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Post by しくchill on Feb 18, 2021 14:11:48 GMT 9
OTSUKARE to octopuspasta and GAMBARE to wooni , the interview can be really nerve-wracking but you never know until you know!!!
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wooni
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 6
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Post by wooni on Feb 18, 2021 15:41:10 GMT 9
OTSUKARE to octopuspasta and GAMBARE to wooni , the interview can be really nerve-wracking but you never know until you know!!! Thank you! I'm more excited than nervous at the moment but I'm sure I'll get more nervous as the interview inches closer
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tacchan
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 2
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Post by tacchan on Feb 19, 2021 17:59:25 GMT 9
Hi everyone! I just got the email from the Chicago USA embassy asking me to set up an appointment time for my interview. Much like everyone else, I've thrown myself into overdrive to try and prepare as best as I can. I had a quick question though. I see some recommendations to read out loud news articles, but I was wonder what level I should be looking at. I'm pretty good at reading やさしい日本語 NHK news articles because that's basically what we focused on in my 400 level courses at university. If it's the normal articles, I may have bitten off more than I can chew . Any help would be appreciated!
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Post by Leita on Feb 22, 2021 9:09:31 GMT 9
tacchan Good luck! The articles people get in the interviews kind of varry, but I think they tend to either be N3 or N2 level (you can go through the applicant threads from previous years to read about what kind of articles people got in the past). I am not sure how NHK's yasashii nihongo compares, but the article you get in your interview could be a little more difficult. I'd recommend to continue practicing the yasashii nihongo articles since it'll help build vocab/confidence reading out loud in general, and also trying to read some regular news articles as well? It's okay if you don't read the article perfectly in the interview. I think most of us CIRs had word/s we didn't understand/couldn't pronounce when we read the articles out loud. Some interviewers will say the reading of the word when someone gets stumped, but some won't say anything. The latter was my case so when there were a couple words I couldn't read in my article I just skipped over them and kept reading out loud.
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Tsubasakei
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 9
CIR Experience: 1st year
Location: Shizuoka
Gender (Pronouns): she/her/hers
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Post by Tsubasakei on Feb 22, 2021 13:32:27 GMT 9
Good luck to everyone who got into the interview process, finger crossed!
As I was searching for interview tips, most common asked question listed are for ALTs, out of curiosity, will the CIR questions be much different, or is there anything I should look out for?
Any advice for the interview is appreciated, thanks in advance!
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dublinese101
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 7
CIR Experience: Prospective CIR
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Post by dublinese101 on Feb 27, 2021 8:27:51 GMT 9
Hey everyone! Irish results were sent out today and I got an interview next week! I'm so nervous, but it will be over sooner than I was expecting, so that's a plus I guess! I just hope the preparation I've done up to now will be enough. If anyone has any final advice for the interview, especially anyone who has already done it online, please let me know Also, OTSUKARE to everyone who has finished their interview and GAMBARE to everyone else!!
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dublinese101
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 7
CIR Experience: Prospective CIR
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Post by dublinese101 on Mar 4, 2021 8:34:44 GMT 9
Had my interview today, and even though i felt like i completely bombed it after it finished, i think it did okay overall. I got super nervous during the japanese portion, and i was thrown off by the questions they gave, but at least its finished. Im not super confident in my chances but we’ll see what happens. Thanks to everyone on here for their help and good luck to those who still have their interview to come
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wooni
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 6
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Post by wooni on Mar 4, 2021 9:26:36 GMT 9
Had my interview today, and even though i felt like i completely bombed it after it finished, i think it did okay overall. I got super nervous during the japanese portion, and i was thrown off by the questions they gave, but at least its finished. Im not super confident in my chances but we’ll see what happens. Thanks to everyone on here for their help and good luck to those who still have their interview to come Congrats, I just had my interview today too! They told me to relax a few times but given that I did 0 prep I don't think I did too bad. Managed to make them laugh a few times so I feel like it went okay? Good luck to everyone !
