The Aptitude Test Redux

 Japan, Japanese Language  Comments Off on The Aptitude Test Redux
Dec 072011
 

Today we had the 実力 じつりょく jitsuryoku or aptitude test. It was the same test I took when I first got here. It’s a good chance to see how far I’ve really come since I got here. As always, though, it’s long, and makes my brain hurt.

In JBPP, we took more phone messages.

After that, I met up with S-buchou to talk about calligraphy over tea. It was a lot of fun. He showed me some of his work, and gave me a piece he did of a peacock. I really appreciated that. It’s a lovely piece.

He also gave me the address of the brush shop in Toyohashi I need to go to, and told me to tell the owner that he sent me. Cool.

He also gave me some great advice about calligraphy in general. He thinks I shouldn’t worry so much over getting the forms right, since he thinks I have those down pretty much, and I should try to be more bold and adventurous in my calligraphy.

I can do that!

Not to Brag, But I Think I Did Well on My Tests…

 Japan, Japanese Language  Comments Off on Not to Brag, But I Think I Did Well on My Tests…
Nov 172011
 

The writing and conversation exams weren’t as bad as I thought they would be. It turned out that we could use what we had written beforehand and just copy everything over in class. I’m glad K-san pointed that out to me, or else I would have been totally screwed.

Part of the whole Yamasa experience is learning how they do things here. There’s so much they do here that’s just not how I’m used to doing things, and sometimes the details that everyone just sort of “knows” can slip by a newbie like me.

I really have to ask even more questions than I normally ask!

Fortunately, the conversation exam was pretty much the same as we had practiced in class. I decided to raise the politeness level a bit, and use some of the business Japanese knowledge I have picked up here. I made a couple of mistakes, but overall I think I did okay.

Regardless of test scores, I know that my speaking and writing ability have improved a great deal over the last month of class. Class here is intense, and every day feels like a week of Japanese compared to when I took it in grad school. I wish I had more time and money to spend more than just three months here, but that’s life. I’m trying to wring as much out of this experience as I can, both in polishing my Japanese, gaining marketable skills, and enjoying being here.

One of the lessons I have learned many times over in life is to enjoy things while I can, because I can never take for granted that “Oh, it’ll always be there, so I can just go back.” Sadly, the world is not that predictable.

There’s a Right and a Wrong Way To Open a Door.

Today’s JBPP class was on “How to Conduct Yourself in a Job Interview.”

There’s a whole pile of social knowledge tied into how to open doors, when and where to bow, how to sit, where to put your hands, where to look, all of that. It’s somewhat stressful, because there’s so much to keep straight without one’s head exploding.

Yes, there is a right way to open a door, and a wrong way to do it, down to the number of times you knock. Even approaching and sitting down in the interviewee’s chair is a task that is fraught with peril. For example, never, ever, stand to the right of the chair. Why? Because it implies that you think you’re better than the company, which is represented by the chair.

I had no clue.

Also, never sit back in the chair. You have to sit on the edge of your seat. I’m not sure exactly why– I think it has to do with a feeling that if you sit back in the seat, you think you’re hot stuff, and an interview is not some place to get comfortable and show off. You need to show a certain amount of respect with your body language, and using the chair back does not convey that to Japanese interviewers.

You’re also not supposed to show off. In the US, interviewers expect a certain amount of self-marketing, to the point where job-seekers will point out how often they’ve been indispensable to every organization they’ve worked with. (In which case, why are they unemployed?)

In Japan, you have to walk a really careful line about that, because the culture here frowns on boasting, and loves the whole modesty thing, even if it’s false modesty. As my mother would say, “It’s just not done.” Germans and Japanese have a lot in common that way.

I imagine it’s going to take me a while to figure out how to walk that tightrope.

ZigZag Heals All Wounds

In the evening, I went to ZigZag again for dinner, socializing, and the cheapest Guinness stout in all of Japan. It’s one of my favorite places to kick back and relax.

Yay, ZigZag!

Tested!

 Japan, Japanese Language  Comments Off on Tested!
Nov 042011
 

Today was my first big test in the main class. There was a listening portion and a grammar portion, and it felt like a mini-JLPT. We had a lot of review coming into the test, and as I said earlier, I went so far as to start a grammar outline (just like I did in law school), but I don’t know how much it helped me.

I also found out about the bread truck lady who comes by on Fridays. She has a truck full of delicious bread, and she sells it out of the back of the truck around 11 am at Yamasa. I bought some sandwiches and some other sweet bread for dessert later on.

It was delicious.

I had a quiz in my N1 class, too. I’m doing pretty well in there, I think. It’s hard.

In JBPP we started to learn how to write Japanese resumes, or 履歴書 (りれきしょ, rirekisho). It’s interesting to me, because there’s less messing around with the format like we have to do in the US. I think I prefer it to writing resumes for US firms, because I’m never sure how far I should go with my design. Then again, the Japanese resume format is pretty strict, but there are parts where you have to write statements about yourself where you can individualize things. I’ll probably have more to say about it when I have more experience with it.

My 外 Becomes 内 When I’m Dealing With Another 外 Group.

We also talked about 内 (うち, uchi) and 外 (そと, soto). 内 is your in-group, be it your friends, family, or your company when you’re visiting another company. 外 are the people not in your in-group. So for business purposes, your clients are 外, and are to be treated as people to be respected. So you use respectful language to them, and not only humble language about yourself, but also your in-group, or 内, in this case your company. So while you might be polite to your boss when you’re in the office, you will use humble language when referring to the same boss when you’re confronted with a client.

We also learned about writing about the weather and the seasons. It’s big here, even in business letters/e-mail. You need to use the right phrase for the early part of November. One would not use the phrase for the end of November, I think. We got a list of all kinds of phrases to use.

This blog is protected by Dave\'s Spam Karma 2: 3159 Spams eaten and counting...