LC Japanese

damoPL

Hi, I've been recently thinking about taking up Japanese for my LC next year. I was wondering if it's possible to sit the HL exam if I began studying from let's say next month, and if so what books do you recommend. Thanks. Also I study 9 HL subjects ATM, if that's of any relevance.

kingcobra

Have you ever done Japanese before? I've no idea what the exam is like but learning it as a language in itself in a year will be tough as it's nothing like the Latin-based languages (English, French etc.). It is a very interesting language but if I was you I'd be more inclined to do it as something in my free time as there's no point doing 10 subjects for the sake of it; you're just adding more pressure to yourself. I'm all for people doing the best they can but maybe going for 625 points/all A's would be more rewarding? Then you can learn Japanese in an enjoyable way by yourself in your free time.
Either way I'd say you're smart enough to make an informed decision so good luck either way!

HugsiePie

Sorry to break it to you, but learning Japanese in a year in hope of doing well in the exam is pretty much impossible. You need to have a passion for it. My school does Japanese, and the students get 2 HOURS worth of homework everyday. The level they have to be at is pretty much the same as Spanish and German at leaving cert. I heard of a girl who during her oral was asked about blood types (it's a cultural thing, and in complete fairness she dug that hole herself). My sister goes to Japanese classes after school, and she loves all things Japanese but she has found the language to be too hard so she has decided not to do it for LC. However you're your own person, maybe you'll be great at it, if you're certain you want to do it or really want to do it give it a go, you can drop it whenever you want to.

damoPL

Well you see the thing is, we did some Japanese in TY, now that wasn't anything overly complicated (we mainly talked about culture), but from there on I gained a major interest in the country. I bought a couple of language books there last year and I know how to read katakana, as well as I have a fair idea on sentence structure etc. The only thing I'd have to really learn is a couple of words for the reading as well as some kanji and hiragana. Also is there really an oral? I had a look at the Japanese exam papers and the ordinary level looks quite easy to me.

HugsiePie

Well I can't tell you much more, you sound passionate about it to me, if you really want to do it, give it a go. If you can't cope, just drop it. BTW, yes, there is DEFINITELY an oral.

Just Like Heaven

damoPL wrote: »

Hi, I've been recently thinking about taking up Japanese for my LC next year. I was wondering if it's possible to sit the HL exam if I began studying from let's say next month, and if so what books do you recommend. Thanks. Also I study 9 HL subjects ATM, if that's of any relevance.

You definitely can, I took it up pretty late in fifth year, did nothing throughout Summer and had to start all over again mid way through sixth year when I decided I needed it, and I was very happy with my result.

The leaving cert textbook is Nihongo Kantan, I didn't find it that useful though as it's written for classroom teaching, if you're teaching yourself you should also try and get hold of some commercial textbooks, anything will do, just make sure it works in kana and not romaji. You only need about 100 kanji for the LC, they're taught in Nihongo Kantan or you can just find them in the syllabus.

There was a poster here before who set up her own blogsite for the LC Japanese exam, unfortunately it's not online anymore, but it was really useful. She got a B1 HL and took it up three months before the oral. I've spoken with a lot of other self study students and it's definitely possible.

HugsiePie wrote: »

Sorry to break it to you, but learning Japanese in a year in hope of doing well in the exam is pretty much impossible. You need to have a passion for it. My school does Japanese, and the students get 2 HOURS worth of homework everyday. The level they have to be at is pretty much the same as Spanish and German at leaving cert. I heard of a girl who during her oral was asked about blood types (it's a cultural thing, and in complete fairness she dug that hole herself). My sister goes to Japanese classes after school, and she loves all things Japanese but she has found the language to be too hard so she has decided not to do it for LC. However you're your own person, maybe you'll be great at it, if you're certain you want to do it or really want to do it give it a go, you can drop it whenever you want to.

Very little of this is true. It's very, very possible. You need to have a passion for everything of course, I can't gauge the OP's interest but you don't need anymore motivation than you do for taking any other subject outside of school.

The level required for LC is nowhere near that of any of the five year LC languages courses, Japanese is a two year course. The oral is structured into three sections and the random conversation about yourself and stuff is less than 5 minutes by the time you introduce yourself. The other two sections consist of a specialist topic and a photograph, both of which you're supposed to have prepared for anyway cause they generally display a unique cultural event or famous landmark, which you wouldn't know if looking at for the first time anyway. You just talk about what's going on in the photo/specialist topic and then the examiner will ask you a couple of questions on them and then you contrast what's going on with how it would be in Ireland.

I got the blood type thing as well, it's introduced in the first few chapters of the LC book, as are the other little things that might pop up. Very few surprises.

