This year’s kanjikeiten will be held on Sunday 31st of October at SOAS UCL London.
They have a Google webform this year for candidates to request application forms. The deadline is the 28th September. You can sit more than one level if you want but this year I’ll only be attempting 8 kyu. It may take me a few years to reach my 5 kyu goal of the 1006 primary school kanji. It’s not the kanji so much as the vocabulary and usage.

Be aware that British Summer Time ends on the 31st, so make sure you turn up on time for the test!

(I had a rather interesting search term in my blog stats today. “Heisig classes in Tokyo” Good Luck with that, Heisig seemed very anti-teacher and only an individual could manage his method. And only the Internet has kept his book in print… )

Also open for applications is the 2010 JLPT held at SOAS. This year they have online application and are again limiting candidates to 1000 across all levels. I must get back on track with JLPT. The leap to 2 was too daunting, but now there is the intermediate N3 I should give it a go. Just not this year!

Related posts:

1. Kanken Kanji Aptitude Test London 2009
2. After Kanken 2009
3. London JLPT closing date

Firstly it seems not every exam centre will have twice yearly exams. It looks as if only centres in Japan,China and Korea will definitely offer it twice a year. SOAS in London seems to be keeping to December only. It’ll be worth checking with your nearest centre. It may also help them gauge interest and encourage them to offer it biannually. Hopefully the Japan Foundation will update its listings soon.

More interestingly, although official workbooks won’t appear until 2012 according to the official JLPT site, Bonjinsha already has a few textbooks available for the new JLPT specifications. They aren’t part of the full listing on Bonjinsha’s site. However I did find them under their (unweildy) Japanese title 新しい「日本語能力試験」ガイドブック概要版と問題例集 (New Japanese-Language Proficiency Test Guidebook: An Executive Summary, and Sample Questions).

Finally, although this isn’t exactly new, Ireland now has it’s own JLPT exam centre at DCU. Although they have the typically rubbish websites common to a lot of universities.

Related posts:

1. New JLPT specifications
2. JLPT Mock Test Level 3
3. JLPT Changes from 2010

As can be seen from the above certificate I passed 9th grade in the Kanken test. やった！
I was reasonably confident however. Although I can be a little proud of my achievement it only puts me on a par with a below average seven year old, with knowledge of 240 common kanji. However I can say that the knowledge is native level. I can read the onyomi, kunyomi and tokubetsu readings and write them by hand, not just put an English keyword to them.

You get a lot for the £23 exam fee. There was the test itself that had to be hand marked and this morning I got a packet with

• my certificate to go on the wall
• two certificates that I think are for a school or work file
• an answer sheet for the test I took
• a marking sheet showing the answers I got correct and incorrect
• my ranking relative to the average score on a spider diagram
• an serial number and password (also in 3D barcode for a phone) to log in to the kanken site
• comments and advice

And the time frame for the result is pretty good after all. I took it on the fifth of November, it was awarded on the 24th, presumably then sent from Japan and posted onward from London yesterday.

So in the end I got 136points out of 150. 120 was the pass mark. My reading was a bit below the average though. Mind you the average was between 95 and 100 percent in all the areas.
So onwards and upwards towards level 8 (440 characters) next year, hopefully in the summer rather than to have to wait a whole year. My medium term goal are the 1006 grade school kanji at level 5. Maybe above level 2 would be a lifetime goal difficult even for Japanese. The ultimate level, level one, for instance tests 6000 characters. I doubt I shall ever see such giddy heights.

I think this test is a good adjunct to JLPT. Although primarily about kanji, as it is aimed at native speakers and is all in Japanese it will test your reading and writing abilities to their limit and you can be sure they are on a par with Japanese students at the same level.

I heartily recommend this test to anyone who can find an exam centre. Unfortunately that usually means Japan. But if you cannot find one maybe you could see if your school or college would offer it, I don’t think it would be that difficult for them to apply to to it. It might also be possible for them to get assistance from the Japanese embassy’s cultural attaché.

