Level 2; and the kanji for poo!

So my JLPT results never did arrive. I guess they got lost on some clerk's desk or wedged under a conveyor belt somewhere between here and Tokyo. None too eager to make an international call, I asked Yoshie to ring up the Test Center and find out what the deal was. The guy she spoke to said they mailed my test results out, but could remail them if they never arrived. So we had them sent to Yoshie's place and they arrived just last week.

I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but I passed, and now I am officially JLPT N2, which I'm sure is more useful in terms of being able to put it on my resume than anything else. Now I must continue to battle to keep my Japanese up! Well, no other way than using it as much as I can...

I'm going to take this opportunity to transition into poop. Yup. I noticed today that Yahoo! Japan has an article up about pandas; specifically why they have the bowels of a carnivore yet 99% of their diet is bamboo and bamboo grass.

Aren't you glad I didn't go with a picture of poo?

Now I'm not a huge panda guy (nor dolphins nor penguins; so sorry) but this did pique my interest, so I had a look. And I'm glad I did. Not because I found out why they don't eat meat (ultimately the article says they don't know why), but because I got to see the kanji for feces, which I don't see all that often. It kind of strikes me as one of those kanji you and your buddies might try to learn as a freshman in college studying the language, because wouldn't it be funny to know the kanji for "shit."

As you may be aware, くそ is an oft-used expletive that's comparable to "crap," "shit," or "damn" in English. The more clinical ふん, "excrement" or "droppings," shares the same kanji:

糞 (くそ,ふん)

Apparently this is also the kanji for King Richard III? I guess because "third" rhymes with "turd?" Anyway, yes...the kanji for poop. Another grand offering to my readers.

Let's Enjoy Japanese: The JLPT!

December is that time of the year again - the most wonderful time. Christmas? Oh yeah, uh...that, too.

Photo taken with my new phone!

I kid, I kid. December is time for the winter sitting of the JLPT, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, or 日本語能力試験. Many of you are quite familiar with it, I'm sure, but for those who aren't, it's basically the test you take to prove your Japanese ability level. There was also a business Japanese test, but I heard somewhere that it's being discontinued...

The JLPT was recently changed. It used to be 4 levels, with 1 being the most proficient (fluent) and 4 being the most basic (beginner). In 2007, I think it was, I passed the old level 3, which was lower intermediate, I suppose. The brand-spanking new version has 5 levels, with N1 and N2 being mostly the same as before. The old 3 and 4 were bumped back to N4 and N5, and they added a new level, which is the new N3. Apparently the jump from 3 to 2 was considerable.

Anyhoo, I'm taking the N2 in early December. I'm not uber confident, but if I hit the books for the next couple months I think I have a shot. After all, I've come a long way since passing the old 3 (by the skin of my teeth). I mean a long, long way. Anyway, enough about me. For those of you who may also be preparing, here are some resources (I haven't really explored them all thoroughly, but they look good, anyway):

The JLPT Study Page - Because it's official. The lists don't seem very useful to me, but has some free sample questions you can check out.

The JLPT Study Forum - All manner of links, advice, and FAQ to be found, like gems waiting to be excavated from a quarry of, uh...Japanese...uh...language rocks?

For your viewing and listening pleasure:

My Soju - Ignore all the other stuff - the J-dramas and movies are what you want to work on your listening skills.

As for something more practical, probably best for those studying for the N1, some news sites with streaming videos might serve well:

TBS
Yomiuri
FNN-news
Channel J

And for those of you who don't want to be chained to a screen, I believe these stories can be downloaded to an mp3 player:

Japanese Log

Update (10/6/10): AJATT also looks to have a good Japanese study resource list.

Last, this isn't exactly JLPT-related, but looks like it could be an interesting thing to participate in. Perhaps pique your kanji interest a bit: KRAE. Saw the link originally on beNippon, so a hat-tip to David. Hopefully the registration link will be up one of these days!

So that's it for now. Have any advice, questions, or anecdotes about the JLPT? Sound off in the comments


Update: I may want to resurface this post from time to time with updates to the listed resources. Anyone know if there's a way to keep Blogger posts near the top of the page without reposting or adjusting the post date?