Hello all! I need some interview prep advice.
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I’m very excited to say that I was offered an interview for a CIR position, but now I’m also freaking out a little! Basically: what can I do to best prepare for the Japanese portion of my interview?? I’ve studied Japanese for 8+ years and can hold full conversations, but something about only having 15 minutes to prove that I have the fluency required to work a local administration post is quite nerve-wracking. That plus the fact that I graduated my degree program over a year ago so my reading and speaking ability’s been slipping.
So far I’m trying to do at least 30 minutes of pure listening a day (thank you yuru gengo podcast) coupled with reading one or two short asahi articles out loud two or three times, focusing on pronunciation, fluency, and comprehension. Is there anything in particular that I should be practicing wrt Japanese fluency? I think the weakest part of my language ability that would be regularly expected of a CIR is proper use of keigo.
4 comments
I don’t think you have to come across as some near native-level government official in the interview. It’s only a couple of weeks, you won’t cram in everything. You’ve been doing this for 8 years. Reading articles out loud and practicing answering questions on it and a self-introduction is a great idea at this stage.
Current CIR who interviewed last year
Reading out articles like you are doing is the best preparation for the Japanese section. Don’t worry about getting everything perfect. Even if you don’t know how to read a kanji or something, you can just tell them and move on. I made at least one reading mistake and still got through.
Remember that speaking a language is about communicating. It’s not a performance. Above all, they want to see that you can communicate.
They are not looking for professional translators or near perfectly bilingual people for this job. They are looking for friendly and open-minded cultural ambassadors who can handle being out of their comfort zone. As cringe as it sounds, just smile and do your best.
You’ve put in the work. Just have confidence in yourself!
I think the weakest part of my language ability that would be regularly expected of a CIR is proper use of keigo.
Completely untrue. Even Japanese natives don’t use keigo properly. Just use the polite desu/masu and you’ll be fine.
Sounds like you’re doing plenty to prepare by doing daily listening and reading practice. You got this.
Just be natural and be honest. The panel is understanding in that they know that you’re not surrounded by the language and you (probably) don’t get much practice outside of academia. As another user said, if something trips you up, tell them!