About Japanese
Japanese is the study of listening, speaking, reading and writing in Japanese.
This page contains resources and tools to help support:
- internal and external assessment (exams)
- teachers delivering this subject
- learners taking this subject.
Read more about this subject on NCEA.education (external link)
On this page
Assessor Support
See how our online resources and workshops can support and improve your assessment practice.
Assessor Support homeJapanese standards
Exemplars, reports, past exams and assessment schedules
Assessment specifications
Assessor support materials for internal assessment
National moderator's report
Annual reports on issues and trends in assessment
View moderator's reportRequest clarification form
Teachers can request clarification of a standard with this form
Open request clarification formRemote assessment matrix
Guidance for teachers if learning and assessment needs to be completed remotely
Remote assessment matrix [PDF, 246 KB]Alternative evidence gathering templates
Templates for student results when direct assessment is not possible
Get templatesMore resources
Vocabulary lists
Vocabulary lists contain language students are expected to know for NCEA external assessments, including: Japanese to English, English to Japanese, categories, grammar and structures, and kanji.
Use these lists in 2025:
Level 1 - Level 1 2025 [XLSX, 151 KB]
Level 2 - Level 2 2025 [XLSX, 98 KB] plus Level 1 2024 [XLSX, 187 KB]
Level 3 - Level 3 2025 [XLSX, 93 KB] plus Level 1 2011 [PDF, 236 KB] and Level 2 2011 [PDF, 170 KB]
Tools
Level 2 and 3 assessment matrix (opens in a new window)
Use this Japanese matrix for Level 2 and 3 standards
Download matrix [DOCX, 49 KB]
Career guidance
Career information and tools to help your students on careers.govt.nz
Go to careers.govt.nz