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August 31st, 2008 (09:12 pm)
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JLPT registration is open from Sep 2 to Oct 3. I'm seriously not prepared for it this time around. I haven't studied anything, I'm not actively translating anything (which seriously helped keep my listening and vocab up), and my J is seriously stagnating at the moment. ......I suspect I'm beyond sunk. ^^; (It would at least help if my kanji were better, but I haven't improved and suspect I've forgotten some things over the several months since the JLPT last year.) On the plus side, York U's registration is strictly online. SFU didn't have their page up yet, so I have no idea what they're doing.

So, who's up for the torture this year? ^^;

Comments

Posted by: Kakurenbo (akinarei)
Posted at: August 31st, 2008 11:36 pm (UTC)

What about taking it next year and focusing on studying this year? Not to mention NaNo this year.

Edited at 2008-09-01 03:40 am (UTC)

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Posted by: Shadow (kagedreams)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 03:36 am (UTC)

*laughs* This year or next most likely will make little difference WRT the end result. ^^; The whole reason NaNo this year is being written in J is to try and at least keep the brain in the language and make last minute studying a little easier. I've had all year to study but have done very little (sic none), so... *sigh* The result'll be my own fault. ^^;

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Posted by: 水野あやめ (nishitamachi)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 12:21 am (UTC)

Taking it every year has become a habit for me (regardless the result..) .. at least it is the only connection I have left with.. studying Japanese ^^;; The registration for us in the southern hemisphere will be closed as per tomorrow...

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Posted by: Shadow (kagedreams)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 03:55 am (UTC)

Wow, registration for you folks down south is much earlier than up here. O_O; BTW, have you read about the changes they're making to the test? Overall, it doesn't make major changes to the upper two levels much, but it looks like they'll be making JLPT1 a touch more difficult. ^^;

BTW, have you ever thought about taking the kanji test? I'm not sure if I'll try taking it or not, but it's something that I've started considering as well. ^^;

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Posted by: 水野あやめ (nishitamachi)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 08:30 am (UTC)

Yeah, I heard that there will be 5 levels? Regardless, nikyuu and ikkyuu won't be easier ^^;;

For now, I know I won't take any kanji test -__-;; I'm hopeless in kanji, unless they allow me to bring something like wapro... ^^;;

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Posted by: Shadow (kagedreams)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 01:41 pm (UTC)

Yeah, N3 sounds like it'll be helpful for those between JLPT3 and JLPT2. I kinda wish they'd put something between JLPT2 and JLPT1. IMO, the difference between the two levels wouldn't be so bad if they didn't also increase the pass threshold! The double whammy's a bit scary. ^^;

For now, I know I won't take any kanji test -__-;; I'm hopeless in kanji, unless they allow me to bring something like wapro... ^^;;

Believe me when I say I share your pain. ^^; Still, I'm starting to wonder if that's where I should go next so I can actually write what I read. ^^; That and eventually being able to read names would be nice... *sigh*

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Posted by: Hezziwig (hezziwig)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 07:23 am (UTC)
 bamboo torture

Even though I know I will FAIL (the fact that I'm on lesson 24 of my 100+ lesson level two kanji book is a hint), I'm going to sign up for Level 2 this year. Mainly because I need to have a motivation, and I want to start being able to express myself more clearly to my friends to whom I talk solely in Japanese.

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Posted by: Shadow (kagedreams)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 01:57 pm (UTC)

^^;; I share your optimism WRT the exam outcome. I haven't even opened the books (reading comprehension) I ordered. Maybe a fail will boot me into actually studying next time. ^^; By the sounds of it, you should really be taking the upcoming N3, but those changes aren't coming in until ~2010. I sort of wish they would've put something between JLPT2 and JLPT1 but... ^^; I guess I'm a bit chicken and lazy when it comes to this thing. :P

The want/need to communicate's always helpful. ^^; I remember when it took me ~1 hr to write very basic emails to relatives when I was living in Japan. You're lucky you have people with whom you communicate solely in Japanese. It's funny how that can really push you into improving and trying harder. ^^;

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Posted by: Too cute for evil (ginny_t)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 08:14 am (UTC)
 geek

Wheee! JLPT = Shadow in Toronto! *dances*

If a translation project would help you get ready, I'm game.

