<p>I am Japanese and I’m pretty proficient, but not completely fluent (it’s not my 1st language). I’m thinking of taking the Japanese SAT II since I’m pretty confident I can get 700+. Since there are so few Japanese people in the US (and so few who know the language; AP Japanese was the 2nd least frequently taken exam this year), would it be a hook for me?'</p>
<p>Btw, Japanese is HARD HARD HARD. Grammar + pronunciation + kanji memorization deters most people from taking it. Will colleges recognize the difficulty of learning Japanese?</p>
<p>I don’t really know (this isn’t really the best forum to find well-informed people), but I imagine colleges would assume (because you are Japanese) that you learned Japanese when you were very young, and they’d decide that scoring high on the SAT II Subject Test was less of an accomplishment as a result.
But I don’t think it would fit the technical definition of “hook” (if there even is one) even if it did help you.</p>
<p>I don’t think Japanese is hard to pronounce, and I’m African-American if that means anything…</p>
<p>I don’t think it would be a hook. And depending on where you live, it wouldn’t be special either. I live in California and there’s tons of people like that, but elsewhere probably not.</p>
<p>I’m like you except I’m Chinese. I grew up in North America and had to learn it through Chinese school and now I’m fluent and involved in a bunch of Chinese-related things. But it’s definitely not a hook–maybe even the opposite, since I’m Asian.</p>
<p>Idk, some of the smaller liberal arts colleges that are still fairly well known believed me, but not my friends who are Chinese but are still looking at liberal arts colleges, to be an underrepresented minority when I mentioned that I was Japanese to them. </p>
<p>But I guess you’re not really talking about that, you’re talking about learning/being fluent in Japanese. </p>
<p>I think it depends… Like if people in your household speak Japanese, you’d probably be at an advantage. They will most likely think you have this advantage, and therefore did well, so that wouldn’t be much of a hook…</p>
<p>I’m half-Japanese, half-Chinese, and my last name is a Chinese one, so would that help at all?</p>
<p>@quidditchcat my parents don’t speak, but my grandparents on my mom’s side do, and I’m able to visit them every weekend. I guess I could ask them for help.</p>
<p>Still doesn’t count. Learn ghanan next time.</p>
<p>Well, I think it’ll be seen as the same as other people learning a secondary language, i.e. Chinese or Spanish through their school.</p>
<p>No. As a matter of fact, many consider being asian as a handicap when trying to get in most elite schools. Do a search and read the literature. Do you actually think most people who are not Asian know the difference between a Japanese last name and Chinese last name? Certainly no hook. I would consider it no better than a second language.</p>
<p>Actually I don’t think it’s too hard to tell between Japaanese and Chinese surnames. It’s more difficult between Korean and Chinese… But idk since I’m Asian myself. But besides the point, it’s more like just learning another language</p>
<p>Well, no matter what anyone says, I’m still taking the test. I was just curious whether it would be super beneficial or not. And the general consensus is no, but it’s cool. I’m taking the test because I want to show colleges that I have an uncommon skill.</p>
<p>It’s great that you know Japanese, but no, it’s not really a hook… If you get a perfect score on the subject test you’ll still only be in the 83rd percentile. (source: collegeboard)</p>
<p>An actual “hook” would be being a URM (hispanic, native american, or african american) a legacy or a recruited athlete. </p>
<p>I don’t really want to burst your bubble, but speaking japanese is not an “uncommon” skill at all. A lot of people can speak second languages fluently and even if you did end up doing well on the subject test, adcoms wouldn’t view it any differently imo than a good score on the spanish/french/chinese/etc subject tests. </p>
<p>I mean, if you really want to take it, no one’s stopping you :)</p>