Basically, I recommend you get a self study book to actually learn Japanese from then use Nihongo Kantan to supplement and check what you might be missing. Then use Nihongo Kantan to actually prepare for the exam and fill in all the bits about culture. The book is written by Ursala Zimmerman, the chief examiner and from what I remember is totally comprehensive in teaching all the culture stuff for the oral etc.

damoPL wrote: »

Well you see the thing is, we did some Japanese in TY, now that wasn't anything overly complicated (we mainly talked about culture), but from there on I gained a major interest in the country. I bought a couple of language books there last year and I know how to read katakana, as well as I have a fair idea on sentence structure etc. The only thing I'd have to really learn is a couple of words for the reading as well as some kanji and hiragana. Also is there really an oral? I had a look at the Japanese exam papers and the ordinary level looks quite easy to me.

There isn't a massive difference between HL and OL. The oral is grand, it's so heavily structured you don't even spend that much time talking. You're given a minute to start running things through your head when you see the photo/topic you're given, and these are posted online a bit before the oral, just keep an eye out for them.

It's fair to say that Japanese is a tough language so I can understand why somebody taking classes will find it difficult, but LC Japanese is so basic it isn't really that representative of Japanese.

damoPL

That was informative ^^^
Anyways, yeah I've heard about nihongo kantan and I was trying to see if I could get a hold of a copy yesterday, unfortunately the printer has gone under and so the book is quite rare to find. Also about the oral, does it take place in the school or will I have to go somewhere considering I'd probably be the only person doing it in my school. Sorry about the Q's lads its just that I don't want to start now and be told half way through next year that I can't do it.

mixery

I believe that your school should facilitate it! Just talk to your principal early enough, he'd go around asking whether you're doing any extra subjects(w tym polski).

pokkyoc

I studied Japanese for my Leaving Cert last year and got an A1 in it! There were 10 of us in our class and 5 managed to get an A1 I think with enough practice and knowing how to get marks in the essays, it's definitely not a bad choice for the Leaving

damoPL

Polish doesn't have an oral -_-

Just Like Heaven

The examiner will come to you. I was the only person to sit it in my school as well. It'll all be organised when you fill out your form a couple of months into sixth year, just make sure you put Japanese down on your form.

I gave it a quick google and found it for sale here andhere, no idea if it's in stock though. Should be a couple of other sites stilling it. It took me months to track down a copy as well Keep your eyes out on adverts.ie as well, somebody had a copy up this month but hasn't actually taken it down yet, might be worth messaging them anyway http://www.adverts.ie/2937640 Some copies might go up after the exam this year as well.

It's no problem, I would have been stuck if it weren't for boards so ask away or feel free to PM me throughout the year if you go ahead with it and have any questions.

mixery

But you need to say that you want to do it, ie. the scripts are sent in in June. Guy in my class is the only person doing Russian and the oral examiner came just for him.

Just Like Heaven

damoPL wrote: »

Polish doesn't have an oral -_-

None of those European languages do. Other than the Spanish, German, French, Irish and Italian 'staples' the only languages that have orals are Russian and Japanese. (Not sure about Arabic).

But Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Latin, Latvian, Polish, Greek, Portuguese etc etc etc. Don't have orals. The standard is higher than it would be for Japanese and Russian though.

MightyMandarin

Im doin 5th year Japanese ATM and it is a very easy subject compared with german which I also do, and is pretty easy too. Learning Hiragana and Katakana is pretty straightforward and vocab is more or less the same as doing JC French,German etc. I'm only doing it for the points and definetly looking at it for A1 but getting 2 hours homework everynight is a bit steep. Just like anything put time into it, you don't need a 'passion' for it or anythin Japanese, Anime, Manga etc. like some other people do. If I were you I'd start now and study it over the summer if you're looking high grades at it. But it's not at all that hard.

HugsiePie

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

.Very little of this is true. It's very, very possible. You need to have a passion for everything of course, I can't gauge the OP's interest but you don't need anymore motivation than you do for taking any other subject outside of school.

First off, my advice was based on what Japanese students have told me and if you read the end if my post I advised the OP to give it a go. I offered advice based on other people's experiences with Japanese, so I don't see how "most" of it could be wrong. Don't say that my post isn't true, I gave my reasons why as to why it would be difficult to get a good result, other people's experiences with the subject, and then I said despite all that it was still possible to do well.

Canard

HugsiePie wrote: »

First off, my advice was based on what Japanese students have told me and if you read the end if my last post I advised the OP to give it a go. I offered advice based on other people's experiences with Japanese, so I don't see how "most" of it could be wrong. Don't say that my post isn't true I never said he couldn't do well, I said it would be unlikely he would do well, I gave my reasons why, and then I said despite all that it was still possible to do well.

