Is anyone doing Japanese?

[giantsushi]

Hi, I can hardly find anyone doing Japanese B.

I used to do SL Japanese (B) at my old school because HL was not offered.

In the new school I'm going to, HL is offered and i will be taking it (I'm taking 4 high levels oh my gosh)

And I was wondering if ANYONE here does HL jap...? How difficult is it?

I've recently took the JLPT (japanese language proficiency test) N3 and is planning to take N2 in either december this year or july next year.If I am at that level, would I be okay?

Thanks

[Sandwich]

HL of any language at B is usually not much above SL of a B language. You just need to have a slightly wider vocabulary and of course write slightly longer essays -- but then you have so many more lessons a week that it's not too hard

[giantsushi]

wonderful i am now de-stressed

[faith]

hey giantsushi, I only do Japanese B SL but I do have a friend who wanted to do Japanese B HL. She had to give it up because it turned out she could only sit the exam in May, which wouldn't give her enough time to prepare. (I'm from Australia)

I notice that you are from New Zealand, so perhaps the same thing might apply to you, unless they have changed the rules since last year. Perhaps you should find out more about it with your school.

[giantsushi]

hey giantsushi, I only do Japanese B SL but I do have a friend who wanted to do Japanese B HL. She had to give it up because it turned out she could only sit the exam in May, which wouldn't give her enough time to prepare. (I'm from Australia)

I notice that you are from New Zealand, so perhaps the same thing might apply to you, unless they have changed the rules since last year. Perhaps you should find out more about it with your school.

Hey thats a very useful info: got me thinking

but then I am not so worried because my school is slightly different from other schools around NZ (and i presume in Aussie too), and my school starts in July. So we end our year in June.. So I will still have full time to prepare for it I guess (well i hope so)

but thanks anyways, that was really worth considering over !!

[I`m Potato]

I really want to do Japanese B HL, but my school doesn't offer it.

I was thinking of self-studying and taking it in the IB, but I guess that's not a possible option?

Self-studying is only available in A1 languages, right?

[sweetnsimple786]

I was under the impression that you could self-study at any level, in any normal subject.

[giantsushi]

I really want to do Japanese B HL, but my school doesn't offer it.

I was thinking of self-studying and taking it in the IB, but I guess that's not a possible option?

Self-studying is only available in A1 languages, right?

I'm not sure about your school, but ususally you're allowed to self study and take the exam alone...

it really depends on the school

In my old school, if anyone wanted to do a language that was not offered, then they were allowed to self study and the school would test that student to see if they are capable of doing the IB by self studying without school support

[I`m Potato]

Who is going to supervise/assess the orals if you were to study a Group 2 subject by yourself?

I talked to my IB Cordinator, and I enquired whether I could just self-study for Japanese B HL since I have a background in learning the language, but she was like you must get an instructor who can offer you proper 240 hours of teaching plus report to the school with a full comprehensive teaching plan.

Then I freaked out about all the hassle and just said, forget it.

And so, now I am doing Mandarin B HL. :\

*sigh*

[sweetnsimple786]

Right about the orals, but you still have the same problem with Group 1 subjects. One of our members here goes by Bishup and I believe he's self-studying one or two courses, so he might have a few pointers or might tell you that it is too much hassle, like you said. You could try sending him a PM =)

[I`m Potato]

Well I guess it's too late for me to start any new courses since I'm May 2011 candidate.

Thanks for the advice anyway! :-)

[Bishup]

If you really want to do it it's not too late, they register exam subjects in November I think so you can change before then, it's just highly unexpected for most people to do so.

[I`m Potato]

So what happens to the orals, then?

[Bishup]

The orals you redo if you've already done them. You'd need someone to have a tape recorder and show the questions so that you can answer them. The person holding the tape recorder will probably not be japanese, and then your tape just get's sent off. Are you japanese by the way?

Edited July 17, 2010 by sweetnsimple786
Don't use textspeak!

[I`m Potato]

The orals you redo if you've already done them. You'd need someone to have a tape recorder and show the questions so that you can answer them. The person holding the tape recorder will probably not be japanese, and then your tape just get's sent off. Are you japanese by the way?

I am half Japanese, but I did not have any formal Japanese education as I was not born there, so I just kind of built up my knowledge of the language via self-study, experience living in Japan and from engaging with the Japanese culture etc. I can read fine but I just cannot write and talk in Japanese. :\

Anyway, how are the questions chosen then if there is no one who knows Japanese?

[linkin_roy]

The orals you redo if you've already done them. You'd need someone to have a tape recorder and show the questions so that you can answer them. The person holding the tape recorder will probably not be japanese, and then your tape just get's sent off. Are you japanese by the way?

I am half Japanese, but I did not have any formal Japanese education as I was not born there, so I just kind of built up my knowledge of the language via self-study, experience living in Japan and from engaging with the Japanese culture etc. I can read fine but I just cannot write and talk in Japanese. :\

Anyway, how are the questions chosen then if there is no one who knows Japanese?

I assume the Ib sends them one?

I have no idea, I take japanese A2 HL btw

[I`m Potato]

But I thought the IBO only supports self-taught candidates for Language A1? So I'm doubtful that they will provide assistance to 'self-taught' candidates for Group 2 subjects because they don't recognize such a system.

Btw, is Japanese A2 fun? My friend's doing it as well and it seems fun. x)

Edited January 7, 2011 by imopotato

[Sam-chan]

Well, I'm in HL Japanese B.

It doesn't seem to much more difficult than the SL Students. Although, we learn a bit more kanji than the SL Students do.

[vilankz]

I'm taking HL Japaense B tomorrow, and I always wondered why on the only grade boundaries I found for Japanese B HL it was 91+ to get a 7 and for most Language B HL's it's something like 80-88+ to get a 7

Anyways, HL Japanese B, you have about 200 more kanji you need to know and have to use critical thinking a lot more. The other thing is that for the orals it's harder to get a good score because you have to be really, really, REALLY spontaneous and natural, and for paper II you have to use a lot more kanji than paper I to get a 7. my friend's fluent because his family's Japanese and he speaks really well, but never used enough kanji in his paper II &his paper I wasn't as high as it coulda been if he knew more kanji. But anyways, he ended up getting a 6 on the exam overall. (he took the test last year)

but my other friend who went to Japanese school (Saturdays) for 11 years took the exam and got a 7 (though, i guess that's to be expected since he learned math and all that jazz in Japanese at his school as well..)

[I`m Potato]

The B HL course is defined by the IB as suitable/recommended for students who are living in a community where the language is used and/or who had at least 6-7 years of prior learning. So the level of the paper is designed to accommodate the level of which you are expected to have at least 6-7 years of prior Japanese language knowledge. And I'd say in 6-7 years (minimum) of studying Japanese, one would be very likely to study ample amount of kanjis in order to tackle the paper for HL.

Anyway, it's normal to see B HL boundaries going up as high as 91-100 for a 7. This is the case for Mandarin B and Russian B HL for May 2010... So I don't see why not Japanese. The reason being, in my opinion, is that because more and more schools are allowing near-native (or native) speakers/users of the language to take the B HL instead of having the trouble to teach them A2 (the course is being terminated from 2013) or A1 (no native-speaker teacher qualified to teach in the school). That's why the only solution to combat this problem is that the IB would raise the boundaries in order to make it a 'fair test' of the abilities of near-native/native speakers. It's quite unfair for the genuine B HL students, though I'd have to agree.