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Level of Chinese/Japanese proficiency after a BA?

How far does a degree in Chinese/Japanese take you linguistically? Can reasonably good graduates understand movies, read books, write books? Or are they just conversational?

If anyone knows about Japanese in terms of the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test), that would be helpful too!

Thanks in advance =)

Reply 1

Democracy

21

I heard after a degree in any language at uni, you're pretty much fluent...

Reply 2

jsdmorrison

I can only give my opinion in my capacity as a 1st year, but from what i've heard from 3rd and 4th years the degree is entirely what you make of it. If you want to become fluent in the language and put your mind to it then its possible.

But with Chinese and Japanese especially you really genuinely do need to put alot of constant work into it if you want to get anything out of the course.

Reply 3

limechateaux

Democracy

I heard after a degree in any language at uni, you're pretty much fluent...

Chinese/Japanese is going to be very different from Spanish/French/German though.

Reply 4

Exoskeletal

1

g-oo-ey

Chinese/Japanese is going to be very different from Spanish/French/German though.

Exactly. If I'd done Spanish, I'd probably be able to debate in it and write loooong essays by now. (wish I'd done spanish!)

learning Japanese or Chinese takes so much longer, because of all the characters. and you can't really guess words because they're not latin based.

but regarding the question, I'm not sure I'll be fluent after I graduate. :frown:

but the year in Japan might (and should) make all the difference.
My friend graduated with Japanese last year, and with a first. he's fluent, and very smart.

It basically comes down to ability. and doing single hons helps too. having to split your time between two immense workloads means you end up slightly inadequate in both. I may have got four A's at A-level, but I am struggling.

Reply 5

limechateaux

Exoskeletal

Exactly. If I'd done Spanish, I'd probably be able to debate in it and write loooong essays by now. (wish I'd done spanish!)

learning Japanese or Chinese takes so much longer, because of all the characters. and you can't really guess words because they're not latin based.

but regarding the question, I'm not sure I'll be fluent after I graduate. :frown:

but the year in Japan might (and should) make all the difference.
My friend graduated with Japanese last year, and with a first. he's fluent, and very smart.

It basically comes down to ability. and doing single hons helps too. having to split your time between two immense workloads means you end up slightly inadequate in both. I may have got four A's at A-level, but I am struggling.

Exactly. I've done Chinese for 6 years and am doing it at IB B level, and my friend taking German often complains that our essays are about easier topics.. well obviously..

Reply 6

Luxun3

6

At the Open Day the Chinese teacher, who gave the Chinese talk said, that it really depends on the individual student on how fluently one can speak after the degree. However she stated that normal students reach level 6 in the HSK test(which is something like the TOEFL for Chinese) after the year in Beijing. Good students even reach level 8 according to the teacher. In my opinion that is really great, you may not be fluent, but at most chinese unis you have to get level 5 or 6 to study there, so 6 must be pretty good I guess.
Surprisingly she also said that at the end of the degree in general the students who did joint honours are more proficient in Chinese than those who did single honours, although the latter can spend more time on improving their Chinese. She said, that it might have something to do with the fact that students who do joint honours tend to organize their time in a better way.

In fact I think that due to the intensiveness of the course you will come out with a pretty good level of Chinese after you graduate, although it might take some more time in China to become fluent

Reply 7

limechateaux

Ghassan

At the Open Day the Chinese teacher, who gave the Chinese talk said, that it really depends on the individual student on how fluently one can speak after the degree. However she stated that normal students reach level 6 in the HSK test(which is something like the TOEFL for Chinese) after the year in Beijing. Good students even reach level 8 according to the teacher. In my opinion that is really great, you may not be fluent, but at most chinese unis you have to get level 5 or 6 to study there, so 6 must be pretty good I guess.
Surprisingly she also said that at the end of the degree in general the students who did joint honours are more proficient in Chinese than those who did single honours, although the latter can spend more time on improving their Chinese. She said, that it might have something to do with the fact that students who do joint honours tend to organize their time in a better way.

In fact I think that due to the intensiveness of the course you will come out with a pretty good level of Chinese after you graduate, although it might take some more time in China to become fluent

WOAH level 6 or even 8.. woaaah....
I'm going to take it this summer, see how far I can get..

Reply 8

Alec3

OP

Thanks for replies and sorry for mine being late!

I've also heard that graduates are fluent but I'm sure that's limited to European languages. In Japan I've met quite a few Australian graduates who studied Japanese at university but can barely carry a conversation. Part of the reason for my asking is to figure out how far I might get when I start studying Chinese at university.

jernobyl

Purely out of interest, why are you taking/did you take your gap year in Japan if you're going to study Chinese?

I've studied Japanese for about four years and I've come far enough that studying it at university would be a waste of time. Just passed JLPT2 and am confident that I can pass JLPT1 this year. Will keep improving my Japanese in my spare time but am ready for a new linguistic challenge!

Reply 9

Exoskeletal

1

I can barely hold a conversation in Japanese. I clam up and think in Spanish. I almost put "tambien" on the end of a sentence in a conversation with one of my japanese friends yesterday.

However, I can read a Japanese newspaper and get the gist of what it's about.

hopefully the talking thing will improve in my year abroad!

Reply 10

Eien

16

In the second year (and to a further extent in the third year in Japan) the level of one's Japanese improves dramatically and you learn to speak and write Japanese with a greater level of sophistication. Coupled with the year in Japan, you can become pretty much fluent in Japanese if you put the work in, although naturally, some of it can become pretty much forgotten like any other language after the degree if you don't keep it up. The first year will teach you the basic's really, so I wouldn't be disheartened if your proficiency is what you would like it to be at the end of it.

Reply 11

Escalot

My experience at SOAS was that level of "fluency" varies wildly for graduates. Most people on the Japanese BA take JLPT level 2/1 in fourth year. I took level 2, but lots of people I know took level 2 and failed; a lot of people took level 1 and failed (goes without saying!). It's also worth mentioning that as a purely written and listening test it's really not the best judge of fluency.
Peoples abilities in language seemed to depend on them and whether they were in japanese or international dorms during their year in Japan; so I guess it totally depends ont he level of work and personality of the individiual involved

Reply 12

Alec3

OP

Thanks, Escalot! That really painted a picture for me. =D

You're completely right; language learning depends so much on the learner's confidence and willingness to get outside his comfort zone. When I go on my year in China, I'm going to make sure I'm living with Chinese people.

Level of Chinese/Japanese proficiency after a BA?

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