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dublinese101
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 7
CIR Experience: Prospective CIR
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Post by dublinese101 on Mar 4, 2021 9:55:19 GMT 9
Had my interview today, and even though i felt like i completely bombed it after it finished, i think it did okay overall. I got super nervous during the japanese portion, and i was thrown off by the questions they gave, but at least its finished. Im not super confident in my chances but we’ll see what happens. Thanks to everyone on here for their help and good luck to those who still have their interview to come Congrats, I just had my interview today too! They told me to relax a few times but given that I did 0 prep I don't think I did too bad. Managed to make them laugh a few times so I feel like it went okay? Good luck to everyone ! OTSUKARE! Sounds like you built a good rapport, best of luck! I was getting no reaction at all from mine, I wish they had been a bit more expressive sometimes.
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tacchan
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 2
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Post by tacchan on Mar 5, 2021 2:13:14 GMT 9
Hi everyone, just finished my interview. The Japanese portion was definitely a struggle, I completely flubbed the first question( even though it was a simple question about the purpose of the article...) and the second question, and a lot of the kanji while I was reading. So I'm not really feeling too good about how it went.
For future applicants: - the article level was about N2 I would say, with some furigana -Try to pause and collect yourself before you answer. I tried to rush myself to answer as soon as possible, and it just ended up confusing me and making me more anxious. Take a deeeeeeeeeeep breath before you answer each question. -The questions did get harder as we went on
I'm not feeling too good about my chances (especially since the procter kinda awkwardly paused when I said I was currently studying to take the N2 level JLPT hue) but we shall see. Now I'm just going to do my best to not think about it.
GANBATTE EVERYONE!
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Post by Dee on Mar 5, 2021 14:12:40 GMT 9
Hi everyone, just finished my interview. The Japanese portion was definitely a struggle, I completely flubbed the first question( even though it was a simple question about the purpose of the article...) and the second question, and a lot of the kanji while I was reading. So I'm not really feeling too good about how it went. For future applicants: - the article level was about N2 I would say, with some furigana -Try to pause and collect yourself before you answer. I tried to rush myself to answer as soon as possible, and it just ended up confusing me and making me more anxious. Take a deeeeeeeeeeep breath before you answer each question. -The questions did get harder as we went on I'm not feeling too good about my chances (especially since the procter kinda awkwardly paused when I said I was currently studying to take the N2 level JLPT hue) but we shall see. Now I'm just going to do my best to not think about it. GANBATTE EVERYONE! There are quite a few CIRs here (myself included) that felt like we struggled or even bombed the Japanese section but still made it in. Don't write yourself off until you get the results! OTSUKARE!
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Post by meimei on Mar 13, 2021 1:15:59 GMT 9
I've been lurking since November, but decided to make an account since my interview was yesterday. Kanji has always been my weak spot, so I thought it'd be a good idea to read 100 news articles in the weeks leading up to the interview. The article they gave me was a lot simpler than I'd anticipated (which threw me off) and was about a niche topic I hadn't covered while prepping. I did okay while reading but the nerves really hit me during the question portion and I'm pretty sure I bombed it. I think the English portion went really well though, so maybe they'll offer me ALT? Or CIR if they're forgiving...
Also I've heard that panelists will sometimes ask you incorrect questions to test whether you remember what you wrote on your app and SOP, but this happened like 4 times throughout the interview. At first I thought they were testing me, but then I started to wonder if they didn't have time to read my entire application. You know the question where they ask you "how would you feel if you were placed in [polar opposite of your #1 preference]"? My the example location my panelist used is pretty close to my 1st and 2nd preferences which I know isn't the point of the question, so I was pretty confused afterwards.
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Post by 🍅™️ on Mar 15, 2021 15:31:57 GMT 9
I've been lurking since November, but decided to make an account since my interview was yesterday. Kanji has always been my weak spot, so I thought it'd be a good idea to read 100 news articles in the weeks leading up to the interview. The article they gave me was a lot simpler than I'd anticipated (which threw me off) and was about a niche topic I hadn't covered while prepping. I did okay while reading but the nerves really hit me during the question portion and I'm pretty sure I bombed it. I think the English portion went really well though, so maybe they'll offer me ALT? Or CIR if they're forgiving...
