?
Your teacher is right.
Your Japanese skills are very uneven. E.g., you’re fine in basic conversation but you can’t write many kanji from memory.
At the intermediate level you might absolutely struggle.
Probably group lessons aren’t a great fit for you. You need to either:
* Put your ego aside, acknowledge your weak points, and work to raise them to intermediate level, OR
* Find a different school / switch to private lessons where they can customize the curriculum to fit your needs
Also, you’re in Japan. You can practice & improve your Japanese conversation all you want outside of school — regardless of your class level — so be sure take full advantage of that!
They won’t change how they do things for you. Use this as a way to even out your skills and fill in your gaps. This will help you down the line as well
Sounds more like you’re lonely rather than frustrated with the class per se. You can have casual conversations with people outside of class too, while working on your reading/writing in the meantime. Japanese is one of those languages where it’s easy to develop your proficiency totally unevenly (see: Chinese people who have a head start on reading but can’t say anything yet vs. people like you who are conversational but can’t write), so I’m not surprised they’d evaluate you based on your weakest points.
If you can’t pass that placement test then you’ll probably struggle in the intermediate class. I was much better at speaking than my classmates when I was doing this “intermediate” course back when I studied abroad at Gifu university but I didn’t understand any of the textbook stuff. It was n2 stuff I didn’t know the point of.
It’s not really about being good at speaking. It’s about being to mimic (verbalize) what’s written in the textbooks, worksheets, etc. I couldn’t stand it lol. I’d get people from China and Korea wonder how I could speak Japanese but couldn’t understand some n3 passages very well.
Good news is that you can do all that pretty easily on your own
in my class (uni) you have to take 4 exams; listening, reading, writing and grammar. if you can’t succeed in all of them (even one) you have to repeat every single one of them. it seems to be the case in most language related courses and classes so i don’t think you can just *skip* writing part and proceed with N2 level of speech part. linguages come as a whole package. if you want to get a N1-N2 or even N4 certificate you will need to know how to write/manage your time during tests anyway. I would suggest taking a break from that course only *if it feels like a chore since they are way below your level*. self studying at this point would be better since writing is about practice. maybe you can try to apply for intermediate after getting your writing skills better.