JimmySeal Wrote:Henceforth I will use the expression "an inch is longer than a mile" as much as possible. It's not incorrect if that's how it's used; language evolves.

Well, that is an extreme stretch. What do you think about dialectical grammars then? Down here that typically equates to a rather simplified system of conjugation. No matter what, I think this is rather off topic of the 漢検1級.

I think dialectical grammars are fine. I think that saying the exact opposite of what you actually mean and claiming it actually means what you meant is logically incoherent.

And John Cleese agrees with me:

Just call it an idiom. Problem solved.

This is like eating a large meal, getting full to the point where you can't eat no more, and so you say: "I could eat more."

But this is offtopic. Carry on.

JimmySeal Wrote:I think dialectical grammars are fine. I think that saying the exact opposite of what you actually mean and claiming it actually means what you meant is logically incoherent.

And John Cleese agrees with me:

All that tells me is how much British people love getting onto Americans for the smallest things. Your point is proven, but given that the phrase does have meaning according to him, though not one intended, it is not an incoherent statement. Nevertheless, the likelihood of me on the spot saying "couldn't care less" is very small. Again, I COULD CARE LESS.

This is how I read your reply, imabi:
"Who the heck is this John Cleese?! I really could care less."

Right. Talking about a mixture of ignorance and arrogance... or stereotypes for that matter.

Oh, come on. That was completely in joke. This is made obvious by not only the emoticon but also the text right before it. There is no need to be vile. Your reading of my response is just wrong, and I'm here to correct. This thread was supposed to be about the Kanken test and I intend for it to be.

Also, given that as I've said already that people do say that expression as such where I am from, the likelihood of me saying it the correct way, which I conceded in that same statement, is highly unlikely. It's not because I'm ignorant; it's because it is very hard to change habit. Also, the tone of John Cleese's video was actually very condescending towards Americans in my opinion. Although that was meant to be humorous, and indeed it was, I don't think that my statement of "British people getting onto Americans" is a stereotype. They do it all the time. In return, Americans have plenty of other things to make fun of Brits. I'm of British descent, so I really don't have any reason to be stereotype British people. My statement to "could care less" was not next to John Cleese. It was closest to, again, my statement on probably not saying it right anyways.

Some more words to consider. These words come from just a sentence from a paragraph section.

犬防ぎ：殿舎や門の前などに設けた低い柵。また、仏堂の内陣と外陣との境にある透かしの粗い柵。
Though not a word that would be tested at this level, it did show up in the sentence, and so it is important to at least know what it means.
螺鈿（らでん）： ヤコウガイ・オウムガイなどの貝殻真珠色に光る部分を磨いて薄片にし、種々の形に切って漆器や木地の表面に嵌め込み、または貼り付けて装飾する工芸技法。日本には奈良時代に中国から伝えられ、平安時代には蒔絵にも併用された。摺り具。
燦燦（さんさん）：太陽などが明るく光り輝くさま。彩りなどの鮮やかで美しいさま。
御堂（みどう）：１ 寺院。また、仏像を安置した堂。２.キリスト教で、一般にカトリックの教会堂・修道院などをさす。聖堂。

imabi Wrote:Also, given that as I've said already that people do say that expression as such where I am from, the likelihood of me saying it the correct way, which I conceded in that same statement, is highly unlikely. It's not because I'm ignorant; it's because it is very hard to change habit.

Well hopefully you don't carry the same bad habits over to Japanese.

The same bad habits of hanging around natives that say it "wrong" and copying them?

Japanese is not my native language. I guess you don't get the point of dialect. When I think real hard and am seriously writing a paper, I don't make such errors, but when I speak freely, I speak the way my family has always spoken to me. If you've ever seen anything on my site or stuff in Japanese, I make a great effort to make sure everything is as accurate as possible. If there be mistakes, it's not because I just leave it. I didn't intend to make a mistake, and my only point is that I will probably continue to say it the way I did because, again, it is only a reflection of my background. How too damn letters caused all this I don't know, but some people just need to sip some tea or something. LOL

Again, please people get back to words and problems devoted to the Kanken. It's fine if they are of lower levels.

So, to improve my writing and general vocabulary ability I decided to get cheap old versions of the 準２級　and 2級　step books and am 24 pages through the first one now. Mostly a matter of fixing the whole 読めるけど書けない issue at this level... though there's still a good amount of new vocabulary. Doing one step a day, so should have these two books finished in January if I don't lose interest. Will take the 2級　test when I'm confident of passing I guess.

I think it's definitely silly to cram for 準1級　and above before reaching 2級 level... I don’t think I’m enough of a 暇人 for the top two.

Great. I wish you the best of luck. The level 2 would be too easy for me. I know a great majority of the Kanji in the pre 1 level, but I lack the vocabulary requirements. But, I don't plan to take it for 4 years anyways because I want to enjoy my studying time during college to do what I want to do, and quite honestly I won't have a time to even go to a testing site until then anyways. I'm pretty much stuck in Texas.

Thanks, how long have you been learning Japanese?

Passing 2kyuu would require a month or two's preparation for most natives... it's primarily a vocabulary test so "knowing X number of kanji" doesn't mean much.

Could someone scan old texts ? There's only one for each level in the official site.

A vocabulary test? Sigh.

I just did the sample 2級 on the website for fun and... 27/30 on the first section, and failed everything else spectacularly (20-30% at best). Right, I won't be taking this anytime soon.

Any suggestions or ideas on how much work it would take to pass this and what kind of studying to do?

There are 9~11(depending on the 級) exercises in the test, but in truth There are just 2:writing and reading.The way I divide it is as follows:

①書き取り：
対義語・類義語、
四字熟語、
諺・故事成語、
書き取り(同音異字、国字)、
送り仮名、
文章（書き取り）、
誤字、
共通、
意味から漢字へ、
部首

（this part of the test is way easier）
②読み取り：
読み取り（音読み＋訓読み）、
読み取り（表外）、
文章（読み取り）、
当て字・熟字訓、
構成、
熟語音訓読み

You can train with the sites below or you can buy the
books if it fits you better. Copy and paste than to openoffice/excel
and put them in anki, do your reps, some jumping jacks, drink your coffee
and that's it.
１級
準１級
２級and bellow
http://www.geocities.jp/bunakobo/
http://blog.livedoor.jp/kankenok/
http://mainichikanji.com/
http://e.z-abc.com/?eid=1159735
http://go-kanken.com/
http://www.kanjihakase.com/
http://kanken2kyu.jimdo.com/
http://kankenmondai.com/
http://1kanjikentei.blog55.fc2.com/
http://stronger102.ti-da.net/c182722.html

not 漢検　guided　but serve as a supplement.
http://kanji10.seesaa.net/
http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~deepblue/edu/jp-index.htm
http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~urutora/kakitoripeji1.htm
http://kakitori1000.choitoippuku.com/guide02.html
Watching ネップリーグ、Qさま、TOKIOかける...　helps a bit.

I've always been a big fan of your efforts in Japanese imabi; please keep us updated on your progress (either here or on your own website)!

EDIT: Oops I see this thread is actually quite old spare the recent posts; my bad.