I made this discussion board for those who need help in the subject, VCE Japanese second language.

[personal details}- I took VCE Japanese second language this year (2022) and have completed it with a raw study score of 47 so I can help! {edit: now I also do formal tutoring for VCE Japanese}
I can also help for those who are taking VCE Japanese first language since I took it for unit 1 which I'm assuming not many people would be taking it.

{I hope this discussion board would be helpful!} :

    Hey, so I’m only in year 10 but will be doing Jap SL in vce. I was just curious of some questions if ur willing to help answer?

    Now that you’ve completed Jap SL with a very high score, how fluently can u speak Japanese?

    If you used anki to study, are there any specific decks that would help me?

    What level would you say is VCE Jap equivalent to in terms of the JLPT? (for instance N5, N4, N3 etc)

    In the Japanese study design, they show about 200 kanji that are ‘expected to know’. Is this actually true or do I need to learn a lot more?

    Anyways Ty for the help in advance

      justaperson_

      Thank you for replying to my post,
      I'm actually born with a Japanese background with both of my parents being Japanese and also went to a Saturday school just to undertake VCE Japanese second language, So to answer your question, I'm pretty fluent in Japanese.

      In my opinion, you don't really have to be "fluent" in Japanese in order to take this subject since there are other parts of the course where you can get marks like listening, reading and writing. The oral components may sound pretty complicated but it was even nervous for me as well.

      I didn't use Anki to study but I did use the VCE study design to help me understand what the requirements were to take this subject.

      I would say that VCE Japanese would be equivalent to N5-N4 but I'm not 100% sure since they're both pretty different.

      Everything inside the Japanese study design is what the VCE assessors would be looking for so the 200 kanji that are 'expected to know' are required for VCE Japanese second language. It would be better if you knew more kanji other than the ones listed but those ones are the only ones that are compulsory to remember and to use in your responses for your SACs + final written exam.

      *Tip:You should also try to remember all the text types and their layouts for your essays (sakubunn) since they would come up on your SACs and your final exam 🙂

      I hope this response was helpful!
      Anyways, good luck!!!

        Ahhh tysm. This information helps me a lot. I just have a few more questions if you don’t mind me asking.

        Sorry, when I meant fluent, I meant like would an average person who completed Jap SL be able to have a full conversation with Japanese people? (I’m assuming only to a certain level)

        How difficult would you say it is to achieve a 40SS in Jap SL?

        What are useful study methods/techniques did you use to study Japanese specifically?

        One again tysm for the help.

          Hi! I'll be doing 3&4 Japanese in 2023, and I'm aiming for a 40+ (considering I'm at a low-ranking public school, this will be hard, but hopefully not impossible!!). According to my teacher, my weakness within Japanese is intonation and I personally believe my weakness to be conversation, what ways would you recommend practicing and improving speaking skills? I'd really like to improve these weaknesses sooner rather than later, I'd imagine that speaking habits take a longer time to change than writing or listening. In advance, thank you so much for the help !!

            Lemonade_222

            Hi! I am also planning to do VCE Japanese, and I'm wondering what sort of preparation I should do for Unit 1/2.

            Also, do you have any tips to enhance writing within Genko Youshi (applicable to most formats)?

            Thanks!

                15 days later

                justaperson_

                An average person who completed Japanese SL could have a full conversation with Japanese people BUT it really depends on how good the individual does in Japanese SL. For example, I have a friend who is doing Japanese SL and she is not from a Japanese background. She gets decent grades but can only have simple conversations with me in Japanese so I cannot fully guarantee that you can talk to Japanese people in Japanese.

                I would say achieving a 40 SS is pretty hard considering how I know a classmate who got all 2 A+'s and an A for their final result (you receive your study score on a table via email) got a SS of 38.

                My advice is to remember the forms like 〜たり、〜たり　form and the 〜せんでした forms.

                Hope that helps!

                  sodacat_

                  Tbh I was really nervous for the oral components since I don't really like doing speeches and stuff but once you get used to it, it wasn't that bad for me.

                  To improve the speaking skills for Japanese, I suggest trying to have a conversation in Japanese with someone who also does Japanese SL. I guess you could try using the Japanese Siri as an option since it would notice your intonation. You could also try listening to Japanese music with lyrics to get a better understanding of how they pronounce certain words.

                  *Personal advice: I think this is for everyone but I strongly recommend not to learn Japanese from watching anime since most of the words that are used are pretty informal and you could lose marks if said by accident during the oral components.

                  I think that's it? Good luck!

                    MyDay

                    I didn't take Unit 1 Japanese SL so I'm not sure if I could help but I'll try 😉
                    To prepare for Unit 1/2 Japanese SL, I advise reading the study design and to start learning the kanji required. Also I recommend you to get used to using the Japanese and English bilingual dictionary (if not already) since that would come in handy a lot.

                    I'm not quite sure what you mean by enhancing writing within Genko youshi so I'm hoping you could elaborate on that so I could respond and help 😁

                    Anyways, Good luckkkk

                      MyDay Hi! As someone who did 1/2, hopefully I'll be able to offer some helpful advice 🙂

                      I agree with Lemondade_222 about reading the study design and learning the Kanji required. Though it is tedious, I would recommend learning how to at least recognise and read all 200 Kanji on the study design, this could be practiced by writing them out repeatedly, etc. Learning all the kanji early on is probably one of the easiest parts and it will leave you more time to study other things during the year such as grammar.
                      I am unsure as to what you mean by enhancing writing, but nonetheless, I would recommend learning how to write different forms in Japanese: e.g. letters, news reports, emails, diary entries, etc. Most forms will have slightly different intricacies to them, such as formality, language used, etc. All that is really needed for genko youshi is to briefly touch up on the writing rules for it. Such as leaving an empty square to the left of your first character in a new paragraph, things like that.
                      Good luck with units 1/2! Feel free to ask more questions if you need any clarity about my response and such 🙂

                        7 months later

                        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!!!