Studying geography makes my dorky soul happy.

I picked up some Japanese study materials for young Japanese kids and I am loving the geography one. Today I spend about an hour learning the names of various places in Japanese. I learned the word for 'People's Republic'. I learned that Yonaguni is the westernmost island of Japan. I learned that Japan considers the disputed South Kuril islands as theirs enough to put them in their children's books sans 'disputed territory' comment.

I find the name of North Korea in chinese characters kind of strange. 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国 If you can't see it don't worry, but it repeats a character twice in a row.

North Korea in Japanese is 'Chosen Minshu Shugi Jinmin Kyouwa Koku' ...the official name. The more typical name would be 'Kita Chosen', while South Korea is called 'Kankoku' Official name for South Korea is 'Daikan Minkoku'

Scuse me, I finally have some classes to go to so I can't keep geeking about geography.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test - 不合格

I've failed my JLPT.

I found out on Monday and I've been sitting on the info, stewing.

It came down to I couldn't pass the reading and grammar portion. That portion you get 70 minutes to read passages in Japanese and answer reading comprehension questions and also choose the appropriate grammar for umpteen sentences. Something I find so easy and instinctual in English but haven't gotten too good at in Japanese yet.

But there will be another test. And I will pass it.

Score rundown:
Kanji/Vocabulary 60/100 (pass!)
Listening 70/100 (good pass!)
Reading/Grammar 76/200 (UTTER FAILURE)
Total 206/400

I would have needed a 240/400 to pass, so it's not all too far out of reach. Even if I never crack 50% on the Reading/Grammar section.

Tendencies of Mind and Body.

Back in high school, that one time I was in dance, I always had a bit of a problem in my stretching. From the beginning of the year, I had better flexibility in my right leg. But rather than redoubling my efforts and stretching my left leg more earnestly, I instead continued to devote more time to my right leg. I wasn't even trying to strive for balance, only putting in the bare minimum for my left leg.

Fast forward to my Japanese study. Early on, I got this knack for kanji (Japanese characters) study. I just enjoy the characters...I enjoy writing them, practicing them, learning new trivia about them...all very silly I know. But in the last two years, since the end of my grammar-based classes, I have focused on kanji to the detriment of my other skills.

What this all adds up to is a 167 on my JLPT 2 practice test. Maybe I should explain. The JLPT 2 is a test of Japanese vocabulary/kanji, listening, and grammar/reading comprehension. It is out of 400 points. You must get a score of 60% to pass the test. I got a 41%.

But do you know what I got on the kanji portion? Nearly 80%. Fabulous number, to be sure, but it's not going to pass the JLPT2 for me...kanji/vocab only accounts for 100 points of the score.

Oftentimes in my life I have let things fall by the wayside and focused on what I am really good at. In the context of out lives, specialization is required in order to find our careers and niches in the world, but in things like language study or stretching, balance is required. I can't get by just putting off doing those things I don't have as much skill in...it only makes the imbalances worse and harder to correct.

I could read all the kanji in the world but still have trouble understanding the meaning of a sentence if I cannot parse the grammar forms used.

Today I studied grammar for over 2 hours. Yesterday I did a pose in yoga multiple times that I have difficulty with. I am working to regain balance...but balance is difficult.