In fairness, fewtins sat Japanese himself, so he knows about it. He wasn't trying to be rude, but it is a pretty ill-informed thing to say that it's the same standard as the European languages considering there's no JC course - and personally I've heard you even get time to stop and think about what you might use as an answer, so its much less intensive by the sounds of it. Not having sat Japanese myself your post did surprise me with the blood type thing, but as fewtins said, it's actually not a very shocking thing to be asked, which is good for the OP to know. Just two people giving their differing opinions was all.

shootie

I picked it up after the 1st month of 5th year. Best decision I've ever made academically. I discovered a real passion for speaking it and very much enjoy doing so. The teething process is difficult in my experience (finding out how to study Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji etc.) but in my oral last week I was able to enjoy a fun conversation with my examiner for most of it. I'm far from a 600 pointer either, so It's a very easy language to pick up for just about anyone.

HugsiePie

Canard wrote: »

In fairness, fewtins sat Japanese himself, so he knows about it. He wasn't trying to be rude, but it is a pretty ill-informed thing to say that it's the same standard as the European languages considering there's no JC course - and personally I've heard you even get time to stop and think about what you might use as an answer, so its much less intensive by the sounds of it. Not having sat Japanese myself your post did surprise me with the blood type thing, but as fewtins said, it's actually not a very shocking thing to be asked, which is good for the OP to know. Just two people giving their differing opinions was all.

It was what I was told by the Japanese students in my school, I was shocked by it myself, but then they began to take me what they have to do for homework every day, it all added up to 2 hours a night, so I didn't doubt it. Btw on a side note, their teacher occasionally emails them extra homework, so with all that extra time and effort I can understand how the oral would be if a high standard. Maybe they were just being ott, idk, its just what I was told.

MightyMandarin

HugsiePie wrote: »

It was what I was told by the Japanese students in my school, I was shocked by it myself, but then they began to take me what they have to do for homework every day, it all added up to 2 hours a night, so I didn't doubt it. Btw on a side note, their teacher occasionally emails them extra homework, so with all that extra time and effort I can understand how the oral would be if a high standard. Maybe they were just being ott, idk, its just what I was told.

I think they were over stating their workload. I have class twice a week after scool and it adds up to 3 hours, same class time as German, which I get much more homework in. Most of 5th year work is learning the alphabet, vocab and basic grammar. There isn't much to do in the 'Kantan' books to be spending hours a night on. The subject doesn't need near that amount of time at all.

Just Like Heaven

HugsiePie wrote: »

First off, my advice was based on what Japanese students have told me and if you read the end if my post I advised the OP to give it a go. I offered advice based on other people's experiences with Japanese, so I don't see how "most" of it could be wrong. Don't say that my post isn't true, I gave my reasons why as to why it would be difficult to get a good result, other people's experiences with the subject, and then I said despite all that it was still possible to do well.

Fine, sorry to have sounded so harsh then. The OP isn't gonna get a lot of advise due to it being not so widely sat, so reading blanket statements such as "doing well in the exam is pretty much impossible" when that really isn't the case can be a little frustrating.

spurious

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

None of those European languages do. Other than the Spanish, German, French, Irish and Italian 'staples' the only languages that have orals are Russian and Japanese. (Not sure about Arabic).

But Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Latin, Latvian, Polish, Greek, Portuguese etc etc etc. Don't have orals. The standard is higher than it would be for Japanese and Russian though.

The standard for the non-curricular languages is much higher. They expect native speaker standard and even native speakers do not always get an A as they want the written standard to be high and people who have lived here a while, even if they speak their language daily, can sometimes have let the written side slide.

Russian and Japanese are both post-JC courses, so the standard expected for them is not as high as the old reliables which have usually been done since first year.

Japanese is certainly do-able in a year, but I would make sure to get some classes at some stage.

HugsiePie

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

Fine, sorry to have sounded so harsh then. The OP isn't gonna get a lot of advise due to it being not so widely sat, so reading blanket statements such as "doing well in the exam is pretty much impossible" when that really isn't the case can be a little frustrating.

It is what I was told by 7 different people and the Japanese teacher herself.

Just Like Heaven

HugsiePie wrote: »

It is what I was told by 7 different people and the Japanese teacher herself.

We should be thankful they didn't write the syllabus nor do they set the exam paper then.

HugsiePie

fewtinsoffroth wrote: »

We should be thankful they didn't write the syllabus nor do they set the exam paper then.

She's probably just super strict with them, hence the hatered