Related posts:

1. Kanken Kanji Aptitude Test London 2009
2. After Kanken 2009
3. Kanken London 2010

This years Kanken Kanji Aptitude Test will be held at SOAS London on Sunday the 8th of November. The deadline for applications is Monday 5th October. It is possible to sit more than one level of the test on the day and the test fee is a reasonable £23 to £35 per paper.
I need a bit more motivation or focus in my Japanese studies so I’ll give it a go this year. Last year unfortunately I couldn’t sit it.
JLPT candidates could give it a go as a bit of a warm-up for the JLPT. Heisig devotees could prove their real competence and their method’s efficacy by passing level 2 perhaps. Hell I’d be impressed if they could pass level 5 after a couple of years starting from scratch.

Related posts:

1. Kanken London 2010
2. Kanji Aptitude Test
3. Kanken Result 2009

漢字学習ステップ８級 published by: 日本漢宇能力検定協会

Another book to prepare for the kanken test. This time it is an official book published by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. It is a textbook for Japanese people, completely in Japanese and requiring a vocabulary beyond that which the kanji might suggest. Maybe it’s for grade school children but I’m certain parts of it are intended for their parents.

It follows the familiar formula of presenting the kanji with a stroke count, radical, onyomi and kunyomi. The readings that are learnt at middle school are marked. There are comprehensive guides to writing the kanji properly. Much more so than would be usual with texts for non-Japanese I think. It’s important to get good habits early on and develop well balanced well written kanji.
There aren’t example sentences but compounds are given for each kanji. I presume these would be the words that would appear on the Kanken test.

The main attractions of the book are the Kanken style tests that are included. In these you give fill in blanks by writing the kanji or it’s reading in short sentences. There are also exercises were you count strokes, or make a kanji from given components. There are also some interesting game like tests that I wouldn’t think would appear on the test. Looking at the pictures accompanying the test scores only a perfect 100 seems acceptable, the rabbit next to the acceptable 80 looks really annoyed and next to 50 positively upset.

Finally you can chart your progress by filling in the date you complete sections and should you feel the need colouring in the wall chart that comes with the book. My schooldays were never like this.

Related posts:

1. 漢字練習ノート・小学２年生 • Kanji Practice Notebook Grade 2
2. Kanji Aptitude Test
3. JLPT Mock Test Level 3

漢字練習ノート・小学２年生　author: 下村昇 published by: 偕成社

Inspired by the upcoming Kanken test in June I went looking for some Kanji texts in JP Books yesterday. This workbook is one of the two books I bought. It is a companion volume to a more comprehensive yet small book 漢字の本2年生

As I wanted to use it more for revision I decided to skip the main book and just use the workbook. Also the main text being entirely in Japanese (as is the workbook by the way) needed more concentration than I really wanted to give to it. However I think once you reach a certain level it’s very useful and satisfying to work in an all Japanese environment.

This book is one of a series of six aimed at Japanese primary school students; one for each grade. there is a slight overlap with JLPT kanji. Grade 1 covers a lot of the JLPT4 kanji, with Grade 2 you’ll cover most of the JLPT3 kanji, and Grade 3 goes beyond JLPT3.
This book covers the 160 Grade 2 kanji. Each kanji takes a quarter of a two page spread. Each entry has four sections.

• A breakdown of the kanji. onyomi, kunyomi, stoke count, radical, category.
• How to write the kanji. Stroke order, notes on the type of strokes, kanji broken down into components.
• Kanji Etymology. Diagrams showing how the kanji evolved. The pictorial meaning.
• Fill in the blanks. Practice using the kanji in sentences.

The kanji are presented in order of categories, people, animals, plants, house etc. These are very useful at this stage but as the ideas get more abstract at higher grades I suspect many will fall into the その他　everything else category. Stroke count and radical are needed to use dictionaries properly. They are tested in the Kanken test.

