Japanese proficiency
From what they said, not from a separate test
Assessed from the conversation of an interview conducted in Japanese. A JLPT level on a CV may be years old, and the impression from a short phone call changes with who took it. Grounding the assessment in what was actually said gets you closer to how the person will do on the job.
The assessment reads Japanese-language interviews. Photographs are illustrative.
We never print "N2"
The JLPT has no speaking paper
Deriving a single N level from a conversation means estimating, from speech, the score of a test that does not measure speech. Hitoshiru does not do it.
The assessment is made against the CEFR / JF Standard descriptors written for spoken Japanese. On top of that, the JLPT appears only as a band. "Around N3–N2" is not a coarse reading; it is the assessment saying exactly how far it can be trusted.
The distinction matters when an agency asks about a candidate who was not hired. "Assessed as N2" is a claim that can be disputed. "Around N3–N2, medium confidence, on the following utterances" is a claim that can be explained.
What the JLPT measures
- Language knowledge (script, vocabulary, grammar)
- Reading
- Listening
- Speakingnot examined at any level
Listening is a receptive paper. No level from N1 to N5 examines speaking.
On the report
N3–N2
band, estimated from conversation
- CEFR / JF
- B1
- Confidence
- Medium
- Evidence
- quoted speech (required)
Sample. Not a real candidate.
Confidence
A short interview is never "high"
Confidence is always shown, as low, medium or high. It falls when the candidate spoke little, when the audio was poor, or when the topics were narrow.
Under three minutes of the candidate's own speech, confidence cannot be high — however clearly they spoke. This is not left to the model; it is decided mechanically from the speech time, because a confident wrong assessment does more harm than a cautious one.
Under 3 minutes of speech
Low · Medium ·High
Never high, however clearly they spoke.
3 minutes or more
Low · Medium ·High
High is now reachable — and still falls with poor audio or narrow topics.
Speech time means the total the candidate actually spoke, not the length of the interview. A long interview with short answers can stay under three minutes.
An assessment with no quoted evidence is not saved at all: the system refuses a proficiency assessment that cites no utterance.
What the report describes
Five axes, in sentences
There is no score per axis. Five numbers side by side would suggest a precision the assessment does not have, so each axis is reported as a description of what happened.
- Fluency
- Pace, hesitation, self-correction and fillers. Getting stuck is not the point; recovering afterwards is.
- Accuracy
- Grammar in use — not whether there are errors, but whether an error gets in the way of the meaning.
- Range
- Vocabulary and structure, judged against what actually came up. If the topics were narrow, the report says so.
- Interaction
- Turn-taking, asking for a repeat and rephrasing, handling an unexpected question. The axis that matters most on the job.
- Clarity of pronunciation
- Whether they can be understood. An accent is not treated as a fault; the only question is whether the meaning arrives.
Misread the intent of a question once, asked "Sorry, could you say that again?" unprompted, and answered to the intent from then on. Built an answer to an unexpected question rather than falling silent.
Quoted evidence
「すみません、もう一度お願いします。……はい、前の職場では、機械の点検を担当していました。」
Sample. Not a real candidate.
Scope
Japanese-language interviews only
One interview is pinned to one language. An interview conducted in English contains no Japanese speech, so no proficiency assessment is made. Customers who need both an in-depth English interview and a check of Japanese ability run two interviews.
Interview in Japanese
Proficiency assessment: yes
The Japanese spoken in the interview is what is assessed.
Interview in English
Proficiency assessment: none
No Japanese speech, so nothing to assess. This interview is for going deep on experience and thinking.
Start with the shape of the screening
Japanese or English, one interview or two, and which comes first — it depends on the role and the stage. We will propose a shape that fits your process.