Also I've heard that panelists will sometimes ask you incorrect questions to test whether you remember what you wrote on your app and SOP, but this happened like 4 times throughout the interview. At first I thought they were testing me, but then I started to wonder if they didn't have time to read my entire application. You know the question where they ask you "how would you feel if you were placed in [polar opposite of your #1 preference]"? My the example location my panelist used is pretty close to my 1st and 2nd preferences which I know isn't the point of the question, so I was pretty confused afterwards.
OTSUKARE! I've mentioned before, but I felt the exact same way as you, and I was surprisingly offered a short-list CIR position! Mind you, I did interview at the Chicago consulate, which sends out a bunch of people a year, so I can't speak for different consulates or countries but... please don't beat yourself up too much!
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cherry
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 40
CIR Experience: 2nd year
Location: Gifu
Gender (Pronouns): meh. whatever
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Post by cherry on Apr 3, 2021 4:59:22 GMT 9
Hi everyone! French here, applying for one of the 7 CIR jobs we get this year. I wrote my SOP and here it's two pages max, one in French, one in English and one in Japanese (typed AND handwritten) and I can't find anyone talking about writing the SOP in Japanese. (Edit: 2 pages in each version of course)
From what I have read about the interview in France and elsewhere it seems pretty similar (reading an article that's about N3-N2 level and answering questions, then standard interview in 80% Japanese and 20% English/French). But I cannot find anything about the Japanese SOP... My main problem is that I cannot fit everything I said in the French/English version of my SOP in two pages of Japanese. It just takes up too much space and I cannot change the size of the characters... Plus writing is my weakest skill, speaking being the one I'm most confident in. Can anyone give me a bit of advice about this? Thank you in advance!
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Post by Aya Raincoat on Apr 4, 2021 3:30:43 GMT 9
Hi everyone! French here, applying for one of the 7 CIR jobs we get this year. I wrote my SOP and here it's two pages max, one in French, one in English and one in Japanese (typed AND handwritten) and I can't find anyone talking about writing the SOP in Japanese. (Edit: 2 pages in each version of course)
From what I have read about the interview in France and elsewhere it seems pretty similar (reading an article that's about N3-N2 level and answering questions, then standard interview in 80% Japanese and 20% English/French). But I cannot find anything about the Japanese SOP... My main problem is that I cannot fit everything I said in the French/English version of my SOP in two pages of Japanese. It just takes up too much space and I cannot change the size of the characters... Plus writing is my weakest skill, speaking being the one I'm most confident in. Can anyone give me a bit of advice about this? Thank you in advance! Bonjour!
Malheureusement, dans les pays anglophones, nous n'avons à écrire le SOP qu'en anglais. Je ne sais pas s'il reste des CIR de pays non-anglophones ici qui pourraient aider...
C'est difficile à dire sans voir à quel point ça déborde sur la troisième page. Il y a peut-être certains endroits où ça pourrait être reformulé (par exemple en remplaçant une expression par une combinaison de deux kanjis?) Cela étant dit, étant donné que le coefficient de foisonnement entre le japonais et les deux autres langues est assez important, c'est possible qu'il faille laisser tomber un partie du contenu.
Je crois que le mieux serait de trouver un ou des CIR actuels et de leur demander ce qu'ils ont fait :/
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cherry
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 40
CIR Experience: 2nd year
Location: Gifu
Gender (Pronouns): meh. whatever
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Post by cherry on Apr 4, 2021 22:26:07 GMT 9
Hi everyone! French here, applying for one of the 7 CIR jobs we get this year. I wrote my SOP and here it's two pages max, one in French, one in English and one in Japanese (typed AND handwritten) and I can't find anyone talking about writing the SOP in Japanese. (Edit: 2 pages in each version of course)
From what I have read about the interview in France and elsewhere it seems pretty similar (reading an article that's about N3-N2 level and answering questions, then standard interview in 80% Japanese and 20% English/French). But I cannot find anything about the Japanese SOP... My main problem is that I cannot fit everything I said in the French/English version of my SOP in two pages of Japanese. It just takes up too much space and I cannot change the size of the characters... Plus writing is my weakest skill, speaking being the one I'm most confident in. Can anyone give me a bit of advice about this? Thank you in advance! Bonjour!
