So i basically applied to the MEXT Scholarship and i chose three branches to work in the medical field. It has been mentioned that i will have one seperate year to learn japanese before starting the field of study; however im at loss:
-What if i dont fully learn japanese in the first year? Will i be expelled?
-What are the working conditions/salary as a Nurse/Doctor/Vet?
-Will i be living comfortably with the salary that it offers or will it be barely enough to pay my living costs?
-After being aware that the medical study system in japan has no equivalence worldwide,and that it’s very unique; will it be harder than usual?
-what are some tips and advice you could provide me with as my first time moving in?
11 comments
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**Applying for MEXT Scholarship as an Undergraduate student with 0 japanese skills**
So i basically applied to the MEXT Scholarship and i chose three branches to work in the medical field. It has been mentioned that i will have one seperate year to learn japanese before starting the field of study; however im at loss:
-What if i dont fully learn japanese in the first year? Will i be expelled?
-What are the working conditions/salary as a Nurse/Doctor/Vet?
-Will i be living comfortably with the salary that it offers or will it be barely enough to pay my living costs?
-After being aware that the medical study system in japan has no equivalence worldwide,and that it’s very unique; will it be harder than usual?
-what are some tips and advice you could provide me with as my first time moving in?
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>What if i dont fully learn japanese in the first year?
That’s a question you should be asking the people at your chosen university and/or MEXT.
>Will i be expelled?
See above.
One thing I *can* tell you is that you are absolutely ***not*** going to learn enough Japanese in one year to succeed as a medical professional. You will pick up *some* extra over the course of your studies but, again: Not enough.
Going into a medical program with zero Japanese is a recipe for failure.
Sorry but it’s impossible to become a doctor or nurse in Japan without speaking fluent Japanese, and a few years isn’t enough time to acquire that level of language skills if you don’t have a decent understanding of the language already. It’s like trying to become a doctor in the UK without speaking any English.
Do your best!! An acquaintance went to study in Japan with similar programme said that she needed to take the JLPT test in Japan after the language programme. Probably ask them if they will need you to take the test too and the minimum score.
Will you applying for the embassy route or university route?
I assume you will be taking the one year ful time Japanese language course. That will be enough to get you to high school level which is probably 70-80% of the way there to med school level.
Ex MEXT here. you’ll have difficulties getting into the uni. Medical license exam is also in full japanese.
The system is designed to naturally pluck those that cannot master Japanese within the allowed time.
As other people said, it will be quite hard for you to learn enough Japanese in just the 1 year mext gives you. And not to break it to you, but a quick research would’ve told you that it is going to be difficult for you to get accepted with 0 Japanese skills since you’ll be competing both worldwide and in your country for the scholarship (even in my own country they ask you to have at least an N5). You’ll have to do very well in the other exams.
you keep repeating that you were told japanese isn’t a requirement. Now tell me, what are you gonna do when you finally become a doctor in japan (which won’t happen if this is how you plan on achieving it) with beginner japanese? how are you going to talk to your patients/coworkers/literally anyone? one year of studying full-time will get you to highschool level, maybe even closer to college level, but that definitely won’t be enough to get into med school.
Hi! I’m from Malaysia and in my country, our government used to send students to Japan to study medicine and it’s SO DIFFICULT that they decided to abolish the program and focus on engineering and other social sciences subjects instead.
One of my seniors, who graduated from the medic program in Japan and currently works there as a Dr. has mentioned so many times how challenging it is.
You’re going to need more than N1 to pass not only the entrance exams, but also the exams necessary to apply for license and undergoes medical houseman-ship.
1. 医師国家試験予備試験
2. 医師国家試験
Pass above 2 exams and you can proceed to 初期研修.
For houseman-ship, you have to find on your own, the hospital who wanted to take you so the competition is going to be tough especially when you’re a foreigner.
If you did passed and managed to become a MD, there’s also a challenge in handling Japanese patients. For example, you might face discrimination so are you going to be ok with that?
I’m a Japan uni grad too and did my degree here too albeit in social science, and from my opinion, the materials, lecturers, assignments, internships etc. required Japanese level more than N1 as you’re taking classes with your Japanese course mates who obviously are going to speak better and write better.
Obviously, in MEXT requirements, they did mentioned how you can study in English, or, they’ll send you to 1 year prep but you’re not the only one in the program. You’ll compete with Koreans, and many others who probably have better Japanese than you or know more Kanji.
I’d say that if you’re up for this challenge, it’ll not hurt to try but you really really need to study and work hard for it.
Good luck!