Today I sat through 120 minutes of furious scribbling, deducing and cursing my momentary lapses in concentration. To most people this strange exercise is known as the Business Japanese Proficiency Test (BJT). I prefer to think of it as the BIG Japanese Test.
As you may have guessed from my other posts, Japanese and Coding are two of my three favourite pastimes. Having successfully stumbled through the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, Level 1 in 1999, I figured some 10 years later I would attempt the BJT.
As is par for the course, I am narrow-casting my impressions out to you.
BJT Test Format
The test is comprised of 3 main sections:
i) Listening (50 mins, 35 questions)
ii) Listening & Reading (30 mins, 30 questions)
iii) Reading (40 mins, 35 questions)
Each section contains a range of questions from somewhat easy to very hard. All are designed to detect if you really have lived in Japan too long.
During practice, the Listening Section was not impossible, given time to think and a second hearing. Under test conditions however you get about 1 minute per question and only hear it once! Even easy questions can be flubbed by paying too much attention to the rising damp in the test room (gotta love Japanese universities!)
The Reading Section is also challenging. Most of the short questions (fill in the gaps) you either know it or you don’t! Some are deducible if you vaguely understand the words, but most require prior knowledge of the specific grammar point being dredged up. Not so easy to do when the body of possible questions is the entire Japanese language! The longer reading questions incorporate emails or newspaper articles that do their best to obfuscate the answer (read: red herrings galore). Some argue this is more realistic, but in real life you can always ask someone for clarification too!
What Does it Test?
Roughly speaking, the test is about everything. You should have at least 1st or 2nd Level JLPT Kanji skills to read your way through. Additionally, a strong grasp of honorifics (Sonkeigo & Kenjougo) is definitely in order. In fact, some of the possible answers are no more than impossible word combinations that can sound completely plausible to non-native speakers. The test draws upon vocabulary from general business, economics, IT, human resources, sales, accounting, law, taxation, international trade, as well as grammar and functional Japanese for internal & external company communication. Also, if you can’t understand mumbled and erratic conversations at speed, spend more time at your local izakaya before attempting the BJT.
So, How Did I Do?
Official results won’t be out till August. But frankly speaking, I did well on some hard parts and experienced numerous “unforced errors” on easy parts. Don’t worry, this problem has plagued me since childhood! I should just be thankful the Japanese language itself is classified as a “hard part”.
Any Advice for Us?
Sure, make sure you get all of the test preparation books. This will acclimatise you to the format of the questions. They reuse question formats predictably in the form of materials like business emails, graphs, flyers, newspaper articles, receipts, invoices, etc… It’s all in the guide books.
BE WARNED: Unlike the JLPT you do not have a finite body of knowledge to master – 80% of all JLPT questions are taken form the guide books! Master the guide books 100% and you will get 80% at least. The BJT is vast and difficult to cram for. Bear in mind that even a native speaker can miss the one key to a particular question; it is very hard indeed.
Is It Worth It?
Most of the people I saw in the test halls at Tokyo University, Komaba Campus were Chinese, Korean or Indian. These nationalities make up the bulk of foreign, white collar workers in Japan. I think this test will help them assuming they have the JLPT already. I believe that BJT alone is not enough, you need top get JLPT Level 1 first.
Until the BJT is more widely recognized, I believe this test is more for self-edification than for employment. Whilst the JLPT has the dual purpose of being for university entrance and finding a job, the BJT is really only for work. Some employers vaguely know about it and know it is hard, but it is unknown to the majority.
Ultimately, the bulk of Japanese and foreign companies here do not hire many foreigners (if only the head offices of US software companies knew how discriminatory their hiring practices are here!) Despite the impending aged population crisis, this attitude is changing slowly. The recent recession has also set us back. But relax! Japan will get there eventually, in its own time and in its own way … it always does ; )
Thanks for the insight. I missed the JLPT 1 deadline, but thought I might give the BJT a shot to keep me motivated to study if anything else. BTW, how did your score turn out in relation to your JLPT 1?
Shank
October 10th, 2011