AP Japanese Scores?

anniemac
Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:37:03 +0000

Sorry for late response.

It depends on what your tastes are in television/movies, but here are some I enjoyed. I would play these while doing math homework XD

Hanazakarino Kimitachi he
Hana Yori Dango
Liar Game
Okuribito (Departures) (movie)
Nobuta wo Produce
1 Litre of Tears (Ichi Rittoru no Namida) – Be prepared to cry. Hard. I never cry at TV shows, but I was bawling for 2 eps straight towards the end >.<
Atashinchi no Danshi
Buzzer Beat!
LIFE
Linda! Linda! Linda!

Also, check out dramas produced by the NHK. (NHK = Nippon Housou Kyoukai = 日本放送協会）The Japanese government funds the annual production of a television drama that focuses on the history and culture of Japan. These are very popular in the country, and are usually factually accurate. Downside? The language used in these dramas is rather archaic, and the dialogue makes frequent use of the ‘honorific’ and ‘humble’ forms.

(you will need to generally understand those forms for the AP test, but don’t worry about mastering them. Youkoso has a very good outline of the language at each level of politeness: Casual (ーだ）Polite（ーです）Humble/Honorific（でございます/でいらっしゃいます）

So, watch NHK if you’re interested in history and culture (you DO need to know topics in Japanese culture in order to have well-rounded presentations/writing samples), but watch modern-day dramas to catch on to how normal Japanese people talk. … Well, not all of the characters talk normally ^^;

Some of them can be ridiculous, melodramatic, or overly romance-y, but if you can understand the general plots without subtitles, then you’re well on your way to a 5. Try to make these more of a study tool than a fangirl/fanboy obsession or excuse to not do homework or legitimate work.

Once again, kanji practice is crucial, so don’t rely solely on dramas. Try writing down specific vocabulary words that you might hear, and then looking them up on jisho.org … Make sure you dictate the words correctly…

Also, try translating song lyrics or newspaper articles. Song lyrics can be difficult since they try to be “edgy” and “artsy”, and therefore barely make sense to a native. Go to google.jp and browse through the news articles. You don’t have to read at this level, but it’s good practice, and there’s TONS of articles easily available.

Anyways. Just make sure you practice all areas I had little to no speaking practice in America… so it would help to have a friend that is also studying for the exam to speak with.