nyak

In Kyoto, Japan for uni || 19 || Singapore

[nyaknyak]

I’ve recently started studying languages properly again. Currently working mainly on Vietnamese. I decided to start posting again, but on Instagram instead. I’ll be super grateful if anyone would follow me on my new instagram account @thebanhbeo

Love you guys 😘

[doodadeals]

“im learning another language” can only mean two things:

I have been studying this language for over a decade please forgive any mispronunciation im still learning

i have a 2 day streak in duolingo and IM REALLY FEELING IT THIS TIME

[nyaknyak]

Hi! I was thinking about applying for the mext scholarship to take an undergraduate programme. Do you know if it is absolutely required to take 1 or half a year before the actual degree? Or is it possible to take japanese courses for a shorter period of time if I already know some japanese (jlpt n3 level)? Thanks for your time!

Hi! There’s a one year language course (I don’t think there’s a shorter course) that you would have to go through unless you apply for exemption. Most people go through it than not. My reccomendation is to go through the course. I had N1 before I left for Japan and I still felt the language course was invaluable in allowing me to take uni level courses in Japanese. Hope this helped!

[nyaknyak]

Hihi, hope 2019 has been off to a good start for you!! I just want to ask if the score you obtained in the mext scholarship written tests matter a lot when you apply to uni after your one year training? Thanks in advance! :>

Hi! Thanks for the question! Not at all! The language centre will hold placement tests either before you leave for Japan or when you arrive to check your level of Japanese. The curriculum of your Japanese training would differ based on your class placements as well. However, the uni you will attend is decided largely based on the course-wide exams (mid-year, year-end). So you have to fight for your place in your uni of choice with the other students who have received the scholarship.

Japanese isn’t even the most difficult or the deciding factor of uni placement most of the time. Usually everyone gets good at Japanese by the end of the year. It’s the other subjects (math, science, Japanese history etc.) that is the crux. At least for the language school in Tokyo. The Osaka side does things differently.

Most of the info out there is on how to get the scholarship (since that’s what people are most concerned about). But I feel that the structure and workings of the language year also impact decisions so thank you for this relevant question.

[nyaknyak]

hello hello~ I was wondering how you prepared for the qualifying exam for the MEXT scholarship? I'm going to try again next year and I really want to prepare as best as I can. Thank you!!

Hi! Thanks for the question.

I would say in general to focus on maths or sciences (if they apply to you) instead of trying to study Japanese. If you already know Japanese and wanna push it a bit, that’s ok. You have time to brush up your Japanese after you get accepted. But you should focus your time on the other subjects as they seem to weigh more. Especially so if you are not doing Humanities. 

Obviously you would do the past year papers. I’ve heard the EJU syllabus is quite similar to the MEXT exams so you can check that out for math, science etc. The way they word the questions in math is a little different from my country so you kinda have to get used to that. Make sure you time yourself as well. I could do the math problems when I was practising but it didn’t occur to me that I had to complete the paper in an hour. I ended up barely finishing half the paper during the actual exam.Note: Score requirements differ from country to country and year to year. 

The math only had blanks for final answers (we did hand in papers with our working on it but I doubt they marked that). Extrapolating from this system, it would maybe be a good strategy to focus on easy questions (like the first part of every question) and get as many answers correct in the limited time allocated rather than methodologically try to answer all the questions. But that depends on the mark allocation and your own way of doing things. Since only final answers are graded, careless mistakes can cost you everything! I was Humanities so I devoted all my time to math (English and Japanese weren’t a problem for me). Identify your weak points and work systematically towards fixing them. There are past year papers from 2010 on the internet floating around. The links I had are all broken now (sorry) but if you look hard enough I’m sure you’d find something. 

I found resources and other people applying for the scholarship at this forum.

Good luck!

[nyaknyak]

hello! what kind of planner do you use for uni?

This is probably a few months late I’m so sorry!!! I just wanna announce that I’ve moved on from paper planners since the second half of 2018 (pls don’t unfollow me in disgust). It was just so much easier to edit stuff and link the google calendar from work etc. 

Here’s how I do it (I hope I blocked out enough info...):

I’ve also been trying out this note-taking app called Agenda that links your notes to events in your calendar so I link my class notes to the class I have. Technology is amazing and you save money and trees? I still like normal planners but I’m too busy for one... It’s sad. 

(Screenshot of how the Agenda app works–it’s pretty cool right?)How do your planners look like for 2019? Send me some pics!

[nyaknyak]

Studying uni in Japan Q&A

As you all know, I’m studying undergraduate at Kyoto University under the fully paid MEXT Undergraduate Scholarship. A few people have been asking me questions via DM and I just wanna say it’s totally welcome! I would love to talk to yall personally if you have any questions.

I’d also take any general asks about anything to do with the scholarship or my experience studying uni in Japan so ask away or DM me. I’ve not been very active here but I do get notifs! If I get enough questions I might make a general FAQ of sorts. Have a nice 2019 yall.

[niyarest]

2019 in 4 months

[weelitleladybug]

this post gave me a seizure 

[nyaknyak]

hello i'm a japanese american who would like to reclaim (?) my native language to full proficiency. i speak japanese with my mom and relatives, but it's not very good at all... do you have any tips on how you learned japanese?? (your handwriting is so beautiful btw)

Hello! I think there is a myriad of ways to improve proficiency and you just have to keep trying different things until you find something that works for you. So I’m gonna narrate what worked for me and hopefully, you’ll find something that you can use!

Disclaimer: I had Japanese class i.e. ‘formal education’ once a week but I hate memorizing things like verb conjugations and all that so I slept through class often (I regret only a little bit).

