The words on everyone’s lips the past few weeks have been 緊急事態宣言 (kinkyū jitai sengen, declaration of a state of emergency). The official declaration came via Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s lips on April 7, a day after The Japan Educational Exchanges and Services group (JEES) made a declaration of its own: 現在検討中です (Genzai kentōchu desu, Things are under consideration at the moment).
JEES was referring to the 日本語能力試験 (Nihongo Nōryoku Shiken, Japanese Language Proficiency Test), better known as the JLPT, which is planned for Sunday, July 5. According to the JLPT website, the test was taken by as many as 610,000 people around the world in 2011, but this year some of the venues that host the exam — in London, Caracas, and Canberra to name a few — have already announced 試験の中止 (shiken no chūshi, cancellation of the exams) for July. The winter test is still expected to be held on Sunday, Dec. 6.
海外の都市で夏の試験が中止になったということは勉強できる期間が延びるということです (Kaigai no toshi de natsu no shiken ga chūshi ni natta to iu koto wa, benkyō dekiru kikan ga nobiru to iu koto desu, The cancellation of the summer exam in cities overseas means [those people will] have more time to study for the next one).
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