Quote:
Originally Posted by RickOShay
I agree. I would say the average person, properly motivated, could pass JLPT level 1 in 4 years, especially if they are living in Japan for a lot of that time.
But let's make no mistake, just living in Japan is not a magic ticket to being able to pass that test. I know of people that have lived here 10 years plus and hardly speak much of the language (how on earth they are enjoying their life here is beyond me, but that is a different topic I guess). So what I am saying is you have to hit the books, and find supplements for your reading comprehension, simply existing here for a certain amount of time will not get you passed that test.
In reality, I think your average person who ends up seeing it through probably takes between 5-7 years before they get passed level one, its not that they could not do it in 4 or maybe even 3, it is just that they have a life, and a high level of language acquisition was not an immediate priority for them.
And yeah, passing a 4 year uni program in my opinion is not going to get you anywhere near fluent. In fact know a guy with a 4 year degree in Japanese and I doubt he could pass level two. Come to think of it I would say 70% of all degrees are crap, as far as actual knowledge value goes anyway, everybody just ends up forgetting everything.
|
I know at least twenty people from my uni who graduated with a degree in Japanese language. Only three of us were good enough to pass 2. One graduated and went to work for the Japanese Consulate and is now a PhD student in Japanese linguistics at Stanford. I'm not quite sure what the other is up to.
Edit Four of us. The other is now a television host in Japan.
His vocabulary was always much stronger than mine (I was a booksmart guy in Japan, while he went out and partied with the natives), but my accent was less American. It was an interesting dynamic, and his skill always humbled me, because we'd started Japanese at the same time at university and had classes together.
But I still stand by my belief that my university churns out some of the best Japanese speakers of any university in the US.