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Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - dingomick - 2007-01-09
Has anyone taken it? Anyone know anything detailed about it?
This Wikipedia article offers a lot of info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji_kentei
I would love to be tested seriously on my kanji aptitude in 6 months or so. However, the funny thing is that because of RTKs approach, it might not be possible. I assume it's all in Japanese since the test is designed for native speakers. Though I might possess mad kanji skills, I probably won't possess the general Japanese ability to understand the directions of the test, the vocabulary for the kanji compounds, and the nuances of questions at Level 2.
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - ファブリス - 2007-01-09
Yes you will need to know the chinese or japanese readings for the kanji kentei, I believe... until then, there's the game on Nintendo DS
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - synewave - 2007-01-09
Pre-Heisig I did level 8 about a year ago. Going to give level 7 a bash soon. Level 2 is out of my reach just now. I had thought about going for level 5 but decided against it for a few different reasons.
Primarily because I want to be able to read all kanji, not just the "high level" ones. So doing lower level tests (still pretty hard in my opinion!) is well worth while. The higher level tests obviously give you more kudos. But I reckon that working through is better for my learning.
Although it is a kanji test, without being fluent in Japanese (a value judgement of course), I can't see a gaijin passing level 2. I've been in Japan for over 3 years, admittedly not a hardcore studier, but even at the low levels there's a lot I don't know.
The tests are a good means to get motivated though. Go for it!
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - Chadokoro_K - 2007-01-09
I did Level 5 a looong time ago, back when I lived in Japan, used Japanese every day and studied for the blasted thing using a 6th grader's prep book designed especially for the exam.
Man, Japanese 6th graders know a lot!
In addition to understanding the directions, you need to be able to write kanji (mostly from their Japanese readings), know the stroke order for kanji (you might be asked what number stroke a partially written kanji is up to), be able to write the Japanese names for all 214 radicals in hiragana (and for example, have the ability to distingush whether the 月 radical is used with the meaning of moon or flesh in a particular kanji), know whether a reading is on or kun, know if it is a kokuji (made-in-Japan kanji), understand how kanji relate to one another in compound words (synonyms, antonyms, does the first modify the second, or is the first a verb and the second its related noun or one of the even more obscure relationships that I never quite understood), know some four-kanji proverbs...and know and be able to actively produce a whole bunch of other stuff that seemed to go way beyond knowing the meaning, writing, pronunciation and usage of kanji. (In addition the more difficult the level, the more trick questions designed to trip people up.) I felt more pride about passing Level 5 of the Kanji Kentei than I did for Level 1 of the JLPT (which is multiple choice fill in the circles).
I agree that you need to be fluent in Japanese to attempt the Level 2...You also need to study a bunch a facinating (perhaps) stuff dealing with kanji usage, etymology, etc. It took my Japanese teacher a long time to go beyond Level pre-2...and she was a college-educated Japanese adult, long-time instructor of the language, living in Japan! She knew 3,000-4,000 kanji, of course, but always got fouled up by the aforementioned tricky stuff! And there are other things they throw at you at Level 2 that they don't in Level 5 -- including all 284 names kanji and complex radicals.)
I agree that it is better to start with an easier level and work your way up. You will learn a lot more than you ever dreamed there is possible to know regarding kanji. And you will definitely have a sense of accomplishment at passing a test that is designed to test a native speaker's (reader and writer's) knowledge.
Ganbatte, ne!
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - dingomick - 2007-01-09
That's exactly what I thought. There's no way I could ever take these tests any time soon. Ah well...
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - Chadokoro_K - 2007-01-09
You can still take the exams, just take one of the much easier levels to begin with. And then proceed to more difficult levels as your knowledge and Japanese ability grow.
After finishing RTK1 the first time around I had also wanted to take Level 2 but my Japanese instructor quite wisely recommended starting with a lower level. I remember starting with Level 8 and being surrounded by little kids and a couple of older people in their 70s... Actually I paid for and took two completely different levels on the same day -- Level 8 and 6 -- but the kids were still pretty little.
If you aren't learning the readings via RTK2 or if you don't mind grouping kanji by kanken level for your study of readings, it can be a fun way to set learning goals.
As far as instructions and questions goes, at the lower levels it should be do-able to get one of the recommended study books with sample tests and go over the test format and instructions, with a Japanese friend or teacher if you need to.
There was also talk back then of making a gaijin version with instructions in English (and possibly a few other languages). I don't know if they did this but I would recommend taking the same test as given to Japanese. As I said before there is a great amount of pride that comes from passing a test designed for native speakers!
