Japanese on AADSAS

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pk62281

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Hey guys, I just e-submitted yesterday and I'm regretting something. I put Japanese down as one of my languages. It asks if I am comfortable conversing with native speakers. I've spent 8 months in Japan for work, I work for a Japanese company, and have a lot of experience interacting with the Japanese. I can also speak Korean, so Japanese is easier to learn if you know Korean. I've conversed in Japanese plenty of times, and can have a simple conversation (esp if it has to do with work), but I am nowhere near fluent.
I've read some posts, and the general consensus is that if you feel comfortable being interviewed in a language, then put it down. I am definitely not comfortable being interviewed in Japanese. If AADSAS asked if I was fluent, I would've left it off. Maybe asking if you are comfortable conversing with native speakers and being fluent is one in the same, but for some reason, I interpreted it differently. It's my dumb excuse I know. Maybe I am worrying about nothing. It's also 5AM, and I get really weird and paranoid at these hours.

I know the chances of me being interviewed in Japanese is slim. I do know, however, if an interviewer is expecting me to be fluent in Japanese, and I'm not. This would probably kill my chances because other parts of my application will be questioned. Any advice on how I can deal with this?

I figure these are my options
1. Call AADSAS and see if I can take it off (I'm almost 100% this can't be done)
2. Leave it off my secondaries.
3. Contact the schools?
4. Just take my chances and bust out the nihongo if the situation arises?

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You're making too big a deal out of this, honestly. I suggest you just calm down and go with number 4. If for some weird reason this comes up in an interview, you can explain why you put it down (your reasons here are fine), no one is going to flip out over it.

I myself lived in Japan for over 2 years, took it in high school and college, but did not put it down because I assumed they meant fluency. However, I don't think either way it would've made a difference. Spanish however might make a minor impact. You know?
 
I just called AADSAS and they were able to delete it off my application. I went with number 1 and it worked.

I agree that it is no big deal, and I highly doubt there are many adcoms out there that can speak Japanese better than me. However, it's just one less thing to worry about and that can mean a lot.

Putting Japanese down probably adds little to nothing to my application. However, having the adcoms think that I mislead them into thinking I'm fluent in a language when I'm not will destroy my chances I think. Knowing my luck, I'd be at my dream school.
 
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