The 2010 Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) will be held in the UK at SOAS, University of London, on Sunday 5^th December 2010. The exam will also be held on the same day at Dublin City University in Ireland.

This is the first time that candidates will sit the new JLPT, and be able to choose from five levels, instead of four. The new levels N1, N2, N4 and N5 will be roughly equivalent in difficulty to the old levels 1-kyu, 2-kyu, 3-kyu and 4-kyu, respectively. The new N3 level will bridge the gap between 3-kyu and 2-kyu.

The new exam will focus more on communication skills, and give a better picture of what a candidate can do in Japanese. The sections within each level have also changed slightly. In addition, past exam questions will no longer be made public. Sample questions and profiles of the new levels will be published instead. Full details of the new exam are given on the official JLPT website in Japanese. (An English version is expected later in August 2010.)

Applications will be open from 12th August 2010 until 6pm on Thursday 7th October 2010. For all enquiries about taking the JLPT in the UK, please contact SOAS.