Finals time is never a fun one. I dont think I will ever meet a person who would say, "Finals? I love studying everything the teacher ever taught us, and I cant wait to show them how much I've learned!" Let's be real: Unless you are absolutely in love with the course subject, there will be things that you've forgotten, or didnt understand the first time around. And when the course is taught in a language you're still working on, remembering everything that was covered can be quite the challenge.
With the help of several friends, I have just completed my essay for my Japanese lit class. And by completed, I mean I finished reading the book, and tried and failed to write an essay that was the proper amount of characters asked for. My essay has 3000 characters; however, the professor asked for 4000 characters. Part of me wants to complain that as an English speaker with a teacher that speaks English, writing an English essay is not too much to ask for. However, I do realise that I'm here in Japan to get better at speaking in Japanese, and the whole class was in Japanese too, so asking for a Japanese essay is not a stretch. But the character count just killed me. Even my tutor, who's a grad student, has never had to write a 40000 character essay. Believe it or not, but I did read a book in Japanese, 伊勢物語 いせものがたり the Tales of Ise. And I vaguely understood the lectures that the professor gave in class. But I simply dont know what else to add to my essay. As I typed it, I translated it into English, and according to that mental transcription, it was a pretty okay essay. Maybe not an A++ paper, but certainly one that would pass. But in Japanese, I'm afraid that it comes across as being very stupid and unfocused. One of the Chinese girls in class that I'm friends with said that since we're not 日本人, he should grade easily on us. I can only hope that she's correct.
Tomorrow, I also have a final for my Level Five Japanese class. I've already discussed how difficult the class. And unfortunately, it hasnt changed at all. The other American that's taking the class with me is similarly frustrated as to how to study for it. But assuming the test is the same format as the midterm, I'm formulating a strategy of things I need to study/memorize. As far as kanji goes, I've made flashcards for the ones I didnt already know, and I've been practicing them on and off for the last few days. To begin with, there were quite a few that I could read, so I didnt need to make cards for them. And through practicing, I've been able to take a few cards out. It's just the last couple that I need to memorize. And if I can smash the kanji section, I'll be pretty safe. The greater part of the test is kanji. The grammar section is more remembering the sample sentences. He doesnt really change the sentences from the handout to what's on the test, so if I can at least remember some of the sentences, it'll just be a matter of picking and choosing. It's unfortunate that I dont actually know what these grammar points mean, or how to use them, but that's another blog post.
Next week is the level four tests. I am not worried about them. Well, just a little bit, because I dont want to flat out fail them, but those two finals are a lot easier than the final and essay I just talked about. The listening test on Monday will probably be the easier of the two. Since the bulk of the test is basically filling out the blanks to excercises we did in class, I'm thinking I'll be okay if I keep the last few lessons on repeat on my iPod. And if I end up like Dexter's "Omlette du fromage", then all the better. The other Japanese test on Tuesday isnt too hard either. It is frustrating in that the particles that we'll be tested on do not only come from the lessons but everything we've ever learned before, but because it's stuff that I already learned, theoretically, it's not hard to prepare for. The kanji that'll be on it will be a bit of a challenge, but if I didn't already know them, a lot of them are easy to pick apart and read.
I am quite ready to end my first semester studying in Japan. Perhaps more than ready. But this semester is not going down without a fight. It is perhaps the most difficult finals period I have ever faced. But you know what? Maybe I wont be riding on the shining star that is straight A's, but I'll be damned if I let it beat me. I will emerge victorious!
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