Hello!

First of all, I would like to wish everyone well and I hope that everyone on here is having a nice year so far.

By the way, I’m thinking about studying Japanese SL 1/2 next year, however it would be useful for me to know how much work I should be doing, esp. when balancing Japanese with other content-heavy subjects (e.g., Methods, Chem, Bio) when my school doesn’t have a Japanese program or teachers at all. I’ve recently had a big move as well, so I’ve also been getting used to a new education system and environment for the past year.

I’m of non-Japanese background, but taking a look at the past exams I understand the listening sections and the reading passages quite well. I can also read and write all the kanji characters in the Study Design. Of course, VCE isn’t just based on those things, but would 1/2 be a good place to start on?

Thank you so much for reading up to this point, and I look forward to everyone’s replies.

    possible_to_return_passport Hey there!

    possible_to_return_passport I’m thinking about studying Japanese SL 1/2 next year, however it would be useful for me to know how much work I should be doing, esp. when balancing Japanese with other content-heavy subjects (e.g., Methods, Chem, Bio) when my school doesn’t have a Japanese program or teachers at all.

    I don’t think there’s any right or wrong answer as everyone will find it of varying difficulty. However, personally in year 11 (10 years ago now), I took Japanese SL U1/2 along with Eng Lang, Methods, Chem, Economics (all U1/2s) and Psych U3/4 (I also took General Maths U1/2 and Chinese SL U1/2 in year 10). I found it challenging to find enough time for Japanese SL and it suffered a bit. In Year 12, Japanese SL and Chem were my two most time-consuming subjects (by then, I’d dropped Economics in favour of Further and ditched CSL), but they also ended up my worst two subjects according to my raw scores in my ATAR, despite all my efforts. (No regrets though!) So balancing was hard for me, but everyone will find it of different difficulty and thus will find the workload bigger or smaller as a result.

    As to how to balance it with other content-heavy subjects, this depends on your study method and again, this is personal. I never dedicated specific time but did whatever homework and revision was due soonest. When I did have time, I’d dedicate it to my subjects in my weakest areas e.g. Japanese listening tasks were weak so in year 12, I’d spend my first few spare periods doing listening tasks to improve.

    possible_to_return_passport VCE isn’t just based on those things, but would 1/2 be a good place to start on?

    Yes. Japanese, at least in my experience, builds up from the foundations, despite the topics being different. If you’re confident already with it, your main issue will be refining your answers to VCAA standards.

            9 months later

            Hello!,
            I'm in year 11, and currently doing Japanese SL 1&2, however, I'm struggling with the listening part and I've tried everything to practice and build skills for the listening but I still find it hard. I do well on the practice listening online, but I lose track when doing an outcome or in an exam. I have my exams soon and I'm scared I'm going to do really bad on it because of the listening. How else could I practice better for the listening?
            Thanks

              7 days later

              alaa
              Hi!
              I guess what you could do is try doing listening tasks at home or maybe a quiet library perhaps in exam conditions so you can get used to outcomes and exam conditions. Considering that you do well on the practice listening online, I think all you have to do is just get used to the exam/outcome conditions and you're good to go!
              Additionally, to improve with the listening part for Japanese, you could watch out for key words and practice taking notes during the listening components so you can prepare for your outcomes and exams.
              Hopefully that helps! Good luck on your exams too !!!

                2 months later

                alaa

                Hi,

                I think that you should take time to immerse yourself in Japanese-- podcasts focussing on 'Slow Japanese' are abundant on Spotify and YouTube. Listening to JLPT N5/N4 Listening (there are plenty on YouTube) could also be helpful, especially because the length of individual questions are short and functions as a mini-quiz.

                Shadowing can also be quite helpful after you've listened to the same audio clip many times. Repeat exactly what the speaker is saying almost at the same time.

                  6 days later

                  @Lemonade_222 hiii, I saw that you got an incredible score for Japanese Second Language back in 2022. I’m currently taking the 1/2 and will be moving onto the 3/4 next year, I have no Japanese background and picked up the language three years ago. I studied abroad in Japan for a summer holiday and managed to pick up on listening quite well but still am not amazing at VCE style oral. I’ve tried writing as much as I can but I find it super hard to determine whether how I’m writing is enough to achieve a really high score in year 12, as I feel my standards at the school are quite low and the assessor will award really high marks to those who write exceptionally. I really want to achieve a raw 40+ as it’s probably going to save my ATAR . In terms of writing, do you think you could give me an idea of what the top achievers wrote like to gain such high marks? Also, do you have any other tips or suggestions especially since I am not a native speaker? Thank you 🙂

                    20 days later

                    sopiadavo
                    Hiii sorry for the late response,
                    For the oral component (yes it is a bit scary), as long as you have a broad understanding on how to respond to questions it would be pretty okay. I would suggest writing out the questions that you may be asked (for high marks, think of like every scenario possible) and write a response for it and memorise it (non native speakers find this strategy good) so you're confident with the answers that you would respond with. To do this, you can make physical cue cards, Anki flash cards etc and maybe get a friend that also does Japanese to help you simulate the oral component.
                    In terms of writing, I know that for text types such as speeches and articles, high achieving students usually have a small introduction (brief short intro to introduce your topic) and have another 2-3 paragraphs (not too large as well) and a short conclusion at the end to summarise the topic. Also the grammar patterns in the study design would be extremely helpful so that the writing piece can flow nicely and remember to use the kanjis that are listed on the study design as well.
                    I know a lot of non native speakers said that text types such as diaries and letters are their least favourite due to the plain form used, so maybe practice plain form just incase it comes up in the writing response. Do multiple writing tasks so you can find a particular structure/pattern on how to write nicely for each of the assigned text types so you can achieve good marks!!

