Shooting for 1006

With no classes this morning, I was spending my time preparing materials for classes I have later this week. I was waiting for the laminator to warm up when I came across a couple of books sitting on a shelf near one of the computers in the teachers` room.

The book was a 漢字検定過去問題集, or a book of previous years` Kanji Kentei questions. For those of you not familiar with the Kanji Kentei, let me do my best to explain how it works.

Upon entering elementary school, Japanese students begin learning most of the written characters they will ever have to use in their life (I say most, because specialized fields of study require use of characters not deemed appropriate for everyday life; a poor example would be like learning the word "moderation," but not the word "abstemious.")

Starting their first year, students learn 80 kanji. In second grade, they learn an additional 160. By the time a student graduates 6th grade (the final year of elementary school), they will have officially studied 1006 kanji and a good portion of the words that can be created using those kanji. Junior high school students learn up to around 1600 kanji, and by the end of high school, all (currently) 1945 kanji are introduced. Eventually, someone had the idea of charging money for a test that would "certify" a students comprehension abilities as relates to kanji. Hence, the Kanji Kentei.

When I first came to Japan, I challenged myself with taking a few tests. I took Level 9 and Level 8 and passed them handily. I then took a break from testing, partly because I never found out about the tests being offered until it was really too late to do any worthwhile prep; and I also just don`t like tests that much (or paying for them).

But I`m going to take a few this year. Why? Why not. I enjoy it for pretty much one reason - bragging rights. You see, I take the tests with my students and they are always happy to see me sit for the same tests they are taking. They are amazed when I walk out of the test room with 20 minutes to spare. And they are quick to congratulate me for passing. With their support, I`ve set out my goals for this school year:

• July: Level 7 (640 kanji / think 10 years old)
• October: Level 6 (825 kanji / 11 y.o.)
• February: Level 5 (1006 kanji / 12 y.o.)

Obviously, in the goal to obtain proficiency in Japanese, I`m not comfortable settling with some certificates from a test I took, especially when these tests only measure kanji proficiency. There is a lot more to Japanese than just being able to read lines on paper. But I think the foundation helps, and the motivation to learn words I might otherwise pass over isn`t so bad. But that`s the great thing about this self-study that I`ve been doing - I can do what`s fun and learn what interests me.