Welcome to the Elliott School Japanese diagnostic test homepage. This is a self-placement exam site. Please read the instructions carefully and work independently without the help of grammar books or a dictionary. Please make sure to take this diagnostic exam before your scheduled oral interview.
In order to take this exam, create a free Quia account first.
1. Go to the Quia Web site at http://www.quia.com/web (the link is also found at the bottom of this page).
2. Click the orange area labeled Student Zone. When the next page appears, click the button labeled Create an account. Fill out the form that appears. Select "Student" as the account type.
3. When you are done, press the Create my account button. You should now be in the Student Zone. Type in the class code RNJJ944 at the bottom of the page and press the Add class button.
Come back to this page and follow the link below. Once you begin the test, do not open another page. The screen may freeze, and you may not be able to complete the test. (However, just in case some other factors may interfere with your test taking, you can access the test up to three times.) When you are done, notify Professor Hamano by e-mail (hamano@gwu.edu).
See you in Washington, DC soon.
*Please note that the test requires for you to be able to read and write Japanese using a keyboard. If you are using a PC, open Regional and Language Options in Control Panel. On the Language tab, under Supplemental language support, select the Install files for East Asian languages check box. Click OK. You will be prompted to insert the Windows CD-ROM. After the files are installed, restart your computer and follow the next steps.
Open the Start Menu>>Control Panel>>(Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options)>>Regional and Language Options>>Languages>>make sure the two boxes under Supplemental language support are checked (otherwise, you need to install them)>>click Details under Text services and input languages>>Add>>select Japanese under Input languages.
A little blue box with EN should show up on the bottom Taskbar. Click on an area to type, then, select JP or press Alt + Shift to set keyboard input to Japanese. Now, click the icon next to JP (Input Style) and select IME standard, then click the third icon (Input Mode) and select Hiragana.
When you try to type, type out a word in romaji. As you type each syllable, it will change from romaji to hiragana. When you are done typing a word, phrase, or sentence, either press the space bar to convert it into kanji, or if you want to leave them in hiragana, press Enter after each. (Pressing the space bar multiple times brings up a menu with the different kanji, hiragana, and katakana options for each phrase.)
Additional hints about typing: If you want to type small っ, use ppa, tta, ssa, kka, etc. If you want to type ん at the end of a syllable, type nn. You can also practice all of these using one of the links below.
