One of the reasons I came to Japan was so I could continue to learn Japanese and study it in an immersion setting. I came here with three years of language courses under my belt and decided I wouldn't be leaving here until I can actually say "I speak Japanese" and mean it. I'm planning to stay here for a minimum of two years so the least I could do is come out with a second language.

Studying a second language in an immersion setting is a lot different than learning in the classroom. Instead of reading textbooks and doing homework, my textbooks are street signs, menus, and food labels. My homework is finding a way to communicate with my kids in a foreign language without getting lost in translation. I simply have to step outside my door and I am in my Japanese classroom. The main difference between the classroom and immersion, however, is motivation. In school, the motivation was ultimately to learn a second language, but also the relentless push to finish homework before deadlines or to study and do well on tests. Its easy to check on your progress this way but outside a structured classroom, everything is not so streamlined.

I realized this really quickly when I first arrived here in Japan. Sure, I had three years of Japanese language background, but it wasn't at the point where I could hold an extended conversation with a Japanese person. I knew a lot of grammar and vocabulary but I knew if I didn't work to expand on it, I would forget everything and my ability would fizzle out and die. I've heard of JETs who have left Japan after a year or two with worse Japanese than when they came and I wanted to avoid that. What I decided to do to give myself motivation was to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT).

The JLPT is a standardized test held once a year in December which tests for Japanese reading and listening skills. I took the easiest level, 4kyu, last year. I did well on it since you need around a year of study (or 4 months if you study really hard..) to pass it and I had been studying for over two and a half years by then. This year I decided to go up another level and write 3kyu which requires around 2-3 years of study. The application deadline was way back in mid-September but I knew I would be writing it so I sent in my application soon after I got here. I received my little test voucher in the mail about a few weeks ago and the test itself was held today.

There were quite a few JETs writing the JLPT ranging from 4kyu to 2kyu (there is also an 1kyu level but it's pretty damn tough.. even for native Japanese) so we all gathered in Sapporo this weekend to write it. I stayed at Callie's place with two other JETs and we got up early this morning to get to make sure we got to the test site with plenty of time to spare. Before we went in, we had a short camera interview with some students from Callie's High School who are making a documentary about her Japanese-learning experience. When I got into the room which held about 30 people, I chatted with a few other JETs who were also taking 3kyu before settling down for the start of the test. I had studied steadily for the past two months or so and pretty heavily in the weeks leading up to the test so I wasn't feeling nervous at all. I was as prepared as I was ever gonna be.

Now if you noticed from the picture about the test times, we were given around an hour for each section. For example, we were allotted 50 minutes for the writing/vocabulary section but, curiously enough, we were only given 35 minutes on the actual test! This is because they have a very long and formal procedure before and after the test period. There were three officials in the room with us (who barely talked at all) and the instructions (in Japanese) were given by a pre-recorded voice over a loudspeaker at the front of the room. First, they explained the penalty system which is similar to soccer games where a yellow card means your given a warning and a red card means you're disqualified from the test (they actually had yellow and red cards). Then they handed out our answer sheets and test booklets in order of registration number and then checked our faces against the images on our vouchers. Then there was a random 5-10 minute wait before the voice over the loudspeaker would say "Hajimemasu" which was the signal to begin. At the end of the test the voice would say "Jikan desu" and tell us to put our pencils down. Then the officials would come and collect all of our answer sheets and booklets before we were allowed to leave the room. They repeated this procedure for each of the three sections so it was pretty slow and monotonous. At one point, I laid my head down on my desk to nap while waiting for the test to start and the lady official had to wake me up to check my face against the voucher.

Eventually, it was all done and over with. I felt pretty confident about most of my answers so I'm sure I did fine. During the breaks I talked with the others about the questions which helped to confirm how well I did on the test. It was a long and exhausting day but it was well worth it. Looking back in retrospect, studying for this test has definitely improved my Japanese since when I first arrived. I also believe that regardless of how well I did on the test, I still put in the effort to study and constantly improve myself and I can already see the results in my everyday life. To keep my motivation going, my next goal is to write 2kyu next December. Passing 2kyu is one of the defining marks of being fluent in Japanese and lots of companies recognize a person with JLPT 2kyu to be proficient enough to work in Japan. That's my holy grail for next year.

I'm looking forward to the day I can smash down the language barrier and not have to rely on someone else or a dictionary to navigate my way around this country. Until then, I'll continue to study at my own pace and return back to my normal, steady life in Japan - back to my classroom.