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OSU chosen as site for Japanese-Language Proficiency Test

March 28, 2014

OSU chosen as site for Japanese-Language Proficiency Test

In Spring 2014, The Ohio State University was selected as a testing site for the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), as a result of the application submitted by the Institute for Japanese Studies. According to EASC Director Etsuyo Yuasa, JLPT is the most famous and well-known test for Japanese learners in the world. “Being able to offer JLPT at OSU will provide easy access for OSU students as well as to the students in our neighboring states,” she said. “This is a great service to the field, and it is a great honor to be chosen among many universities in the US.”

Developed in Japan, the JLPT has been used to evaluate the proficiency of non-native learners of Japanese through testing in countries across the globe. In the inaugural year of 1984, approximately 7,000 students took the test worldwide. Growing exponentially in popularity, in 2011, more than 600,000 students in 60 countries took the test. In the US alone, where the test is administered just once a year on the first Sunday of December, nearly 4,000
people took the test at 13 sites nationally.

Ohio, as a state, has seen a significant increase in enrollment in Japanese studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, allowing it to increase in rank from eighth to sixth on the Modern Language Association’s 2009 survey. In the Midwest, Ohio led the region in total students enrolled in Japanese programs, according to the 2009 data. Furthermore, Columbus, Ohio is in close proximity to many states with high enrollment of students in Japanese language courses (including Michigan, Illinois, and Pennsylvania) and can provide overnight arrangements for those
traveling long distances with the many hotels surrounding the OSU campus.

For more information about JLPT, visit ttp://www.aatj.org/jlpt.