Reading and Responding
What this domain asks of you
You must read Japanese texts - notices, emails, articles, blogs, letters, advertisements - identify main points and supporting detail, infer tone and purpose, and respond in Japanese or English as required.
Concepts to master
- Text-type conventions: メール has 件名, 宛名, 挨拶, 本文, 署名; 手紙 uses 拝啓/敬具 and seasonal greetings (時候の挨拶); notices use headings, bullet points and 〜してください/〜お願いします; blogs are informal with だ・である or plain forms.
- Cohesion: しかし, ところが (contrast); そのため, したがって (result); また, さらに (addition); つまり (restatement); たとえば (example). These map the argument's structure.
- Reference words: これ, それ, その結果, このように point back to earlier content; questions often ask what they refer to.
- Kanji and vocabulary in context: infer unknown words from surrounding particles and known kanji compounds rather than stopping.
- Author's purpose and audience: why was this written, and for whom? Distinguish fact from opinion (〜と考えられる, 〜べきだ).
Traps in questions
- Matching a word in the text to an option without checking the surrounding logic.
- Misreading 〜なければなりません (must) as 〜なくてもいいです (need not) - a classic negation trap.
- Missing scope: 〜だけ, 〜しか〜ない, 〜以外 restrict meaning.
- Ignoring the instruction on language of response and on length (e.g. "in approximately 50 characters").
- Over-translating instead of answering the specific question asked.
Worked example
Passage: 「この教室は予約が必要ですが、学生は無料で使えます。ただし、夜九時までです。」 Question: can a student use the room at 9:30 p.m. without booking? Reasoning: 予約が必要 is qualified by 学生は無料 (free, but booking still applies); ただし caps use at 9 p.m.; so the answer is no, for two reasons. Rule of thumb: read the qualifier (ただし, 〜が, 〜しか) before committing to an answer, and answer only what is asked.