The way the kanji are broken down is quite interesting. You could use the instructions to verbally describe to a Japanese person how to write it, in much the same way as in English you’d tell someone how to spell a word.

The etymology helps you understand the kanji. If you can understand it you are more likely to remember it and recognise components in more complex kanji.

Fill in the blanks is useful in giving you example sentences but you don’t even have to guess what you have to write. A longer test page would be more useful.

I think this is a good little book. It only costs 500 yen. I think you could use it as a starting point in learning kanji, before using more comprehensive books aimed at adult second language learners such as JLPT3 Kanji by Examples or Basic Kanji Book vol 1 and 2.

Related posts:

1. 漢字学習ステップ８級 • Kanji Study Step Level 8
2. JLPT 3 Grammar Exercises
3. Japanese Childrens Kanji Book

English words made only from twenty-six characters? Are English a bit lazy or what? We have fifty thousand characters in Chinese

— A Concise Chinese – English Dictionary for Lovers — Xiaolu Guo

On Sunday 22 June at SOAS in London the 11th Kanji Aptitude Test in the UK will take place.

There are 12 levels ranging from level 1 with 6000 kanji, Genius level! to Level 10 with 80 kanji, primary school level. Each test takes 1 hour. The pass mark is a relatively high 70% or 80%.
Pretty much the real deal.
You can find details of the levels here.

The test fee is from £23 to £50 depending on level, but averaging about £25. Unlike the JLPT you are able to sit different levels on the same day.
This way you can either collect the full set of certificates, over time, or you can fall back on an easier level or stretch yourself by trying a higher level without having to wait a year to resit because you chose the wrong level. The only limitation seems to be the willingness to pay the fee for each level.

The tests are more traditional than JLPT; no multichoice here. You have to write your answers; both reading, where you write the hiragana for a kanji, and writing where you write the kanji are tested.
Stroke order and counting are also tested. So are the correct way of writing strokes and radicals.
Reading through sample pages, I think it also helps to have a good vocabulary and ability to speak Japanese. Context will help you a lot. Remember that these tests are actually for Japanese people rather than second language learners.
You can find sample tests on the Kanken site. The site is in Japanese however. The buttons to various levels are in the middle of the page. There are grade school tests available on this site which would be useful to practice with.

Application forms can be requested from SOAS, details are on their website. The deadline for applications is May 22. SOAS also say they can send you sample tests but somehow I didn’t get any with my application form.

I think I’m going to give level 8 (440 kanji) a go. (Maybe 9 to be safe! after all I have to write them as well.) For future years I’ll work towards level 5 which should overlap quite a bit with JLPT 2.

It’s probably a bit late for this year but there are Kanken games available for the Nintendo DS and there are also books available from Amazon.jp

Related posts:

1. Kanken Kanji Aptitude Test London 2009
2. Kanken Result 2009
3. Kanken London 2010

Japanese is a fairly new subject on the Leaving Certificate exam syllabus in Ireland. However in 2007 only 90 students sat the exam (36 getting an A1 grade 28 of them girls) and as far as I’m aware it is usually only on the timetable for the transition year in some schools. (The transition year is a year between doing the Junior Certificate and starting the 2 year program for the Leaving Certificate. They didn’t have it when I was a kid. I think besides extending secondary school by a year, it allows the opportunity to do things off the more formal academic program, like work experience or learning new languages)

The Japanese Leaving Cert syllabus is quite interesting and practical. It seems to concentrate on modern real world situations and on communication. Much different than when I did French in Ireland oh so long ago.

I’d actually like to sit this exam. If you live in Ireland I’d recommend giving it a go. If you are at school talk to your tutors, if you’re a mature learner contact your VEC to see about taking the exam. You can apply online but you need permission of a school principal to use an examination centre apparently. The hardest thing might be finding an exam centre offering Japanese. Try Gorey Community School and Loreto in Wexford where the author of Kantan Nihongo teaches. And St. Caimins Community School in Claire. The Japanese embassy might keep a list of schools offering Japanese. The Japan Foundation has a list of schools that offered Japanese in 2006. This year the written and aural are on the 20th June and the oral sometime between April 7th and 18th. The deadline for applications is 1st February. and the fee is 62euro for a single subject.

