"Flunk" - How do you feel about it?
May 20th 2011 00:10
education
In Japanese, there are two ways to refer to "flunk".
One is 落第 (rakudai).
落 (raku) means "to drop", and 第 (dai) is a Chinese-derived word for exams.
So it literally means "to fail an exam".
The other is 留年(ryunen); 留 (ryu) for "to stay", and 年 (nen) for grades.
This one means "to stay / repeat the same grade".
In terms of the literal meanings, the latter word seems more positive.
In fact, however, both of them sound very negative because Japanese people generally regard flunk as very shameful. (Especially at the compulsory education stage.
How about in your country?
How do you call flunking in your language and what is its literal meaning?
Do you have a good image for it?
I hear some Dutch people think flunk is a good thing, and sometimes repeaters are regarded as cool.
What do you think?
One is 落第 (rakudai).
落 (raku) means "to drop", and 第 (dai) is a Chinese-derived word for exams.
So it literally means "to fail an exam".
The other is 留年(ryunen); 留 (ryu) for "to stay", and 年 (nen) for grades.
This one means "to stay / repeat the same grade".
In terms of the literal meanings, the latter word seems more positive.
In fact, however, both of them sound very negative because Japanese people generally regard flunk as very shameful. (Especially at the compulsory education stage.
How about in your country?
How do you call flunking in your language and what is its literal meaning?
Do you have a good image for it?
I hear some Dutch people think flunk is a good thing, and sometimes repeaters are regarded as cool.
What do you think?
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So it literally means "to fail an exam".
The other is 留年(ryunen); 留 (ryu) is "to stay", and 年 (nen) is grades. (After a semicolon, you need to have a complete sentence, so I changed "for" into a verb.)
In fact, however, both of them sound very negative because Japanese people generally regard flunking as very shameful (especially at the compulsory education stage). (Include the parentheses into the sentence it belongs to and put the period after.)
(Especially at the compulsory education stage.
Do you have a good image of flunking? (When I read your sentence, my first understanding is, "Do you know what flunking looks like?" Changing "for" to "of" just makes it read more naturally for what you meant.)
I hear some Dutch people think flunking is a good thing, and sometimes repeaters are regarded as cool. (Adding "ing" to a verb sometimes means "the act of…" When it means "the act of…," it becomes a noun. I believe in Japanese, sometimes you add "のが" or "のこと"after a verb so that the verb is like a noun. This is similar. Your sentences use "flunk" like a noun, so I changed it.)
I flunked in high school. I didn't have to repeat an entire grade, but I had to repeat certain subjects. It didn't really affect me, though. I am taking classes in junior college now and my grade point average is 3.7 (4.0 is perfect and 3.0 is "B"). With a 3.7, I can transfer to a better college and get my degree. So in America, even though I flunked in high school, I get a second chance to prove myself.
I used "flunk" as a noun because an online dictionary says it can be used so. Thanks for the info that it's not natural!
In Japan as well, there's a chance to go to a good school after flunking. But flunking is often too shameful for students that they tend to lose their self-confidence on study. It's really pity, I think.
I believe that failure is the key to success. Nobody does everything perfect the first time.
In the Netherlands there is something that occurs quite frequently namely "six-mentality". Why should I get higher than a 6 if I pass with that? With sixes you can do almost every study on a university/HBO( 4-years bachelor) of choice. With exception from a few studies for example doctor/medicine.sometimes it goes so far that they will calculate the minimum they will pass with and do notting more than that
Maar mensen die zakken of een jaar overnieuw moeten doen worden in het algemeen niet cool gevonden of goed gevonden.
But people who flunk or need to redo a a year. Aren't commonly seen as cool or good.
Bedankt voor de reactie!
I know what "six-mentality" is like because I felt something similar when I was a student.. I changed my mind soon, though! lol.
Even though flunking is regarded neither cool nor good, people see it as "not bad," don't they?
I think that is correct yea. Maybe "Oh well it can happen" is the best thought I can fit to it. definitely not seen as bad though.
Thanks for the reply! :-)
By the way, how do you say "flunking" in Dutch?
And what is its literal meaning?
"gezakt" van "zakken" is how to say it in Dutch
ik ben gezakt voor mijn toets/examen.
I flunked my test/exam
"zakken" is literally used for "lowering/sinking"
Het waterniveau is aardig wat gezakt.
The water level has dropped quite a bit.
I see "zakken" is more like 落第(to drop) than 留年(to stay).
Is "gezakt" the same meaning?
Ik moet het jaar overnieuw doen/ik moet de toets overnieuw doen.
I need to redo the year./I need to redo the test.
Would be the replacement voor 留年
It seems gezakt is a noun derived from the verb zakken... is this right?
You can use zakken itself aswel.
Hoe kon je nou voor die test zakken.
How could you flunk that test?
Now I see what you meant! ^^
How do you call refer to flunking in your language and what is its literal meaning?
Does you it have a good image for it?
Older children are often seen as cooler, smarter, more knowledgeable and more streetwise. This is only natural, I think.
Moreover, it may be the reason that they flunked is that they spent a lot of time doing sport, or skipping school, socializing etc. Maybe drinking, smoking, chasing after members of the opposite sex. In short, all things that may be regarded as "cool" by kids, especially younger kids.
Having said that, we don't really have the practice of flunking in the UK. In school, whatever grades you get you just carry on. Even if you fail everything, you just carry on till the age of 16 when you are free to leave school. Some children will leave school with few or no qualifications, if they fail all their exams. I don't remember anyone ever resitting exams or going back a year at school.
At university, it is possible to "flunk" - That is, to fail your exams and retake them a year later. This was definitely not cool.
The article I read says the reason why the flunked pupils are regarded as cool is that people think to decide to flunk is brave.