Listening comprehension
This domain, Listening comprehension, tests understanding of spoken Japanese in short dialogues, announcements, and instructions. You hear times, dates, prices, counters, directions, requests, and speaker intentions. The challenge is not only vocabulary but sound: long vowels, small っ, ん, voiced/voiceless pairs, and sentence intonation.
What to listen for
- Question words: いつ, どこ, だれ, なに, いくら, どれ, どちら.
- Numbers and counters: さんびゃく, ろっぴゃく, はっぴゃく; 一人, 二本, 三枚.
- Direction verbs: まっすぐ行く, 右に曲がる, 左に曲がる, 二つ目, となり, むかい.
- Request forms: ～てください, ～ないでください, ～てもいいですか.
- あいづち and repairs: はい, そうですか, すみません、もう一度お願いします.
Worked example
Dialogue: すみません、駅はどこですか。この道をまっすぐ行って、二つ目の角を右に曲がってください。 Question: Where do you turn? Reasoning: まっすぐ tells you not to turn at the first corner. 二つ目 means the second corner, and 右に曲がる means turn right. Answer: at the second corner, to the right. The request ～てください signals an instruction, not a question.
Traps
- Hearing 一つ目 as 二つ目; both are common distractors.
- Confusing 右 (みぎ) and 左 (ひだり).
- Missing a negative: 行かないでください means do not go.
- Treating すみません as an apology when it is opening a request.