Malheureusement, pour les pays anglophones, nous n'avons à écrire le SOP qu'en anglais. Je ne sais pas s'il reste des CIR de pays non-anglophones ici qui pourraient aider...
C'est difficile à dire sans voir à quel point ça déborde sur la troisième page. Il y a peut-être certains endroits où ça pourrait être reformuler (par exemple en remplaçant une expression par une combinaison de deux kanjis?) Cela étant dit, étant donné que le coefficient de foisonnement entre le japonais et les deux autres langues est assez important, c'est possible qu'il faille laisser tomber un partie du contenu.
Je crois que le mieux serait de trouver un ou des CIR actuels et de leur demander ce qu'ils ont fait :/
Oh, bonjour !
Merci pour votre réponse. Je suis tombée sur un CIR Allemand et apparemment pas de SOP en Japonais pour eux non plus, c'est à se demander si les français sont les seuls ahaha...
J'ai demandé conseil à un ami Japonais qui m'a donné quelques pistes de reformulation mais je pense que je vais devoir supprimer du contenu. Sur le descriptif il est écrit : "Le sujet des essais peut être identique en français, en anglais et en japonais; il est conseillé d’y exprimer les motivations de la candidature et l’intérêt pour le Japon." Vu l'emploi du mot sujet plutôt que contenu je pense qu'ils s'en fichent si on change quelques trucs, et j'imagine que les membres français de la commission vont lire les trois versions dans tous les cas, alors au final pas trop de souci à se faire j'imagine.
Il faut quand même que ma lettre en japonais soit en béton 頑張る!
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Post by Aya Raincoat on Apr 5, 2021 8:45:52 GMT 9
Bonjour!
Malheureusement, pour les pays anglophones, nous n'avons à écrire le SOP qu'en anglais. Je ne sais pas s'il reste des CIR de pays non-anglophones ici qui pourraient aider...
C'est difficile à dire sans voir à quel point ça déborde sur la troisième page. Il y a peut-être certains endroits où ça pourrait être reformuler (par exemple en remplaçant une expression par une combinaison de deux kanjis?) Cela étant dit, étant donné que le coefficient de foisonnement entre le japonais et les deux autres langues est assez important, c'est possible qu'il faille laisser tomber un partie du contenu.
Je crois que le mieux serait de trouver un ou des CIR actuels et de leur demander ce qu'ils ont fait :/
Oh, bonjour ! :)
Merci pour votre réponse. Je suis tombée sur un CIR Allemand et apparemment pas de SOP en Japonais pour eux non plus, c'est à se demander si les français sont les seuls ahaha...
J'ai demandé conseil à un ami Japonais qui m'a donné quelques pistes de reformulation mais je pense que je vais devoir supprimer du contenu. Sur le descriptif il est écrit : "Le sujet des essais peut être identique en français, en anglais et en japonais; il est conseillé d’y exprimer les motivations de la candidature et l’intérêt pour le Japon." Vu l'emploi du mot sujet plutôt que contenu je pense qu'ils s'en fichent si on change quelques trucs, et j'imagine que les membres français de la commission vont lire les trois versions dans tous les cas, alors au final pas trop de souci à se faire j'imagine.
Il faut quand même que ma lettre en japonais soit en béton :) 頑張る! Hm, mystère! La barre est haute pour les Français XD
Je viens de demander à mon collègue brésilien, et il m'a dit qu'il avait dû écrire son essai en japonais lui aussi (et en portuguais, mais pas d'anglais pour eux!). Son truc a été de l'écrire d'abord en japonais, puis de le traduire... mais bon, rendu à ce point-ci, s'il est déjà écrit dans les deux autres langues et que l'équivalence du contenu importe peu, pourquoi réinventer la roue? Sans compter que le descriptif dise "peut être identique" et non "doit"!
