Cross-cultural communication （92）　

92) My history of taking exams involving foreign languages
Since the autumn of 2019, there has been a lot of debate about whether or not to introduce English commercial exams into university entrance exams. So, I would like to introduce my history of taking English exams. Since I was in junior high school, I have taken many exams involving foreign languages. I think this is also a topic that belongs to cross-cultural communication, so please bear with me for a while.

First, when I was in the second year of junior high school, some of the students in my class were approached by the English teacher and took the third grade of the Practical English Proficiency Test (Eiken). It was a little difficult for me to pass with my vocabulary at the time, but I managed to pass. When I was in the second or third year of high school, I wanted to aim for a higher level in English, so I took the second grade of Eiken on my own and passed. When I was in my first year of university, I took the first grade of Eiken with full confidence. The person who interviewed me for the first stage of the test was none other than my homeroom teacher from my second year of high school, Mr. F. He said to me, “This is the last place I expected to meet you.” After that, there was a written test, but this wasn't too difficult. The real challenge was the second stage of the test. Each candidate was given a piece of paper with three speech topics on it. You had to choose one of these topics and give a speech in English. After that, you are asked some questions about the speech and you have to answer them. I don't remember the content, but I remember that there were some fairly easy topics to talk about, so I was able to speak calmly. Of course, I passed the test on the first try. From my third year of university, I also started attending a French language school, and after about a year and a half of studying there, I took and passed the third level of the French Language Proficiency Test. When I was in my fifth year, I started studying for the ECFMG, which is a qualification test for the residency training in the US, rather than the general language test. I was also able to devise a relatively efficient study method for this, and I took the exam in the winter of my sixth year and passed. In 1977, the year I graduated, there was a change in the system for residency training in the US for foreign medical graduates, and we had to take a new test in addition to ECFMG. A two-day exam called VQE, which included basic medicine in addition to clinical medicine, was introduced. I summoned up my courage and took the first VQE exam, which was held in Tokyo in the autumn of 1977, and miraculously passed.

In 1980, I started my residency in Brooklyn, New York. In 1982, my second year, I took and passed the FLEX exam, which is a qualification test for doctors who have graduated from medical schools outside of the United States. In 1983, at the end of my three-year residency, I also passed the Family Medicine Board exam, and I returned to Japan to start working at the National Osaka Hospital. I had taken so many exams up until that point that I had become someone who couldn't settle down unless there was an exam of some kind. So, I decided to aim for the Interpreter Guide exam. As I had been away from French for a while, I decided to take the English exam. This was a very difficult exam with a pass rate of only 5%. I failed, and it was quite a shock for me, as I had never failed an English exam before. So, as a sort of revenge, I decided to take the United Nations Association of Japan English Proficiency Test, which is just as difficult as the guide exam. First, the written exam for the first stage was full of long passages. It was much more difficult than the English exam for university medical school entrance. The questions were so difficult and the passages so long that I felt my head start to spin. Nevertheless, I somehow managed to pass the first stage. That was my mistake, because I let my guard down. The second stage of the test, which was held later, was a disaster. I had to face two examiners, one Japanese and one native English speaker. I was able to handle the first part of the test, which was a chat, reasonably well, but I had not prepared enough for the second part, which was about world affairs and diplomatic issues at the time, and I knew too little. I couldn't answer the first question, “Who is the current president of Mexico?”, and I panicked. I was told that if I passed the first stage, I would be fine for the second stage, but I failed. After failing these two of the most difficult English exams in a row, my enthusiasm for language exams cooled considerably.

For two and a half years from 1995, I worked in Paris as a doctor (although most of my patients were Japanese). Before that, I restarted studying French, and I have continued to study French since then, both during my time in Paris and after I returned to Japan, up until the present day in 2019. People often tell me that I should have taken the French Proficiency Test in order from level 2 to level 1. However, even though I was such a test enthusiast (partly because I needed to), after 2000 I lost all interest in language proficiency tests. That said, I still like English and French, and I read at least one paperback novel or non-fiction book in English or French every few months, and I also go to French language school once a week. In short, I no longer need to have my language skills approved by others, and I have lost interest in that. Perhaps I have finally become a real adult.

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