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IMPORTANCE OF JAPANESE LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION
When you are surfing the net to find JOBs here in Japan, maybe you already notice that most Japanese company here who have opening jobs for a foreigner worker makes JLPT or Japanese Language a must skill for all of their applicant. Not only a person who know Japanese language, but a person who can communicate and do business using Japanese language. This only show how important Japanese language is when you want to work here. Maybe you also experienced that after sending your resume and you received a feedback from the person-in-charge regarding to your application, they always saying that you must be residing here in Japan for interview. Actually this is not always true. This is their one way of refusing your application since you are not capable on the position you applied for and mostly because you can't communicate with them in Japanese.

   

Now, just saying or writing in your resume that you know Japanese language is not enough. It is because that Japanese language is so broad that you must learn the basic of it. Just learning it by communicating to your friends, or communicating to someone inside a bar or a club is not enough. Maybe your conversation skill may improve but not as a whole. And besides, conversation & vocabulary use when you are in a club or bar is entirely different when you are making a conversation inside the office. So it is advisable that you should learn it from the very basic, one by one, step by step till you master it all.

The advantage of having a skill to speak Japanese language is so distinguishable here. At the time you start working, since you can communicate with them, building some trust and working relation is easy. Receiving and passing of information between you, your officemate and your customer will be smooth. Learning the procedure on the work assign to you will be easy, and learning new skills from books can be done anytime and anywhere. Not only inside your office or in your working environment, but also living here in Japan will be quite easy for you. You will find living here is enjoyable.

Starting to learn Japanese language will be boring and very difficult at the beginning. I think everyone who knows Japanese language right now experienced this. It is because you will know that there are lot of things to learn and memorize. I think its true when you compare Japanese language to English language. There are HIRAGANA, KATAKANA and KANJI characters to master. You must master its reading and writing first before moving to more higher level like sentence construction. While learning Japanese language, you must also learn some of their customs, culture and tradition. Japanese culture is so rich that you may find it very interesting to learn.

As a conclusion, learning Japanese language is so tough but the thing you will gain after that endeavor will be so much. So it is on your decision. How long you will learn it or master it will depend on the effort and time you will exert on it. Some people may find it easy to learn because they love to learn new things or languages, and some people find it difficult because they learning it because there is a need to learn it. As other say, when you are learning new things: "LEARN IT BY HEART". Well, I guess that will be the best advise I can give also.

WHAT IS JLPT?
Japanese Language Proficiency Test(JLPT) which is organized by Japan Educational Exchange & Services(JEES) is the most known Japanese language examination that gain reputation around the world. JLPT examination is open to all foreigner whose mother language is not Japanese. JLPT is an examination wherein your Japanese language skill will be tested and the host will give you official capacity to deal with Japanese language once you passed it. JLPT was started on 1984 and conducted at 15 countries with almost 7,000 examiners only. But it was gradually increase, in 2005 JLPT was conducted on 50 countries with almost 350,000 examiners.

The JLPT comes in 4 levels. JLPT LEVEL 1 is the most difficult. JLPT is conducted once in a year only within the month of December. Lot of foreigners try to take the JLPT examination in Japan. Outside Japan country, Korea, China & Taiwan have the most examiners of JLPT every year.

For you to pass the JLPT LEVEL 1 examination, a total of 900H or more in studying Japanese language is necessary. JLPT LEVEL 1 is very important if you want to totally mingle in Japanese society. For JLPT LEVEL 2, a total of 600H or more, or completion of intermediate Japanese course is necessary. You are able to communicate, read and write Japanese language. For JLPT LEVEL 3, a study of Japanese language for almost 300H or finish the beginners Japanese course is necessary. You are able to communicate, read and write basic Japanese language which are only important on your daily life here in Japan. For JLPT LEVEL 4, an almost 150H of studying Japanese language is necessary. You are able to speak simple Japanese language and greetings and phrases only. Finished half of the beginners Japanese course.

For the contents of JLPT examination, contents in all JLPT level is the same. Only the degree of difficulty is different. Word vocabulary section or MOJI GOI has a total of 100 points, listening comprehension or CHOUKAI has also 100 points, sentence construction and reading comprehension or DOKKAI & BUNPOU has 200 points, that makes a total of 400 points. For JLPT LEVEL 1, you must get a 280 points (70%) in order to pass it. And for other levels, 240 points (60%) is necessary to pass it.

All questions in JLPT are in multiple choice type. You have to select only the answer that best suit the question.