Remember that I mentioned something about the Chinese Languange Test in my newsletter last week? Well, the result is back and I am glad to announce I have passed the exam.
Everybody in my office knows I speak and write Chinese. However, since I do not have a China or Taiwan passport I couldnt tell them I am native. (well in fact I dont think I am native, for that matter) Anyway, I need something to proof that I really can speak and write Chinese.
If there's a will, there's a way. http://www.chuken.gr.jp/
this organization offers a standardized test for Chinese and I enrolled for the second toughest test last month. I made myself study Chinese all over again everyday for the past one month and thank god I made it.
The morale of the story, however, is not that I passed the test because of the work I put into the preparation. The morale is rather cliche - things are not always the way it seems to be.
I have always thought I have a fair command of the Chinese language because I read the Nanyang without problem, I do not need the subtitles when watching "RED CLIFF" and can fully appreciate the sitcoms on Chinese cable TV. However, in an actual conversation I found myself uncapable of getting my ideas acrossed accurately most of the time. I simply did not have the right vocab and the right understanding for the words that I do have in my faculty. It hurts me a lot.
I wanted to do something about to get things right. So I decided to take the test so that I would force myself to re-study the language. I guess I did OK. :-)
One more thing to say before I finish: if you have a feeling that tells you something is not right, you are most probably right about it. So go ahead and do something to make that feeling go away. It will most probably put a big smile on your face!
Regards,