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Posted by: Shadow (kagedreams)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 02:43 pm (UTC)

^^; BTW, is there any place (area) you'd suggest I should stay while I'm there? I'm thinking about staying at one of the places they suggest so it'll be easy to get to the exam site (I can grab a cab to the test site and worry about getting lost after the exam :P ), but don't know if I should continue staying there or if I should change hotels. Of course, I could stay elsewhere entirely if the same concept would work well (grabbing a cab to the test site if necessary and transitting back after the exam). I seriously need to sit down with a Toronto map and figure out where I want/need to go. ^^;

If a translation project would help you get ready, I'm game.

I may take you up on that. ^_^ The problem is that none of the new titles have been seriously grabbing me around the throat insisting I translate them. >.>

As it is, I'm following a couple of titles right now (Nabari no Ou and Natsume Yuujinchou). Natsume's being subbed by two groups and is up to ep 8 of 13 already though. (Even if I were interested [which I'm not], Nabari's a non-issue). So far on my checklist for Oct are Vampire Knight Guilty and Skip Beat. Shall see what else comes up in the new season. BTW, did you ever finish watching ShouMyou? We dropped it because it got licensed, but I know the other group kept going with it...

Will give it some thought and check out the latest versions for the compilers. A lot of the subbing died because Vista wouldn't play nice, but... I guess I could always transfer things to the desktop and use it. ^^;

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Posted by: Too cute for evil (ginny_t)
Posted at: September 2nd, 2008 07:25 pm (UTC)
 geek

I glanced at the places on that page. They seem acceptable, for large-chain hotels in an area of the city that's rather a blank in my head--just the space between Yonge and York U. My suggestion would be to move to another hotel a little more central after the test (or even just stay at a more central hotel the whole time--although time-consuming, the ride to York U is fairly straightforward).

Preliminary list of places to go: House of Tea (Rosedale subway), Laywine's [pens] (Bay subway or walk from Rosedale), La Tea Da (Queen St. East [Beaches]), Ginlandia (Eglinton subway), Romni Wools (Queen St. West), Knitomatic (St. Clair West subway), the Purple Purl (Queen East), Nocean [more pens] (King subway), patisserie near Ginlandia {ack! why can't I remember the name?! It starts with D--Duncan?}…

Should I add gelato places to the list?

I haven't finished watching Shoumyou. I did keep up with the other group's inferior releases, but haven't sat down to watch it yet (bad sign, I know).

I'm not watching either of the two you're watching right now (neither grabbed me). Vampire Knight* Guilty? Is that s2? I guess I could play along if that was what you chose, but the very first episode really put me off. I like the idea of playing it by ear; maybe something will grab you.

BTW, I've watched 3 episodes of Yakushiji Ryoko No Kaiki Jikenbo, and I'm cautiously optimistic. I certainly haven't decided yet, but I haven't told it to go away…

* hee! I always type knit first, and then have to correct it to knight. lalala!

ReplyLink Parent Thread
Posted by: Shadow (kagedreams)
Posted at: September 3rd, 2008 03:02 am (UTC)

Wow! That's quite the list you're building there! If I were going in the summer, I wouldn't hesitate about adding gelato to the list, but we're talking early Dec... I'm not sure, wouldn't that make for walking ice cubes...? :P

By central, I assume you mean the downtown area. My knowledge of area geography is quite spotty, but I'm guessing somewhere either close to Union Station or the Eaton Centre should work? (Somewhere in that general vicinity.)

