This wednesday i’ll be journeying to the University of Queensland campus at St. Lucia to attend a Japanese placement interview.  I requested (and… actually I’ve been approved for) Japanese 3 – which is essentially the beginning of the 3rd year of Japanese language studies at UQ.  That’s all really meaningless to me and I suppose the studies I have taken part in are meaningless to the Japanese language faculty which is why I’m attending this interview to figure out if this really is the right level for me.

I haven’t really studied or prepared for it yet.  I did a bit of study over the December-January New Zealand trip but, oddly enough, I haven’t found time to study now – although, that has to be an excuse because I reckon there was time for it.

Whenever I do study Japanese I surprise myself with what I already know AND how quickly I relearn stuff that i’ve forgotten. I still kinda think Japanese 3 will be the right level though…  But i don’t really have my heart set on any particular level because essentially the numbers tacked on the end of the class are irrelevant – i’m more particular about being placed correctly in a way that I will be able to relearn and review a bunch of the stuff I’ve already covered as well as push on and learn more.

Ok so now that I’ve attended classes for a good chunk of my semester, I’m thinkin i’ma write a detailed post about my classes and how Kansai Gaidai structures them.

Japanese classes are held in the morning, 4 x 50 minute periods between 9am and 1pm (9:00-9:50, 10:00-10:50 etc.).  English classes are held in the afternoon, 3 x 80 minute classes between 1pm and 5:20pm (some exceptions such as the Sumi-e class which I think is 2 hours long).  Also if we miss 30% of our classes for either subject – FAIL!

Spoken Japanese Class (Level 2):

Spoken Japanese class began as my scariest subject because, quite simply, i had to speak Japanese.  A lot.  My teacher is Naito-sensei, she’s a lovely lady who really assists the learning environment by never making you feel like a douche but always egging you on till you get the right answer, no matter how long it takes.  Which at first is daunting and even annoying because it might feel like she’s continually badgering you even when you don’t know the answer, but in the end it DOES help you learn, and she does it in a nice enough way.  Oh and yes, i’ll re-iterate – you WILL be speaking Japanese, no hiding, no flying under the radar.

The class size is only about 13 people or so (in my class) and she always asks you question using new & old grammar structures and vocab to then coax you into understanding and replying using similar new and old grammar structures whilst telling her about your weekend, your plans, or if you are busy this afternoon.