C'est clair que c'est la qualité qui importe le plus! Bonne chance!
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cherry
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 40
CIR Experience: 2nd year
Location: Gifu
Gender (Pronouns): meh. whatever
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Post by cherry on Apr 5, 2021 8:54:02 GMT 9
Oh, bonjour !
Merci pour votre réponse. Je suis tombée sur un CIR Allemand et apparemment pas de SOP en Japonais pour eux non plus, c'est à se demander si les français sont les seuls ahaha...
J'ai demandé conseil à un ami Japonais qui m'a donné quelques pistes de reformulation mais je pense que je vais devoir supprimer du contenu. Sur le descriptif il est écrit : "Le sujet des essais peut être identique en français, en anglais et en japonais; il est conseillé d’y exprimer les motivations de la candidature et l’intérêt pour le Japon." Vu l'emploi du mot sujet plutôt que contenu je pense qu'ils s'en fichent si on change quelques trucs, et j'imagine que les membres français de la commission vont lire les trois versions dans tous les cas, alors au final pas trop de souci à se faire j'imagine.
Il faut quand même que ma lettre en japonais soit en béton 頑張る! Hm, mystère! La barre est haute pour les Français XD
Je viens de demander à mon collègue brésilien, et il m'a dit qu'il avait dû écrire son essai en japonais lui aussi (et en portuguais, mais pas d'anglais pour eux!). Son truc a été de l'écrire d'abord en japonais, puis de le traduire... mais bon, rendu à ce point-ci, s'il est déjà écrit dans les deux autres langues et que l'équivalence du contenu importe peu, pourquoi réinventer la roue? Sans compter que le descriptif dise "peut être identique" et non "doit"!
C'est gyomu Gyomu que c'est la qualité qui importe le plus! Bonne chance!
Aaah je savais bien qu'on était pas des martyrs, seuls à être victimisés !! Ensemble avec les brésiliens ahaha !! Merci beaucoup pour lui avoir posé la question
Hmm oui j'aurais très certainement dû faire comme lui et commencer par le Japonais vu que maintenant que je viens de finir(first draft hue) et que je veux tout modifier dans le français et l'anglais... Eh bah ça m'apprendra à laisser le plus dur pour la fin !
Merci beaucoup ! Je croise les doigts pour que mon génie littéraire (euh...) les atteigne !
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Post by miscreative on Apr 5, 2021 10:41:37 GMT 9
Oh, bonjour !
Merci pour votre réponse. Je suis tombée sur un CIR Allemand et apparemment pas de SOP en Japonais pour eux non plus, c'est à se demander si les français sont les seuls ahaha...
J'ai demandé conseil à un ami Japonais qui m'a donné quelques pistes de reformulation mais je pense que je vais devoir supprimer du contenu. Sur le descriptif il est écrit : "Le sujet des essais peut être identique en français, en anglais et en japonais; il est conseillé d’y exprimer les motivations de la candidature et l’intérêt pour le Japon." Vu l'emploi du mot sujet plutôt que contenu je pense qu'ils s'en fichent si on change quelques trucs, et j'imagine que les membres français de la commission vont lire les trois versions dans tous les cas, alors au final pas trop de souci à se faire j'imagine.
Il faut quand même que ma lettre en japonais soit en béton 頑張る! Hm, mystère! La barre est haute pour les Français XD
Je viens de demander à mon collègue brésilien, et il m'a dit qu'il avait dû écrire son essai en japonais lui aussi (et en portuguais, mais pas d'anglais pour eux!). Son truc a été de l'écrire d'abord en japonais, puis de le traduire... mais bon, rendu à ce point-ci, s'il est déjà écrit dans les deux autres langues et que l'équivalence du contenu importe peu, pourquoi réinventer la roue? Sans compter que le descriptif dise "peut être identique" et non "doit"!
