Comments on: Kanken Kanji Aptitude Test London 2009

By: ロバート

ロバート — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:46:28 +0000

You can find examples on the kanken site.
http://www.kanken.or.jp/frame/a01.html
Unfortunately it uses frames so I can’t give you a direct link.
go to the 8th pop-up list on the left hand side of the page. 出題問題ー過去問題

If you want printed examples, they publish very good books of example tests or stepped learning with tests.
http://www.shiawase.co.uk/2008/05/15/kanji-study-step-level-8/
Available at most Japanese bookstores or Amazon.jp

By: farida

farida — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:50:20 +0000

Are model papers/ past papers available anywhere?

By: ロバート

ロバート — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:32:06 +0000

Hi Doug,
No I’m not a fan of Heisig. Does it show? w Too many things annoy me about it.
I believe there’s a better middle way for learning kanji as a second language learner.
Break them down but use an order based on the grade school system or frequency of use. Learn the readings by matching them to words already in your vocabulary. Read.
A mixture of kanji odyssey and 下村昇 ‘s kanji books. (That’s a précis of about 4 half written blog posts!)

I like that Onion article! 笑

It is held in America as well but not near Seattle though
http://www.kanken.or.jp/kojin/kaijyou2.html
I wonder how difficult it is for a school or institute to apply to administer it.

By: Doug M

Doug M — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:58:41 +0000

P.S. “Heisig devotees”… I take it you are not one? I haven’t tried the method myself. Happy with using Anki and such for now. :)

By: Doug M

Doug M — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:11:09 +0000

Hm, now I am intrigued about this test. Not sure if it’s hosted in the US, but will take a look. On the previous post on the subject, I loved the quote by Xiaolu Guo. Reminds me of an article from the Onion (a joke of course):

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/potato_faced_youngster_lauded_for

Good luck on taking the test.