Right now, I'm thinking about something along the lines of Dec 5-9 or so. (I'm assuming you'll be working and will be busy on the weekdays?) Dec 5th will probably be completely lost to travel (usual arrival time is late afternoon/early evening IIRC), and Dec 7 is the torture session (9-2:30). >.> If things are too tight for exploration time, I can always add another day or two. (FWIW, I was looking at various Toronto tours and found this! *laughs* I don't think I'd go for it, but I found it interesting. I didn't think there was enough of a choco industry there for it. ^^; [In case you're wondering how on earth I ended up there, I was curious about any ghost walks since it might be useful background research for a GH fic...... assuming I wanted to toss in some Canadian content let alone potentially freezing my buns off with something like that. Yes, I can be *very* silly sometimes. :P ])

re: Shoumyou
One of the things I was thinking of was the possibility of picking up one of the frozen projects. As I recall, a lot of the headache I was having was because of Vista issues on Mokkun, but a number of programs have been updated, so it might be that those earlier issues no longer exist. I'll take a closer look and let you know how that goes, too. ^_^

Yeah, Guilty is s2. I suspect a number of people were decidedly unimpressed by VK; both the manga and the anime. ^^; (The scanlations of the manga definitely didn't appeal to me, but the raw manga itself isn't all *that* bad IMO.) I'm not sure how Skip Beat will go. The manga's okay, but... (The story's not all that strong IMO.) ^^;

BTW, I've watched 3 episodes of Yakushiji Ryoko No Kaiki Jikenbo, and I'm cautiously optimistic. I certainly haven't decided yet, but I haven't told it to go away…

I'll take a look. ^_^ The only problem is that Tokyo Tosho doesn't list raws anymore for the earlier eps and some of the earlier Eng subs aren't there anymore either. Ah well, shall check out the first ep and see if I need to do some more hunting. ^_^

(Knit, knight, what's the difference? :P )

ReplyLink Parent Thread
Posted by: Too cute for evil (ginny_t)
Posted at: September 3rd, 2008 06:39 am (UTC)
 geek

Many gelato places have space to eat inside. I'll concede that it's not gelato season, per se, but my taste buds have never complained.

You could go as far north as Bloor, between Yonge and University. That whole area is very accessible to the subway and dense with stuff to do.

Chocolate tour! This reminds me that we ought to add Soma to the list. It's a chocolate place in the distillery district. I've never been, but I hear very good things about it.

OGiVi could maybe help with compiling; it's certainly supposed to have the capacity. That would just mean putting up with my connection speed. Maybe I should finally upgrade a little.

The version of Yakushiji Ryoko No Kaiki Jikenbo that I've been watching are .mkv files, so you could watch without turning on the subs. (If it gets horrible at episode 4, don't hold it against me?) I was figuring more that I'd mention it as maybe something you or FSU might like. The subs are up to 7 out of 13.

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Posted by: Too cute for evil (ginny_t)
Posted at: September 3rd, 2008 06:42 am (UTC)
 tea

I forgot to mention: I have one vacation day left in 2007, which is tentatively earmarked for running all over the city with Shadow (you'll want a day pass for the transit). Aside from that, I work 'til 4:30 on Fridays, and usually 'til 6 M-Th.

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Posted by: Shadow (kagedreams)
Posted at: September 4th, 2008 12:44 am (UTC)

Cheers!

WRT the gelato places, do they have non-dairy alternatives (sorbet)? I've been doing what I can to increase my dairy tolerance, but we're still talking fairly small amounts. ^^; Otherwise, I think it'll have to be played by ear. If it's really cold, I probably wouldn't want to go for it (unless we're talking really cozy interior with lots of warm things too). ^^;;

Soma sounds really interesting! ^o^ I agree, that one definitely has to be added in. ^^;

I just finished watching ep 1. So far, it seems interesting. ^_^ Now to find a soft-subbed version of eps 2 & 3... ^^;;

WRT projects, I'm still looking for one more program before I can try anything out yet. Hopefully something can be done. ^^;

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Posted by: Too cute for evil (ginny_t)
Posted at: September 4th, 2008 07:37 am (UTC)
 tea

We can keep gelato as a maybe. Many places do have sorbetto, but most rotate flavours, so there's no guarantee. I'm having to be careful about dairy myself. :( It sucks! *stomps foot*

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Posted by: Althea SaDiablo (grey_damaskena)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 10:05 am (UTC)

Heheheh, totally there! Gotta hurry up and send in my app for 3rd level, gotta buckle down to the studying. As if to mock me, my aikido class also tells me that I'm testing at the end of this month. And I started a new job last week. AURGH. Let us share our pain!

