The Japanese listening exam - Lifestyle Monday
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
On Monday, the day that you're reading this, I will be having my first ever Japanese listening exam and I'm super nervous. A few months back, I wrote a post explaining what it's like learning standard level Japanese and if you've read that, you'll know that I did say that I found it quite difficult. This was mostly because at the time, I found learning Katakana and Kanji quite difficult because no matter how hard I tried, I wasn't remembering it well at all. The good news is however, that I have improved a lot in Japanese since then. I can read Katakana pretty well and I'm beginning to at least recognise some of the basic Kanji so that is something positive. However, listening in Japanese remains my nemesis. This is mostly because, like all new learners of a language, I find that the people are speaking way too fast and I can't quite catch what it is that they are saying. I'm also struggling slightly because the listening exam paper is all in Japanese and so the exam is not only analysing my listening skills but also my reading skills which is a big challenge. To revise for the test I've been listening to some podcasts in Japanese that I found on YouTube. The podcasts I have been listening to the most these past few weeks have been the ones from the channel, Learn Japanese Pod. I like their podcasts because they teach Japanese in a really fun way and I can easily put their podcasts on in the background whilst I'm getting on with other things. The issue was IB Japanese Ab Initio is that there are very few revision materials out there that are relevant to the curriculum for the listening that we're currently studying. Luckily, this podcast does go over some of the things I've been learning in class so it is a good revision tool all in all. To revise I've also been going over Japanese question words and I've also sat a sample listening paper in class so I'm fairly familiar with how it's all meant to look. Nevertheless, I'm still nervous because there's a lot that still could go wrong and the listening is arguably the most difficult paper to sit in Japanese. All I know is that I've tried my best to prepare myself and what will be will be. I'll let you know how I get on.
Have you ever sat a listening exam in a language before? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!
Be sure to follow and subscribe so that you don't miss any more of my brilliant posts and share this article with a friend who might enjoy it too!
See you next time,
Bye,
XOX, Juliette
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving your comments! I really enjoy reading your positive and constructive messages. They really make my day! 💜