                    Note: About achieving a raw 40+ , I think the best score to achieve would be around 37-43 because those are the marks that give you the best scaling results 🙂

                    I hope that helps, Feel free to ask more questions if needed!

                        17 days later

                        Lemonade_222

                        hi! just wondering what the oral is like cause mine is in less than 2 weeks. I had a practice oral and found it difficult to include the content I prepared because the assessors may not ask for it 🙁

                            doro
                            Hi!
                            It's been 2 years so I may have forgot the extremely small details of the oral but I'm sure I can help!
                            Yea, it's a bit hard with orals because you really don't know what the assessors are going to ask you. But usually the main topics for general conversation (I'm sure you've gone over them in class) are like family, school, hobbies, why you're studying Japanese etc. From what I know of, the assessors really like going into detail with anything that you have mentioned in your response so try avoiding responses that you're not comfortable with and try to divert the conversation to a topic that you can comfortably talk about.
                            With the discussion component, Im not sure if it's too late but may be worth to start if you haven't, to list out all the possible questions that the assessor could ask (literally every possible question) and have some response to it so you can be prepared when the assessor asks you these questions. Same with general conversation, if the assessors do ask you something that you have not prepared for, divert the topic to something you are confident with. Answer the assessor's question broadly and quickly divert it to the topic you are confident with to ensure that the assessors don't ask you too much about the content you're not confident in.

                            Advice: Try and the lead the conversation/discussion to ensure that you can talk about the topics/content that you're confident in, allowing you to perhaps do well in your oral!!

                            Note: The assessors take turns in asking questions so sometimes the topics may not link to one another :/

                            Hope that helps!!!

                              15 days later
                              2 months later

                              Hello,

                              I'm starting Unit 3/4 Jap SL next year. I've written a sample essay. It would be really helpful if anyone could provide some feedback (what I did right / what I did wrong / how I can improve / how many marks I would get). Thx in advance :3

                              Here is my essay:

                              During the summer holidays, you had a meal with your family at a Japanese restaurant in Melbourne and took the photograph below (a Jap lunch set). Japanese food is known as healthy diet. Write an informative essay that describes Japanese food and explains the benefits of eating a healthy Japanese diet. Your Japanese teacher will read the essay.

                              　　　日本食
                              　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 　名前
                              　夏休みに家族と一緒に「日本の森」というメルボルンにある有名な日本食レストランで食事をしました。ご飯や魚や野菜などを食べて、すごく美味しいと思いました。

                              　日本食は健康的で体にいい食事として知られていますが、なぜでしょうか。日本に住んでいる友人によると、主な理由は日本食には体に悪い材料の代わりに、野菜や魚や米などのヘルシーで新鮮な材料が使われることだそうです。例えば、レストランで食べた料理には栄養の高い材料がたくさん含まれました。

                              　更に、リサーチによると、日本食はとうにょう病や心ぞう病などの病気を防ぐことができると言われています。リサーチは「毎日日本食を食べる人の９０％の方が日本食を食べない人より健康がいい」と言いました。私も日本食を食べれば食べるほど、健康がよくなると思います。

                              　全体的に、日本食はおいしいだけでなく、体にいいです。

                                21 days later

                                T33M0M41N

                                Really good grammar variety and vocab, also good statistics and use of sources

                                Just a few things, I’m no expert but these are just stuff which stood out to me

                                「美味しいと思いました」 rather than saying this, the food being delicious is an opinion, not a thought, it’s a judgment made after eating the food, so I think it’d be better to just say 「美味しかったです」

                                「として 」not exactly sure, but I don’t think that’s the right usage of this here, but double check with someone else. Pretty sure it’s only used for something which is expected or definitely true due to a role etc. e.g 「生徒として制服を着なければなりません」again, not sure

                                「使われることだそうです, you asked your friends, but right now you are saying you “heard it is used”. Also, verb plain form＋そうです is a grammar point, so theことだ is unnecessary. Maybe 使われています is better

                                更に, the kanji is unnecessary

                                Instead of リサーチ, I think you should use the actual word 研究

                                「病気を防ぐことができると言われています。」—>「病気を防げると言われています」 it was a bit to complicated and assessors would find it hard to read

                                「「毎日日本食を食べる人の９０％の方が日本食を食べない人より健康がいい」と言いました。」—> 「「毎日日本食を食べる人の90％は、日本食を食べない人より元気であります」と言われました」

                                Everything else is fine, would just make the conclusion longer, at least 2 sentences.

                                Just remember structure and being concise is most important for assessors. Even if you don’t use complex grammar in every sentence, as long as you include it 3-4 times you will receive higher marks. The last thing assessors want is a tough essay to read.

                                But really good essay,

                                I think it would get you a 7-8/10

                                    24 days later

                                    T33M0M41N
                                    So sorry for the late response,
                                    I have read your essay and would suggest a few things adding on to what the others had suggested:

                                    • Instead of the title being 日本食, preferably a better creative title should be put in place as VCE assessors would be getting sick of seeing the same title over and over again (by using an interesting title, it could give a good impression for the assesors)

                                    • 『日本食は健康的で体にいい食事として知られていますが、なぜでしょうか。』This sentence is phrased a bit weirdly so I suggest rephrasing it to something like 「日本食は健康的で体にいい食事と知られていますが、それはなぜでしょうか。」

                                    • 『主な理由は日本食には』is repetitive with 2 「は」so rephrasing it to something like 「主な理由として、日本食は体に悪い材料。。。」would be better

                                    • 『野菜や魚や米』can be listed as 「野菜、魚や米」

                                    • 『使われることだそうです』-> 「使われるからだそうです」

                                      Everything else is mentioned by sopiadavo 🙂
                                      But yea pretty good essay, Great job!!

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