Japanese Studies monbukagakusho questions

[pigeon]

I'm scheduled for an interview and Japanese exam next week. However, I was looking at the exam from 2007 at the studyjapan website, and it seems impossible (I've only been studying Japanese for 2 years). I'm wondering if it's just an exam to measure my abilities, or if they want someone who's nearly fluent... or maybe I'm just looking at the wrong exam?

I really want this scholarship, so any tips are appreciated

 

[Nall-ohki]

It's to place you. It'll help to do well, but it's not required.

I received it circa 1999 after 1/2 year of study.

 

[rick7115]

not that difficult i would say.(even if it really is, don't worry coz everyone will be **** as well lol) and it depends on how good your japanese is, not how long you've been studying.
i'd passed the written exam and interview 2 weeks ago, but the result of the final screening examination won't be out till august... sigh...

 

[Charles Barkley]

Not to be discouraging, and maybe this was just an anomalous experience, but most of the Japanese studies scholarship students who lived at my dorm were already fluent and the majority had already passed level 1 of the JLPT. It made me wonder why they gave the scholarship to people who were already capable of working at a Japanese company and surely were in greater need of real-world practice than additional study.

But who knows.

ETA: And this was this past year, btw.

 

[pigeon]

Not to be discouraging, and maybe this was just an anomalous experience, but most of the Japanese studies scholarship students who lived at my dorm were already fluent and the majority had already passed level 1 of the JLPT. It made me wonder why they gave the scholarship to people who were already capable of working at a Japanese company and surely were in greater need of real-world practice than additional study.

But who knows.

ETA: And this was this past year, btw.

Yeah, that's why I was so confused. I've been doing my research regarding the interview, though, so hopefully I'll kick butt in that aspect.


Also, on my application, I only put TUFS as the school I wanted to go to. If they ask me if I'm considering any others, I was thinking of saying something along the lines of "since I can only learn so much in a classroom, I think just being in Japan will help me immensely, so I have no preference as to which school I attend." Would this help me (since they could send me somewhere that not a lot of people go to as a first choice), or would they think that I just don't care?

 

[Charles Barkley]

Yeah, that's why I was so confused. I've been doing my research regarding the interview, though, so hopefully I'll kick butt in that aspect.


Also, on my application, I only put TUFS as the school I wanted to go to. If they ask me if I'm considering any others, I was thinking of saying something along the lines of "since I can only learn so much in a classroom, I think just being in Japan will help me immensely, so I have no preference as to which school I attend." Would this help me (since they could send me somewhere that not a lot of people go to as a first choice), or would they think that I just don't care?

If I were you I would slightly modify that and say something to the effect of:

"My goal is to take full advantage of all the opportunities to practice my Japanese in the real world outside of the classroom, so I am confident that I would succeed no matter which school I am placed at. However, after thoroughly researching different schools I have concluded that ____ is the best school for me because...."

You will probably look better if you have a school in mind because it will show you put in more effort and will give them a more tangible idea of what your plan is. If you yourself don't have a preference that you are enthusiastic about and that they will see you are enthusiastic about, the worst thing you could do, however, would be to pick a school, give some lame reasons, and then probably fumble about when they ask you follow up questions.

Build your narrative for why you should be the one to go, why it will benefit you, and why it will benefit your school and perhaps, one day, even the Japanese government.

A detailed, believable, narrative that they will want to buy into and that you can deliver with confidence--that will give you the best opportunity to receive the scholarship.

 

[pigeon]

Thanks for the help everyone
Unfortunately, about 75% of the interview was in Japanese, and I was so nervous that I wasn't really able to say anything more complicated than 日本人の友達を作りたいです, and all the (English) preparation I did was mostly useless.

Oh well, it was a good experience!

 

[Charles Barkley]

窶堋ｨ窶堙や?堋ｩ窶堙ｪ窶堋ｳ窶堙懌?堙??堋ｷﾂ。

窶堋ｱ窶堙ｪ窶堋ｩ窶堙ｧ窶堋､窶堙懌?堋ｭﾂ行窶堋ｭ窶堙??堋｢窶堋｢窶堙仰。