How much japanese should i know before going there as a highschool exchange student?

Question:

Im 16 Ive taken the first three levels of japanese, I know hiragana, katakana, small bits of kanji, and a lot of chinese (helps me read kanji often).
I only have one year of highschool left after this year and i want to go by my senior year.
Anyone have any recommendations? thanks

Answer:

If your objective is to go to Japan as an exchange student, it would behoove you to learn as much Japanese as possible up through at least Jr, High level. You should be concentrating on Kanji and Jr/Sr High level vocabulary, so the first thing that I would suggest is to lay off the Chinese. It may help a little when studying Kanji, but in the end it is wasted energy because the majority of them are not what's used in Japanese and will only confuse you. They would not expect you to be fluent by any means, but anything you can learn beforehand will only help to make your time there that much richer.

Since you've had much formal Japanese, your biggest challenge will probably be conversational Japanese as it is completely different from textbook Japanese, just as it is with any other language, like English. Try renting/downloading Japanese drama series and movies. It will help you to hear how Japanese really speak and will help your hearing as well as improve your vocabulary. Stay away from the old Period samurai and gangster movies cause they have a whole 'nother way of talking that may just confuse you and get you into trouble. Save those for later. Let me know if you're interested in Japanese movies/TV. I have sites to suggest. And rental shops if you're in the LA area.