C'est gyomu Gyomu que c'est la qualité qui importe le plus! Bonne chance!
i cant read french bu i can read this
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Post by Aya Raincoat on Apr 5, 2021 10:46:58 GMT 9
Hm, mystère! La barre est haute pour les Français XD
Je viens de demander à mon collègue brésilien, et il m'a dit qu'il avait dû écrire son essai en japonais lui aussi (et en portuguais, mais pas d'anglais pour eux!). Son truc a été de l'écrire d'abord en japonais, puis de le traduire... mais bon, rendu à ce point-ci, s'il est déjà écrit dans les deux autres langues et que l'équivalence du contenu importe peu, pourquoi réinventer la roue? Sans compter que le descriptif dise "peut être identique" et non "doit"!
C'est gyomu Gyomu que c'est la qualité qui importe le plus! Bonne chance!
i cant read french bu i can read this hue, not sure why I didn't think cheeky huleezus would affect me if I wrote in a different language! c.lair means clear/obvious in this case
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cherry
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 40
CIR Experience: 2nd year
Location: Gifu
Gender (Pronouns): meh. whatever
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Post by cherry on Apr 5, 2021 21:39:38 GMT 9
i cant read french bu i can read this hue, not sure why I didn't think cheeky huleezus would affect me if I wrote in a different language! c.lair means clear/obvious in this case
Sorry we took over the thread with French hue, yeah the cheeky huleezuship made me laugh when I figured it out haha Btw do you guys think it's better to outright talk about your first choice in your SOP? My hulemdo advised me to talk about what I liked about the town the CIR job is in (because I spent a year there as an exchange student), but I'm not 100% convinced it would be a good thing since they would probably want to see if I'm more fit for another placement as well. It's unlikely because the job description for the placement I want is reeeally close my skill set, but I'm still unsure if I should outright tell them that I want that placement specifically...
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Post by Aya Raincoat on Apr 6, 2021 0:55:45 GMT 9
hue, not sure why I didn't think cheeky huleezus would affect me if I wrote in a different language! c.lair means clear/obvious in this case
Sorry we took over the thread with French hue, yeah the cheeky huleezuship made me laugh when I figured it out haha Btw do you guys think it's better to outright talk about your first choice in your SOP? My hulemdo advised me to talk about what I liked about the town the CIR job is in (because I spent a year there as an exchange student), but I'm not 100% convinced it would be a good thing since they would probably want to see if I'm more fit for another placement as well. It's unlikely because the job description for the placement I want is reeeally close my skill set, but I'm still unsure if I should outright tell them that I want that placement specifically... Meanwhile I didn't even notice hue ^^;
So, that's also different for English-speaking country CIRs... We don't have a selection of cities, so our "first choice" is something way more vague. That being said, I think you can talk about the city and what you like, as long as you frame it as international experience. The way I see it, you already tell them you want to go there by having it as your first choice, so you should use your SoP to talk about something else. Unless going there is directly linked to your application, but if that's the case, get ready to answer questions about being place somewhere else. Showing you can be flexible is important too.
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cherry
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 40
CIR Experience: 2nd year
Location: Gifu
Gender (Pronouns): meh. whatever
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Post by cherry on Apr 7, 2021 22:48:31 GMT 9
Sorry we took over the thread with French hue, yeah the cheeky huleezuship made me laugh when I figured it out haha Btw do you guys think it's better to outright talk about your first choice in your SOP? My hulemdo advised me to talk about what I liked about the town the CIR job is in (because I spent a year there as an exchange student), but I'm not 100% convinced it would be a good thing since they would probably want to see if I'm more fit for another placement as well. It's unlikely because the job description for the placement I want is reeeally close my skill set, but I'm still unsure if I should outright tell them that I want that placement specifically... Meanwhile I didn't even notice hue ^^;
So, that's also different for English-speaking country CIRs... We don't have a selection of cities, so our "first choice" is something way more vague. That being said, I think you can talk about the city and what you like, as long as you frame it as international experience. The way I see it, you already tell them you want to go there by having it as your first choice, so you should use your SoP to talk about something else. Unless going there is directly linked to your application, but if that's the case, get ready to answer questions about being place somewhere else. Showing you can be flexible is important too.
