asian language placement exams

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
1

<p>i understand that these are held at the beginning of the school year, is that correct?</p>

<p>Well, I was wondering how hard it is to place into a higher level language class.</p>

<p>Was the Chinese test difficult for any Cantonese speakers? I have studied Chinese (but in Cantonese) for more than 10 years (though at a second-rate private school), and my writing and reading levels are probably those of a 5th grader's in China. I know how to read and write Chinese, but my Mandarin pinyins and listening comprehension is pretty poor. As for the characters on the test, is it simplified or traditional? </p>

<p>As for the Japanese test, is it difficult? I've only studied Japanese in high school, and I really doubt that I ahve the ability to place out of elementary/beginning Japanese. I barely passed the Level 4 (lowest level) Japanese exam- I forget what it's called, but it's like a national Japanese test for foreign speakers; they offer it in la, sf, and some other major cities once a year- How much Japanese do you need to know to place into an intermediate class?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>It shouldn't be too bad. 1-3 would be beginners and intermediate begins at 4. Each course is suppose to be equivalent to one year of high school foreign language. I need to brush up in order to take the exam sometime.</p>

3

<p>Is there a time at orientation that we can take the asian language placement tests?</p>

4

<p>if I have taken a year of elementary Japanese at community college, can I use the transcript to waive the requirement?</p>

5

<p>hmm I just read on the alc website that the exam is only offered in fall and winter.. what do I do if I want to take japan10 over the summer? I registered for the class already.. and there's no instructor to contact.</p>

6

<p>what is the placement exam for?</p>

7

<p>collegeohmy,</p>

<p>You can actually take the placement exam in two different times: beginning of Fall Quarter and beginning of Winter Quarter. However, I only recommend you taking it in Fall unless you're confident in your language abilities in order to skip one or two classes because I believe if you "fail" the Winter Quarter exam, it means that you'll have to take the language from the beginning. Here's what I mean: language classes are divided like this: elementary (course 1,2,3) and intermediate (course 4,5,6). 1&4 are offered in Fall only, 2&5 are offered in Winter only, and 3&6 are offered in Spring only. So if you take the Winter exam and "fail", then that means you only qualify for 1 (if you took the elementary exam) or 4 (if you took the intermediate exam), meaning you won't be able to enroll in it until the next school year (at least that's what I've heard). The elementary and intermediate exams are offered at the same time and date, so you can't take both and see which ones suit you more (although I don't see why anyone would want to take both).</p>

<p>As for the Chinese exam, it'll be offered in both simplified and traditional (you get to choose which one). Since you're a Cantonese speaker (w00t, I'm Cantonese too) and you know a little Mandarin, you have two options: you can take the elementary exam and see how well you do, or you can take the intermediate exam and hopefully you'll be placed in the Chinese course called: "Mandarin for Cantonese speakers" (Chinese 5c/6c). Here's the catch though: Chinese 5c & 6c are offered in the Fall and Winter quarters respectively (so you probably should take the exam in the fall); also, I didn't take the intermediate exam but from what people told me, it was quite hard. I only recommend you take the intermediate exam if you feel that your reading and writing ability is quite superb. Mines wasn't, so I took the elementary exam, and I qualify for Chinese 2A (A = advance. It is for people who speak Mandarin but don't know how to read and write). The elementary exam didn't really focus on pinyin, just character recognition and you're ability to write a short essay. There's a oral questionaire at the end, but the proctor only ask you simple questions like "Why are you taking Chinese? How well do you rate your knowledge in Chinese? etc" Nothing too fancy, they just want to get a feel of your Mandarin abilities. I learned a bit of Mandarin from high school, and I did attend Cantonese Chinese school too, so I guess that's how I got into the A series. I'll tell you this: if your reading/writing is as good as it seems, the elementary level of Chinese will be pretty easy. All you really need to work on will be the speaking and listening. It's not that hard, and you'll probably not fret over memorizing characters for the test and stuff since you're likely to already know most of the characters that are introduced. But if you don't want to bore yourself in the elementary series and want a challenge, I'd say just take the intermediate test. If the worse comes to worse and you fail, you can just enroll in Chinese 1 or 1A. There's pretty much similar, except in the A series, you go through each chapter faster, hence you learn more.</p>

<p>As for Japanese exam, sorry, I can't help you there. All I know is there isn't a A series for Japanese course. I heard that the Japanese exam wasn't too bad, but you'll still need to be pretty decent with your Japanese in order to be placed in the intermediate series.</p>

<p>Whatever your decision is, good luck.</p>

8

<p>Oh wait, my mistake. If you "fail" the Winter exam, you are not guarenteed to be placed into 4; they might recommend you to take the elementary series instead.</p>

9

<p>The Japanese placement test is reasonably difficult, and fairly accurate in where it places people. I had two semesters of Japanese and placed into J4, where I proceeded quite comfortably. </p>

<p>collegeohmy,</p>

<p>You mean the 日本語能力試験？　If so, a level 4 should be about right for J4 or so. That means you have 100 kanji, all the kana, and a fair vocabulary. If so, you'd be a bit challenged in 4, but I imagine that you'd get by.</p>