Even if you are not in Ireland the syllabus is interesting reading and could form a basis for self study. The exam papers provide interesting practice as well. Many of the tasks are based about reading web sites or writing blogs. It’s hard to link directly to the pdfs of the papers but here is the starting point for finding them. It is also possible to read the examiners reports and see the marking schemes. Unfortunately they don’t make the audio material available. And here is the Higher 2007 written paper.

Nihongo Kantan is the first Japanese textbook written in Ireland. It covers the Irish Leaving Cert syllabus. I feel this is at a level a little over JLPT4. But the Leaving Cert exam is slightly more demanding in that you would have to write a short essay, give written answers instead of multiple choice, and there is an oral exam as well. Also the exam covers Japanese culture, and this is a large component of this textbook.

I think this is an interesting textbook and would be very good for a complete beginner. It covers all the basics in 12 units. A dedicated student might be able to cover it in 6 months to a year. I’d presume it covers 2 years of classroom study.
I like that it uses kanji from the very beginning. All kanji have furigana, unless the purpose of the passage is to read unaided. Romaji is only used in the first 3 units, after that hiragana should have been mastered. Each unit introduces about 10 thematically related kanji in a style that’d be very familiar to anyone that has tried to learn kanji by traditional means.

It’s unusual to see a language text printed in full colour throughout. It also departs slightly from the usual format of dialogue, grammar point, exercises model. The dialogues feel much more a part of the exercises.
It has two CDs of audio material.

As always I have some reservations.
The title. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Kantanna Nihongo, or Nihongo kantan da, fine but Nihongo Kantan seems like the dodgey English you see in Japan. However there is a book printed in Japan called Nihongo Kantan as well so maybe it’s a more common construction than I think.
While I like the full colour printing, I think the graphic design could be more restrained. But it is similar to many secondary school texts I’ve seen so maybe it’s what’s needed to keep teenagers interested.
There are some things I’d class as “lies to children” but I’m usually in favour of them when the actual facts just complicate matters.
I think it’d be better if na adjectives and verb classifications were marked in the vocabulary lists.
I prefer native speakers as a model rather than gaijin accented Japanese which is usually fairly flat (mine included I’m sure) in comparison to native speech.
I think it would be helpful to include a page on stroke order in kanji. It could also be a mistake to indicate the okurigana for kunyomi with a dash – it’s too like the long vowel for katakana that is sometimes found in hiragana as well.

This textbook would probably be hard to find as it’s aimed at a fairly limited market. Modern Languages bookstore in Dublin was where I found a copy. It’s not on their web site but I’m sure they’d respond to an email. (That they misspell Japanese on their site doesn’t help in finding Japanese texts in their database. Good bookstore, not so good web site.)
Authentik is another Irish bookstore where you can order this book online. (through a slightly unique ordering system; I don’t know why they don’t use a simpler cart system like everyone else.)

-update Jan 29-
And it is now also available at JP Books in the Mitsukoshi store in London.

-update Feb 20-
The Japan Foundation lists 52 Secondary Schools in Ireland offering Japanese. Interestingly there are no only 15 native teachers. Presumably because of the Irish language requirement for teachers. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to learn from a non-Japanese.

Trinity, UCD and DU are listed as having Japanese programs at 3rd level.

