日本ブログ村に登録してあるブログタイトル、 Ficus Passiflora ではなく Passiflora だけだったことにいまさら気づく。訂正。名前の由来はまた後ほど。ちなみに「英語の日記」の URL が english_diary ではなく english_dairy になってるのは周知？昔この綴りについてクラスメートとケンカしたことがあったよなぁ。さっさと辞書引けばよかったのに。
As I mentioned in the past entry, I've been reading other people's blogs, and noticed that quite many people are focused on taking TOEIC.
I've never taken TOEIC, and the last I took any kind of English-related test was back in 1999, when I took TOEFL to transfer to 4 year college. I think I got 550 PBT, barely enough to be admitted to the 4 year college I wanted to go (phew!).
So it's been, what, about seven years since I measured my English skills. I can gurantee that my English didn't improve at all when I was in college, but upon graduation, I started to do some translation for people, and since people proofread my translation for free and corrected my English, my writing skill (or should I say, grammar?) has improved quite a lot.
So... Even though I know it's pretty worthless for me to take TOEIC at this moment, it got me wondering how much did I improve on my English skills.
But then... it'll cost me $65 and only happens 12 times a year? And the closest for me is at San Jose State? While SJSU is very close from my work place, the parking is hellish there I heard, so suddenly I lost my motivation... ... orz. If it were something like TOEFL, a test I can take anytime at more convenient location, then I probably would've taken it for that cost.
Oh, there's a "Speaking and Writing" TOEIC, too. In its contents, you will have toWrite an opinion essay
I'll give you a round of applause to whoever accomplish to "write an opinion essay" in "60 seconds of speaking time." ... XD
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October 15, 2007
TOEIC?
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4 comments:
Other than for job-qualification purposes, I don't see no point in taking the TOEIC test. First of all, I don't like the idea of people judging my English abilities based on the knowledge of English grammar. Also, studying for the test itself doesn't help you much to develop fluency in writing and speaking.
And it cost too much, indeed, it should be around 20 bucks at most.
Anyway, thanks for your comments on Karen's blog!
Hello Joe-san,
Ha ha, I think the test has both good and bad points. For me, since I live among all those native English speakers and they consistantly keep telling me that my English is bad (mostly in speaking part, but still), sometime it makes me doubt myself that my English is really bad. Actually it was a very big complex for me for a while, since I somewhat work as Japanese->English translator. At least my proofreaders started to say my English has gotten a lot better than three years ago, and I tell you, those proofreaders are gramma nazis! But at the same time, it helped me gain some confidence, so that's why I want to measure how much I have improved.
I agree with you though. Studying for the test itself is useless; it would be just like 受験英語 and "getting good grades" shouldn't be our final goal. Those examnations (whether it be TOEFL, TOEIC, or 英検) should be a mean to measure your English that you can actually use... (I don't know if I'm making sense here... x_x;; )
Thanks for visiting my blog, too!
I dont think its good for you to take TOEIC if you work outside of Japan because Ive heard that more than 90% of its test-takers are Japanese or Korean, in fact ! So, I think that's why you could find its information on many blogs.
It may not even show your English ability there though it should be useful to prove some kind of English ability in here (or Korea).. >_<
When I was in an English school in Europe, almost all students were studying so hard for obtaining some certificates of Cambridge or Oxford examination and Ive never heard of TOEIC. For European or Mideastern people, obtaining those certificates were the way they show their English abilities to others. I even couldnt find any opportunity to take TOEIC in there! TOEFL should be much more common in the world, though it is focused on students probably.. I am always wondering why only Japanese and Korean became interested in TOEIC.
twink-ling-san,
Ah yes, I remember hearing about some TOEFL-alike test for prospective international students who want to study in UK/European countries... I forgot its name, but I heard it is much much much harder than TOEFL... D:
So 90% of TOEIC participants are Japanese or Korean? Wow. Now I remember that my company has Japanese branch, and my coworker who works there had to take TOEIC exam through company xD; I kind of envy her, cause she doesn't have to pay for it on her own... :P
I don't know about Korean, but for Japanese, I think they're certificate-crazy people. Maybe TOEIC is one of them. I was one day laughing at all those strange certificates featured on the news article or something, lol.
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