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - synewave - 2007-04-25
Just pottering about at the school computer club and my kanji confidence has just taken a battering. I was looking at a 1999 漢字検定 past paper and for some sections I don't even understand the questions!
Heisig makes us good, but not that good!
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - JimmySeal - 2007-04-25
Did you notice section 3, question 5? Apparently ヘクトグラム (hectogram) is written 瓸. Interesting combination of 百 and 瓦 (gram).
Also get a load of 鳳梨 = パイナップル.
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - leosmith - 2007-04-25
Chadokoro_K Wrote:In addition to understanding the directions, you need to be able to write kanji (mostly from their Japanese readings), know the stroke order for kanji (you might be asked what number stroke a partially written kanji is up to), be able to write the Japanese names for all 214 radicals in hiragana (and for example, have the ability to distingush whether the 月 radical is used with the meaning of moon or flesh in a particular kanji), know whether a reading is on or kun, know if it is a kokuji (made-in-Japan kanji), understand how kanji relate to one another in compound words (synonyms, antonyms, does the first modify the second, or is the first a verb and the second its related noun or one of the even more obscure relationships that I never quite understood), know some four-kanji proverbs...and know and be able to actively produce a whole bunch of other stuff that seemed to go way beyond knowing the meaning, writing, pronunciation and usage of kanji. (In addition the more difficult the level, the more trick questions designed to trip people up.) I felt more pride about passing Level 5 of the Kanji Kentei than I did for Level 1 of the JLPT (which is multiple choice fill in the circles).This one paragraph significantly added to my knowledge of what the test is about. When I first started studying Japanese, I thought finishing RTK1 and RTK2 would mean I could pass pre-2. I've heard otherwise many times since then, so it's nice to finally know why. Thanks for sharing it Chadokoro_K.
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - synewave - 2007-04-25
Just to clarify what kanji are included at each level, this is what the 過去問題集 ８級 book says:
「小学校第３学年までの学習漢字を読み、またその大体を書くことができる。」
Not too sure about level 9 and 10, but from level 8 anyway, kanji from the level you are taking AND kanji from any earlier levels can be included in the test.
That said, from my limited experience of Kan Ken, they do seem to test you mainly on the kanji of the level you are studing towards. However my experience only goes up to preparation for level 6.
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - Chadokoro_K - 2007-04-26
Leosmith, I'm glad the info helped. Like synewave I also found that the majority of questions focus on kanji from the level you are studying for--for example, 8級 will focus on the kanji taught in the third grade. (But I only took as far as 5級.) Also note that the variety of questions and the types of knowledge tested increases as you go on to the more difficult levels--which are lower numbers, 1級 being the most difficult.
A quick look at example questions from the 8級 test on the official Kanji Kentei website shows that the following are tested:
**reading
**writing + possibly more difficult Qs based on passive knowledge of thematic groupings (synonyms, antonyms, radical names, etc)
**knowledge of stroke order and stroke number
So for level 8級 at least, the bulk of knowledge tested is reading, writing and stoke order. Of course you also have to know the meanings of compound words and be able to understand short sentence structures.
Level 7級 requires a bit more (for example, differentiating between on and kun readings, etc) and 6級 is where they actively test you on your knowledge of compound word construction (synonyms, antonyms, first kanji modifies the second one), etc.
Go to this Kanji Kentei page (http://www.kanken.or.jp/target/shogaku.html) to check out sample tests/test questions for each of the elementary school level tests (10Q-5Q). Just click on the yellow buttons on the middle of the page with the number level you are looking for (eg, 8級 ). Once you are on a sample test you can enlarge it once by clicking on that page. They have a page with and without answers for 8級.
Good luck!
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - chamcham - 2007-04-26
If you're in the US, they administer the computer based version of the Kanji Kentei Exam in Los Angeles 6 days a week. No other location in the US provides the computer-based version.
For all other locations, they only offer the paper exams, which is only 3 times a year, I think.
Kanji Kentei, Japanese Kanji Aptitude Test - Glenn - 2007-05-03
JimmySeal Wrote:Did you notice section 3, question 5? Apparently ヘクトグラム (hectogram) is written 瓸?. Interesting combination of 百 and 瓦 (gram).Yeah, that's 1級. Those questions are ridiculous. I've been doing the 2級 questions on my electronic dictionary, and they seem to only deal with 常用漢字. I've gotten fairly good and can get most of them right now. However, I've mostly been doing the 書き取り, 送り仮名, and 誤字訂正 questions, and not dealing with the radical, four character compounds, reading (although if you can get the writing you should be able to get the reading), syntonym/antonym, 同音・同訓異字, and compound type questions. Baby steps. :-)
Also get a load of 鳳梨 = パイナップル.