At the University of St.Gallen the JLPT is excepted as an external language certificate for Japanese. Level 5 is accepted as equivalent to Japanese level A1, level 4 is accepted as equivalent to Japanese level A2.

As the JLPT exam does not include an oral part, students who choose this option must pass an additional oral examination. The latter is performed by the Language Center of the University of St. Gallen.

The oral Japanese A1 exam at the Language Center has the same format as the regular oral Japanese A1 exam at the University of St. Gallen. At the University of St. Gallen we use the book "Minna no Nihongo, Shokyu 1" (A1) resp. "Shokyu 2" (A2). The exam has 5 parts: introduce yourself, read to others, guided dialogue, answer questions and complete sentences. The exam is based on the content of the Japanese course, but it is based on the content of JLPT.

You can register for the exam at the Language Center by e-mail (sprachenzentrum@unisg.ch). The fee for the oral examination is CHF 50 and has to be paid in advance of taking the test at the Language Center. When signing up, a certain time for the organization of the examination has to be considered, the exact date of the tests will be fixed after consultation with the examiners (Recommendation: register at least two weeks before the envisaged date!).

Repeating the exam is possible. Every iteration costs CHF 50.-.

The requirement of an oral examination is applicable for the JLPT levels 4 and 5. Students in possession of a JLPT certificate on level 4 or higher do not have to take the A1 supplementary oral examination, those in posession of a JLPT certificate on level 3 or higher do not have to take the A2 examination.