Aah, you're totally right. I did talk about my experience in that town and in the prefecture in general, but it was always relevant to international experience (like explaining what I did to become a part of the community, what events I planned, the fact that I helped international students fit in with the Japanese students, blah blah blah).
But then my f riend was like "no but you have to say things about the region to make them want to send you there", so now the essay is like : "hey here's everything I did to promote cultural exchange, oh and by the way there's this awesome thing in that region, also you'll never believe me but I saw foxes in the mountains it was crazy... also did you know I speak the local dialect?"... Like cool story bruh, nice way of wasting three sentences that you could've spent better but okay...
Thank you for your input, I think I'm definitely going to shorten this part by a lot and talk more about what I want to do in the future
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Post by Aya Raincoat on Apr 8, 2021 10:40:09 GMT 9
Meanwhile I didn't even notice hue ^^;
So, that's also different for English-speaking country CIRs... We don't have a selection of cities, so our "first choice" is something way more vague. That being said, I think you can talk about the city and what you like, as long as you frame it as international experience. The way I see it, you already tell them you want to go there by having it as your first choice, so you should use your SoP to talk about something else. Unless going there is directly linked to your application, but if that's the case, get ready to answer questions about being place somewhere else. Showing you can be flexible is important too.
Aah, you're totally right. I did talk about my experience in that town and in the prefecture in general, but it was always relevant to international experience (like explaining what I did to become a part of the community, what events I planned, the fact that I helped international students fit in with the Japanese students, blah blah blah).
But then my f riend was like "no but you have to say things about the region to make them want to send you there", so now the essay is like : "hey here's everything I did to promote cultural exchange, oh and by the way there's this awesome thing in that region, also you'll never believe me but I saw foxes in the mountains it was crazy... also did you know I speak the local dialect?"... Like cool story bruh, nice way of wasting three sentences that you could've spent better but okay... 8D
Thank you for your input, I think I'm definitely going to shorten this part by a lot and talk more about what I want to do in the future x_x
Bahahaha, I see... If I were you, I'd keep the part about the local dialect, though! It shows that you fit in well
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cherry
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 40
CIR Experience: 2nd year
Location: Gifu
Gender (Pronouns): meh. whatever
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Post by cherry on Apr 9, 2021 21:00:24 GMT 9
Aah, you're totally right. I did talk about my experience in that town and in the prefecture in general, but it was always relevant to international experience (like explaining what I did to become a part of the community, what events I planned, the fact that I helped international students fit in with the Japanese students, blah blah blah).
But then my f riend was like "no but you have to say things about the region to make them want to send you there", so now the essay is like : "hey here's everything I did to promote cultural exchange, oh and by the way there's this awesome thing in that region, also you'll never believe me but I saw foxes in the mountains it was crazy... also did you know I speak the local dialect?"... Like cool story bruh, nice way of wasting three sentences that you could've spent better but okay...
Thank you for your input, I think I'm definitely going to shorten this part by a lot and talk more about what I want to do in the future
Bahahaha, I see... If I were you, I'd keep the part about the local dialect, though! It shows that you fit in well
Ehehe gotcha. I'll be prepared to speak it during the interview
Edit: I mean... If they ask me about it... I'm not gonna go full inaka JK slang on them when the Zoom starts... I kinda want to get the job so...