And 7 institutions with what I’d class as extramural studies.

the 2006 survey has 1500 secondary students and 230 3rd level students of Japanese in Ireland. (which makes it odd that only 90 sat the Leaving Cert)

PDF listing of institutes offering Japanese according to Japan Foundation survey 2006
Newspaper review of Nihongo Kantan

Related posts:

1. Leaving Certificate Japanese
2. Basic Japanese Through Comics (parts 1 and 2)
3. New JLPT – more information

Well it does exactly what it says on the cover. The bulk of this book are the 284 kanji needed for JLPT3, plus an extra 36 kanji that might also be tested. (The wording on the MLC site suggested to me that they were prediciting 36 kanji out of the 284 that might appear on this years test. Alas that is not the case. )

The kanji are laid out in what is now a very predicable pattern. The kanji with stroke order, onyomi, kunyomi, English meaning, compounds that appear in JLPT3 and an example sentence.
Maybe it’s the only way it can be done but it’s hardly innovative. You end up with a list to be learnt by heart which is fairly difficult.

I can’t quite figure out the logic of the arrangement of kanji. I don’t think it’s even a case of 1 to 120 being Level4 plus MLCs extras with the last 36 kanji of the 320 being the extra ones. It would have been nice if the kanji were actually marked as to official JLPT level. There is an index of onyomi and kunyomi; I’m not sure how useful it is but it’s good that it’s there.

As a separate item you get 31 test sheets of 20 questions. The “writing” test is the usual multiple choice but the reading is harder as you have to give a correct reading rather than just choose one and more than one kanji is tested per sentence.
You score yourself by deducting 1 for each mistake rather than adding up correct answers. I’m unsure how accurate a picture this gives; a better scoring method would be 5 marks per question so you can see if you are actually getting over 60% correct. Unfortunately these tests are on groups of kanji; albeit increasingly larger groups are tested. I think to bring it all together a couple of full tests would have been good.

Lastly there is a sheet of the kanji tested in past exams. This can be downloaded from MLC’s site however and again I don’t know how useful this information is.

The book is self-published by MLC so in effect it’s a bound photocopy. This is ok except were there is black text on a dark grey background. I don’t think the method of denoting stroke order by using numbers on a single character is a good way of doing this. It would be beter to have a stroke by stroke series of diagrams or omit it entirely. Stroke order isn’t necessary for JLPT.

The other issue is it’s very hard to buy unless you are resident in Japan. They will only take payment as a bank transfer and only deliver to a Japanese address. I got a friend of mine to buy it for me. I think it would be better as a paid for pdf which can be paid for by credit card. Maybe they are concerned with piracy but there’s nothing to stop anyone scanning and uploading the paper version.

All in all I don’t think I’d recommend this. The kanji listing you can get at sites such as the JLPT Kanji project or the JLPT Study Page. The test sheets are the best feature but finding mock tests elsewhere isn’t too difficult.

If you are looking for a book to learn JLPT3 kanji I think JLPT3 Kanji by Examples is much better.

Related posts:

1. 漢字練習ノート・小学２年生 • Kanji Practice Notebook Grade 2
2. JLPT 3 Kanji and Vocabulary Tests
3. JLPT3 Kanji by Examples

北嶋千鶴子（著者）North Island Company

I actually bought this as part of my 100万字 challenge. (At time of writing not at all on target at about 2.5万字）Finding suitable texts is quite a challenge. This one seemed to kill two birds with one stone. I could have reading practice and at the same time have reading comprehension practice for JLPT. The easier and quicker I can read the easier the JLPT will be I think.

The book wasn’t specifically written for JLPT but the author felt it was at such a level to be useful. There are 15 short 25 medium and 15 long passages. Nothing is longer than a single page. There are more kanji used than there are in JLPT test papers I think. None of the kanji have furigana but that’s actually quite useful. Each passage has between 1 and 4 short JLPT style multiple choice questions. The reason for any correct or incorrect answers is left as an exercise for the student.

The material isn’t exactly exciting but is reasonably interesting, including many Japanese related topics. There are also a number of graphs and picture questions that could be useful practice for the type of questions that come up on the listening section of the JLPT test.

Related posts:

1. Unicom Preparatory Course For JLPT3
2. JLPT3 Grammar Mock Test Papers
3. JLPT 3 Kanji and Vocabulary Tests