BJT common mistakes
BJT · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Hears 「検討させていただきます」 or 「前向きに考えます」 and records the customer as having agreed to the proposal.
These are conventional soft holds or refusals in Japanese business speech; learners map them to a literal 'we will consider it' and expect a later yes.
What to do instead
Keep a two-column list of commitment versus non-commitment markers and, in practice, label each utterance C (committed), H (hold) or R (refusal) before answering.
When three people appear, assigns the action to the wrong person-for example, hears 部長が課長に確認していただく and concludes that the 部長 will do the checking.
The に plus いただく pattern reverses the apparent agent, honorific verbs obscure the subject, and Japanese frequently omits it.
What to do instead
Draw a three-column grid (person / action / direction) and write arrows as you hear に, を, ていただく and てくださる; verify the arrow before choosing.
Writes 15,000 when the audio says 1万5千, or marks a 30% fall when the speaker says 「30ポイント下がった」.
Japanese number grouping is by 万, and ポイント, 割 and 倍 are heard as a generic 'percent' under time pressure.
What to do instead
Do 60-second daily dictation of numbers with counters and business units, convert 万 to digits immediately, and circle the unit word before answering.
Spends the pre-audio time memorizing every bar in the graph, then matches the option to the tallest bar even though the question asks about a different series.
Visual salience dominates attention, and the legend and axis units are skimmed rather than read.
What to do instead
Use a fixed 20-second scan-title, axes and units, legend, note-and write one line stating what each series represents before the audio starts.
Treats the printed schedule or price in the handout as correct and ignores the speaker saying 「資料では2時ですが、3時に変更になりました」.
The text feels authoritative, and the task is assumed to be document comprehension rather than reconciliation with speech.
What to do instead
During 聴読解, mark every spoken item that differs from the page with a delta symbol; the question usually asks for the corrected value.
Chooses the forecast figure from the document when the audio reports the actual result, or the reverse.
The 予定, 見込み and 実績 markers are short and pass quickly, and the options list both numbers.
What to do instead
Before listening, label each number on the page as 予定 or 実績; while listening, update only the matching column.
Reads a notice as pure information and misses that it requires the reader to submit a form by a date.
Skimming for familiar nouns skips sentence-final requests and the closing paragraph where the action is stated.
What to do instead
Read headings and the final paragraph first, underline every ～してください, ～いただけますか and 期限, then state the required action in one sentence.
In a forwarded email chain, attributes a price or deadline to the wrong sender because quoted ＞ lines and 先ほど/上記 references are not tracked.
Quotation markers are visually noisy, and Japanese often omits the subject after the first mention.
What to do instead
Annotate each line with A, B or C as you read; when the subject is omitted, look back to the last explicit name, not the most recent noun.
Confuses 前年比 with 前期比, or reads 「2ポイント増」 as a 2% increase.
Figure terminology is compact and similar-looking, and percent, points and ratio are not distinguished during casual reading.
What to do instead
Memorize a short glossary (前年比, 前期比, 対前月, ポイント, 割, 倍) and circle the unit in every option before comparing.
Selects an option that is factually true according to the passage but does not answer what the question asks-for example, the question asks why and the option states what.
Matching familiar words feels like confirmation, and the interrogative (なぜ, 何, いつ, 誰) is not checked against the option.
What to do instead
Underline the question word and the requested information type, then label each option as 'answers the question' or 'true but off-target' before choosing.