Should I take AP Japanese?

<p>I'm thinking about taking the AP Japanese test, but I had some doubts about whether I should take it or not. </p>

<p>Let me explain. I'm half-Japanese and I've been learning Japanese from a young age. However, I never managed to learn it fluently, and I've been learning on and off for the past few years. This year, I took Japanese 4, the highest level of Japanese at my school, and I've found it's fairly easy. </p>

<p>So, should I take the AP test? It might seem cheap to some people to take the AP for a language one learned at a young age. </p>

<p>I also have the same situation with German, another language I speak. I also learned it at a young age, but my German is even worse than my Japanese. I also wonder if should take the AP German test. </p>

<p>Some of you might wonder why I won't take another language entirely. I feel that it would be far better if I knew a small amount of languages very well rather than a knowing a little bit in a whole bunch of languages.</p>

<p>hell yeah dude! go for it! its great that you're USING what you know and taking a test on it. its not cheap, its being smart.</p>

<p>Take a practice test?</p>

<p>yeah, go on the collegeboard website and take a look at the free response questions from last year.</p>

<p><a href="http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_japanese_lang_frq.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_japanese_lang_frq.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>or just click that, and see how you do.</p>

<p>if you do ok, i dont see why you shouldnt take the test.</p>

<p>last year, i took the chinese test, and (assuming its similar to the japanese test) it was the funnest ap test ive ever taken in my life, omg. cuz since you get to do it on the computer, as long as you know how to do everything, it ends up being a really fun experience, not to mention that you dont have to bother with all those stupid ap labels and stuff. so go for it man.</p>

<p>I'd suggest you to take the AP japanese test instead of the german one. The Japanese test is relatively new compared to the German one, and if your speaking level is close to native it should be fine for you. Speaking is a major part of this test because they actually record your voice into the computer (which is how they administer the test). Reading and writing are too--except since it's on a computer you can type in the words just by thinking phonetically (I think=)) Have you taken the japanese SAT II test before?? You can see the sample test on the website. It is MUCH more easy compared to the AP japanese test.</p>

<p>My situation is a bit different from yours--chinese is my 2nd language and I'm completely fluent, but japanese is my 3rd and I've heard it since I was young and learned it off and on--I'm not that fluent but if I studied on my own I could probably pull off the AP. So I'm planning on taking the SAT II Japanese test and the AP Chinese test, just to be safe. I think you should just focus on taking one language AP--that way you can prepare for it in depth, and besides--you only need 1 of those foreign language credits for college right?? Plz correct me if I'm wrong.</p>

<p>Hopefully this post has been of help--and at least hasn't confused you=)</p>

<p>Whoa lol. If you continue learning them and go into engineering, you'd be one of the most valuable linguistics members on the team.</p>

<p>I suggest taking a practice exam for both to see how well you do. You don't need to be fluent; remember, AP courses are just freshmen/sophomore college courses, they won't test you on technical documents written in the native tongue.</p>

<p>Take it from me - I was a student who took Spanish up to the third level, then refused to take AP. The AP requirements for curriculum are extremely broad and far-reaching that a third or fourth year language class is unlikely to cover even the smallest minimum of what the AP covers. I know this because many of my friends who did take Spanish III did badly on the AP. The one guy who did well (a 4) studied 2 hours everyday 3 MONTHS BEFORE the AP test. Given, he wasn't a native speaker at all, but still. Foreign language AP exams are nothing like the classes in high school. They are far more in-depth and test almost anything; for someone who does not speak the language, practice the language, or read/write it regularly, it may prove to be a challenge.</p>

<p>dude just take it. its hecka fun man.</p>

<p>@hurt - since chinese and japanese are considered harder, they only test up to third or fourth semester equivalents rather than in spanish which tests up to sixth semester equivalents, so for ap chinese/japanese youre still in the sentence formulating stage of language learning lol.</p>

<p>lol, i took the spanish test last year, and heck <em>shivers</em> that outsourcing essay was intense. i mean, if you just take a look at the free response questions of the japanese and chinese test, youll see its so easy, and that all aspects of it just require you to be able to function. </p>

<p>and besides, the test is ridiculously fun. youll never have another experience like it lol.</p>