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Posted by: Shadow (kagedreams)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 02:57 pm (UTC)

*laughs* Gotta love when everything comes knocking at the same time. ^^; Sounds like you have your hands full right now! First things first, send in your app! It all starts there, after all. :P

Hang in there and good luck with your studies! ^o^

I almost feel like we should set up a basic study group for motivation, poking, and if necessary, a bit of mocking. :P

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Posted by: Althea SaDiablo (grey_damaskena)
Posted at: September 2nd, 2008 10:06 am (UTC)

The mockery especially would be welcome. Humor = mental protection and fortification, a must when going into something treated with such monumental seriousness . . .

Thankee much for the good wishes, and the same for your efforts. :-)

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Posted by: Maria (reynardine)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 11:20 am (UTC)

I meant to take the test this year, but I haven't been studying much lately, so it looks like I'll hold off until next year (again). :-/

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Posted by: Shadow (kagedreams)
Posted at: September 1st, 2008 04:01 pm (UTC)

Ouch. Sitting down and studying can be hard. In my case, I completely lost all motivation for my projects some time around April and have accomplished very little since then. (Although studying hadn't been a happening thing before then either...) >.>

Which level are you hoping to go for? I'm using registration as both carrot and whip. ^^; Carrot because of the plan to write the exam in Toronto (four hour flight here I come...), and whip because I'll be guilting myself into studying. ^^; Unfortunately, that won't work for everyone, nor will everyone want to do things that way. (To be honest, I'm not very familiar with US geography. How far is it for you to the nearest test centre? It's at least out of state if I'm not mistaken...)

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Posted by: neigehilde (neigehilde)
Posted at: September 3rd, 2008 04:46 am (UTC)

Good of you to remind me. Oof. I so would have missed the deadline. Thank you.
And yes, I'm up for JLPT 1 this year, as planned. I did no study whatsoever, read little, forgot what I knew, am not going to my Jap school this year, because I only remembered to ask about the entrance exam date after the exam...
So, I'm sooo not ready for it, but I guess taking it is not going to harm me any. I hope it will motivate me to study.
I have a few questions, by the way:
1) You said there were some changes in JLPT 4. Any ideas where I can learn more about that?
2)Is there anything to work on AFTER JLPT 1? Like when I was going for JLPT 2 I was telling myself - it doesn't matter if I pass really, since I'm going for JLPT 1 the next year anyway. This time I'm a bit confused as to how encourage myself...

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Posted by: Shadow (kagedreams)
Posted at: September 3rd, 2008 10:57 pm (UTC)

^^;; Sounds like we're going into this thing much the same way. :P

Here's a link to the revision report, but the main differences are that a fifth level will be introduced that falls between what's currently JLPT3 and JLPT2, and some more advanced structures will be added in to the new JLPTN1.

I'm thinking (assuming I pass before 2010...) that taking JLPT N1 in 2010 will be good for a refresher since some other structures are supposed to be tested. (Overall difficulty remains the same, however.) Otherwise, I'm thinking about the kanken". The test is meant for J people, so it might be rather interesting. :P The thing that is both good and super scary is that I think it might also test writing of kanji. ^^; I haven't looked into the exam very much, but I think there's a testing centre in Vancouver, so that's nice and convenient for me to get to at least. ^^; Mind you, with this test, my ultimate goal will probably be to reach level pre-2 or 2. I can't see me trying for level 1. ^^; I'm definitely *not* a kanji hakase. :P

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Posted by: neigehilde (neigehilde)
Posted at: September 4th, 2008 09:51 am (UTC)

Oh, hell. I must confess I was thinking along the kanken lines... But what with my kanji skills it's going to be a disaster. Unless I really make a superhuman effort, that is. I have mostly passed JLPT 2 due to large vocabulary and extensive guesswork)) Well, a challenge is a challenge. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a kanken testing center anywhere near I live... I'll have to look into it.

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