The breakthrough for me, as embarrassing as it may be, was nico nico (the video site). I have never really said this to anyone else but I obsessively watched video game Let’s Plays on nico nico for hours every day and it somehow made me fluent after a few years. At first, I didn’t understand anything but I gradually understood more and more. I credit that to the floating comments (google it if you don’t know what I mean). 

The benefits of the nico nico format were likely twofold:

1. These comments were written responses to whatever the uploader was saying so it helped me to guess what was being said contextually.

2. The comments would sometimes echo what the uploader was saying like subtitles so having guessed the meaning of the word from context and having it shown to me as a comment allowed me to learn the word (kinda like flashcards).

I would call that the ‘input’, then I chatted with Japanese people online quite often so I used whatever I learned and got feedback from that (i.e. the output). You could just practice with your mum or relatives but that may restrict your topics of conversation so finding language partners may be worthwhile? 

Idk if it’ll work for you since it’s super unconventional, maybe you can try watching YouTube videos as an alternative (I’m sorry aaaaaaaaaa).

Sorry for rambling, here are some actual resources that may help you.

[nyaknyak]

Hi same anon as before, I hope I’m not bothering you( there’s very few good info on the internet) but do you know anybody who’s in the MEXT program for graphic design/ something related. There’s no good universities in my country for that so I’m thinking of applying to mext (also because It would be cool to go to a new country)

Hi anon! It’s definitely not a bother :D I had like 2 people in my year who wanted to do something art related (in an art school) but later changed their choice of university to a less specialized one. They decided to do art history etc. in a normal national uni instead.

I think with the undergraduate scholarship it may be slightly difficult to go to the art schools in Japan (I’m not sure if you can or want to do graphic design in a generic uni). But I’m not expert so I would advise you call your embassy and ask?

[nyaknyak]

Hi can I ask if you applied directly for specific universities for mext or did you go through the initial training year thing Also, how did you decide your major (sorry if this sounds weird English is not my first language)

Hi! I did the one-year training at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. I don’t think I could’ve done uni in Japanese otherwise. It also helped me make friends that are invaluable in my uni life (would probably have been seriously depressed during my first few months in uni otherwise). So I would recommend it but it depends on your situation.

As for my major, it was basically a whim? I initially wrote Japanese Linguistics cause that made the most sense to me but I changed it to general Linguistics at the end of my one-year training. You can change your major within the categories provided by MEXT and it also depends on the uni you wanna go to. 

Hope this helped and your English doesn’t sound weird at all!

[nyaknyak]

i found you just now but i LIKE your posts just overwhelmingly ( ´∀｀) and handwritten japanese is something that blows my mind (I have only ~N5 ) my studyr acc (it’s completely new tho): @irstudy

Thanks so much! Welcome to the studyblr community! I checked out your blog and it’s so cool you’re studying IR. Hope that you’ll share more about your studies and good luck with Japanese! 

[nyaknyak]

unexpected kindness

So I just wanna share this story with you guys. Hope it makes your day like it did mine. I went to this cafe I regularly frequent the other day and ordered something light cause I ate curry at 2am (lol). The owner was like “Do you not have an appetite?”. She probably thought it was cause of the heat (37 degrees guys) and she gave me free cold soumen!!!!

I wasn’t actually sick and idk what sort of glutton I appear to be to her but it was just a really nice gesture. I haven’t been mothered since I started living alone in Japan cause I’m only surrounded by college kids you know???

The soumen I received and a picture of the pizza toast I had (shameless art promo).

[nyaknyak]

Congrats on getting the scholarship for uni! I'm curious, was it difficult to get, and what's university in Japan like?

Hi! Sorry I got to this so late. 

Was it difficult to get

So the scholarship I got is the MEXT undergraduate scholarship. It’s not difficult to get where I’m from since competition isn’t fierce and I knew Japanese already so I had an advantage of sorts. In some countries like Korea, or Thailand, where the scholarship is pretty popular, it can be quite difficult.

What's university in Japan like?

Hmmm... I joined the scuba diving circle (that’s their term for chill clubs, bukatsu are the crazy clubs that train 6 times a week) so it’s fun! My circle always has chill activities like gathering at someone’s house to make food together etc. so socially it’s quite ok. 

Academic-wise... Japanese unis at the undergraduate level are basically a joke. I’m not kidding. There is no culture of scholarship or something similar learning community. That is not to say that no one is interested in academics, there are definitely people who are passionate about their work. But it’s not a community, you know? I take French 4 times a week cause I wanna be good at it but I’m just called ‘意識高い ishiki takai’ or crazy. It’s all about getting the bare minimum to graduate here whilst enjoying life (or slaving away doing part-time work to support yourself). 

Can you tell that I have a lot to say about this? Because I do. Anyways I shall refrain from ranting there is definitely a difference depending on the school so I don’t wanna make too many generalizations. I think my school is pretty cool compared to other Japanese unis tho. So ask away if you want more stories!!! 

[nyaknyak]

I haven’t posted anything lately but here’s my essay for this natural history class I’m taking!! Idk but I haven’t written an essay by hand in a long time. Only Japan.

[nyaknyak]

How are you able to use internet in Japan? Is there internet in the dorm? Do you go to internet cafes?

Hi! I used to have a LAN connection in the dorm, so I used a router for wifi. Now I have my own place, I pay for internet every month 😭 I also have 4G on my phone. Haven’t been to a net cafe yet.

[nyaknyak]

Tbh I write in blue in order to distinguish which part is handwritten and which is printed at a glance.