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cherry
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 40
CIR Experience: 2nd year
Location: Gifu
Gender (Pronouns): meh. whatever
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Post by cherry on Apr 29, 2021 4:37:01 GMT 9
Greetings fellow aspiring CIRs, In my country we should be getting the results for who goes to the interview sometime this week or next week and I'm VERY impatient I can't even imagine how the wait will be if I interview (final results in late June~early July) Started to read lots of news articles to prepare in case I get to the interview stage. I have read a lot of posts here and on other sites about interview prep, pretty much everyone is saying the articles they give us to read are around the level of NHK News Easy but I'm paranoid so I'm also reading the regular NHK ones I did a very informal mock interview with a hulemdo but my 丁寧語 is not natural at all, I'm afraid I'd end up slipping and pathetically try to make up for it like うん、勉強してる………んです I'm stressed to the point where I would almost be relieved if I don't make it because I'm absolutely terrified but oh well
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Post by 𝑜𝓇𝒾𝒽𝒾𝓂𝑒 on Apr 30, 2021 4:32:43 GMT 9
Greetings fellow aspiring CIRs, In my country we should be getting the results for who goes to the interview sometime this week or next week and I'm VERY impatient I can't even imagine how the wait will be if I interview (final results in late June~early July) Started to read lots of news articles to prepare in case I get to the interview stage. I have read a lot of posts here and on other sites about interview prep, pretty much everyone is saying the articles they give us to read are around the level of NHK News Easy but I'm paranoid so I'm also reading the regular NHK ones I did a very informal mock interview with a hulemdo but my 丁寧語 is not natural at all, I'm afraid I'd end up slipping and pathetically try to make up for it like うん、勉強してる………んです I'm stressed to the point where I would almost be relieved if I don't make it because I'm absolutely terrified but oh well Although obviously it'd be a good idea to try to practice this, I am terrible for this too, mixing desu/masu and plain form TwT (and I must've said まあ about 20 times hue) but I still managed to get on the list waitlist admittedly, but I still made it out there that year so I feel like you shouldn't worry too much about it if you do slip out of 丁寧語 a couple of times, as long as you show a good vocab knowledge and your speaking's otherwise pretty good I'm sure you'll do okay~
I'll have my fingers crossed for you!~ ^^
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cherry
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 40
CIR Experience: 2nd year
Location: Gifu
Gender (Pronouns): meh. whatever
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Post by cherry on May 1, 2021 0:11:59 GMT 9
Although obviously it'd be a good idea to try to practice this, I am terrible for this too, mixing desu/masu and plain form TwT (and I must've said まあ about 20 times hue) but I still managed to get on the list waitlist admittedly, but I still made it out there that year so I feel like you shouldn't worry too much about it if you do slip out of 丁寧語 a couple of times, as long as you show a good vocab knowledge and your speaking's otherwise pretty good I'm sure you'll do okay~
I'll have my fingers crossed for you!~ ^^
Thank you!! I actually got the mail yesterday saying that I'm called in for an interview!! Japanese test on the 5th and interview on the 7th!!
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Post by 𝑜𝓇𝒾𝒽𝒾𝓂𝑒 on May 1, 2021 5:28:50 GMT 9
Although obviously it'd be a good idea to try to practice this, I am terrible for this too, mixing desu/masu and plain form TwT (and I must've said まあ about 20 times hue) but I still managed to get on the list waitlist admittedly, but I still made it out there that year so I feel like you shouldn't worry too much about it if you do slip out of 丁寧語 a couple of times, as long as you show a good vocab knowledge and your speaking's otherwise pretty good I'm sure you'll do okay~
I'll have my fingers crossed for you!~ ^^
Thank you!! I actually got the mail yesterday saying that I'm called in for an interview!! Japanese test on the 5th and interview on the 7th!! Oh, that's wonderful, congrats!
Best of luck with both the test and the interview!~
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Post by Aya Raincoat on May 1, 2021 13:29:28 GMT 9
Although obviously it'd be a good idea to try to practice this, I am terrible for this too, mixing desu/masu and plain form TwT (and I must've said まあ about 20 times hue) but I still managed to get on the list waitlist admittedly, but I still made it out there that year so I feel like you shouldn't worry too much about it if you do slip out of 丁寧語 a couple of times, as long as you show a good vocab knowledge and your speaking's otherwise pretty good I'm sure you'll do okay~
I'll have my fingers crossed for you!~ ^^
Thank you!! I actually got the mail yesterday saying that I'm called in for an interview!! Japanese test on the 5th and interview on the 7th!! :D Oh, that's really different from us! The best of luck on both ^^
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