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ラーセンさんは、漢字｛かんじ｝はもう一歩｛いっぽ｝といったところですが、プレイスメントテストの成績{せいせき｝も悪くなかったし、文法｛ぶんぽう｝もちゃんとしているから、頑張｛がんば｝れば大丈夫｛だいじょうぶ｝だと思｛おも｝いますよ。
(source: An Integrated approach to Intermediate Japanese)

While I understand that the last half of the sentence is along the lines of

"...because your placement test grade wasn't bad and your grammar is in good shape, if you try your best, I think you will be okay.",

I'm not sure how to understand the part in bold, mostly the いったところ part. I think that it means something like "If you improve your kanji just a bit more ....?"

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「もう一歩（だ）」 literally means "(You need to go) one more step (to reach the desired level)". It's like "(You're almost there but) just one step away from the desired level". It can be rephrased as 「もう少し」, 「あと一歩」, etc.

The ところ is used for 抽象的な場所 (abstract place) and can mean "stage", "level" or "condition". ～といったところです literally means "in the stage/level that you'd call..." i.e. "you're around the level/stage that is..." (といった sounds a bit more reserved/indirect and less assertive than という.) ～といったところ can practically mean "around~~" "approximately~~" "something like~~" "I'd say~~", e.g.

「値段はだいたい、１万円といったところです。」
「味は、まあまあといったところです。」

So 「漢字はもう一歩といったところです」 literally means "As for your kanji, you're in the stage where you'd need to go just one more step (to reach the desired level)", or "As for your kanji level, (you're almost there but) it's just a step (behind the desired level)".

Additional Info: For reference, A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar explains this phrase as: "A phrase the speaker/writer uses to explain something in a brief/rough manner. I would say ~; ~ is how I’d put it" (page 633).

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According to "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar", page 496:
ところだ: be just about to do something, be in the midst of doing something, have just done something, have been doing something, almost did something.

いっぽ【一歩】: 一つの段階。ほんの少しの程度。
https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/13745/meaning/m1u/一歩/

So the translation becomes:
漢字はもう一歩といったところ
Your kanji skills are almost acceptable

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  • This makes more sense, but I'm still a little bit confused. Why are they using といった as the verb and particle?
    – jessen
    Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 22:29
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    be just about to do something is used in the form 「～するところだ」, be in the midst of doing something is used in the form 「～しているところだ」, have just done something ,「～したところだ」, have been doing something, 「～していたところだ」, almost did something, 「(もう少しで)～するところだった」. The 「～といったところだ」 in question here has nothing to do with these usages.
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented Oct 1, 2018 at 22:49
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    I found the books. For this grammar point, you should refer to "A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar" at page 633, not "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar", page 496.
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented Oct 2, 2018 at 1:07

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