Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

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SophiaMerlin_II
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Re: Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

Postby SophiaMerlin_II » Wed Jun 14, 2017 11:22 pm

kraemder wrote:
SophiaMerlin_II wrote:I've found that the people on Ameba who have found my site think it's quite amusing.


Do they comment on your entries? If so what language do they write in?


I've gotten a comment occasionally, all in Japanese.
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kraemder
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Re: Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

Postby kraemder » Sun Jun 18, 2017 7:16 am

I just finished the 2nd volume of 騎士団長殺し. As you may or may not know, if a book is on the longer side, the Japanese publishers gleefully publish it in multiple volumes, doubling or tripling the price of the story accordingly. I think it was about 1100 pages total. It's the first work of Japanese literature that I've finished and I'm pretty happy with myself for that. I fully enjoyed the story up into the end although the metaphor world was a little slow to read. It didn't last too long and I think it added to the story although I'm not really sure how.. I'm doing my kumon homework right now. My 2nd visit to kumon, the teacher talked to some corporate guy who really felt I should be taking a course meant for foreigners rather than 国語 meant for natives. We had this conversation already the last time so it was annoying. Basically, their Japanese for foreigners text doesn't truly go to an advanced level of Japanese. And besides, I've done Japanese for foreigners texts to death at this point. So repeating myself was a bit annoying but I'm continuing with the same course.

Currently, the text from kumon that I'm working with is a translation of Daddy Long Legs. I think I read part of it as a kid or whatever because it was so familiar. At the same time it was pretty hard - tons of vocabulary I didn't know. I googled and peeked at the English original online and of course the English is easy for me but at the same time I can see how it's an older text and a true piece of literature. It's no easy read for a child I don't think nor a foreigner, but welll written and worth the additional effort.

I also downloaded あなたの物語 from Amazon and converted it into Aozora format for reading on Wakaru. Last night I was eager to start my next Japanese book. Of course, I wanted to see how much I had leveled up by reading 騎士団長殺し. To my dismay, it was one word I didn't know followed by another. I persevered. And it got s lot easier right before I gave up for the night and went to sleep. I think this is a recurring pattern in novels true for Daddy Long Legs and あなたの物語. In order to set the scene proplery and give the story a unique feel, they start out carefully picking every word to give the utmost artistic effect. Then, one this is accomplished, they relent and although still picking words with care, they don't over do it so much. Thank goodness.

My Daddy Long Legs homework got easier several pages in too.
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Re: Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

Postby Sayonaroo » Sun Jun 18, 2017 3:18 pm

I know exactly what you mean. The writing is very stylized. I find it easier to familiarize myself/remember that kinda language when I have audio like with anime
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kraemder
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Re: Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

Postby kraemder » Sun Jul 02, 2017 5:57 am

I just finished the reading portion of the N1. It's hard to imagine me finishing every question on that part of the exam. I hope I did well enough to pass but I know hat depends on a good listening score to carry me. I was too lazy to do a practice listening test before hand so I'm kind of going into this blind although how different from the N2 format can it be? Right?

Oh. I'm getting over a cold. I'm not really sure how much my hearing is affected but I hope not much. My ears popped last night when I went jogging thank goodness. I'd been waiting all week for that. I tried doing stuff to get them to pop that's suggested on the internet but no luck. I'm not one to hold my nose and blow however. That's one tip I've never executed. I think I did it once as a small child and it was painful but I'm not sure.
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kraemder
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Re: Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

Postby kraemder » Thu Jul 06, 2017 5:59 pm

So I finished the N1 test of course. Although my ears popped the night before, the pressure had reverted I think. I was up front thankfully. When they did the sound test, I almost raised my hand to ask them to raise the volume but then people like 20 rows back felt it was fine so I don't think it was he volume but my head was still stuffed up. To put it simply, I regret not practicing the listening portion in advance. The guy in front of me might have been worse off than me I'm not sure but he had a very loud distracting coughing sneezing fit near the end. I don't think I would have got the question right anyway but that was a couple questions just gone for me.

Maybe I squeaked past. I hope.

As far as the test goes, I don't feel my grammar was lacking but in terms of speaking and writing, that's a different matter. I downloaded the Anki grammar domination deck which has closed delete sentences and brief English or Japanese explanations. Very brief so if you haven't seen a grammar point ever then you best check it out somewhere else for a real explanation and more examples. But for me I think this deck might be helpful to get me using more complex sentences while speaking. I set the deck to max out at 45 day intervals and I plan to do it for a year. I'm trying to read as much as I can. It's getting easier all the time thank goodness but it still needs to get better. I'd like to be able to comfortably read light novels with characters using fancy Japanese like the nobles do in ゲート. That book is one of the most difficult for me. I find it amusing how Japanese people are constantly surprised that I find light novels more difficult than literature. They ask me why? I say that it's the vocabulary. They seem to think that if kids enjoy light novels then the vocabulary must be easier. I think this shows how oblivious natives can be regarding their own language. That said, some light novels are tons easier than others although I can't say they're easier for me than literature. Literature generally does a very good job of reflecting reality which makes it easier to fill in gaps than something where reality gets thrown out the window at times. Plus they use real everyday language while light novels might use strange or unnatural language to produce an effect or atmosphere. Anyway, I'm preaching to the choir here I think on that.
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kraemder
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Re: Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

Postby kraemder » Wed Jul 19, 2017 6:48 pm

I was thinking that I would stop Anki entirely for a while and just focus on reading and talking to people in Japanese. That changed yesterday. I suddenly decided to get caught up on all my decks, even ones I neglected before the N1, test, and spent all day doing Anki and flashcards deluxe yesterday. I changed the settings so that right or wrong, the cards I checked wouldn't show up until the next day. This was invaluable in getting caught up and I got through a ton of cards, I mean a ton of cards, and it didn't even drain me mentally. I'm sure part of this is just that I'd taken a break from SRS for a bit. I got to thinking that this setting may be more effective than repeating wrong cards until you get them right until the next day (or in the case of some more ambitious learners, maybe a few hours.). I'll probably forget more cards than otherwise but I'm curious how this works out. Possibly no progress at all haha.
Ive finished a couple light novels: ナイツ and マジック and 盾の勇者の成り上がり. In the first novel, the main character is an otaku programming genius who dies and gets reborn into a fairy tale land of nights and magic and basically large mech-like fantasy machines (big robots maybe). He retains his memories from his previous life and is raised by two loving parents before going off to magical school. There's an anime based on the book that just came out which is why I grabbed the novel. I gotta say it's a little dumb but still readable.

The other novel is about a college student who gets summoned into another fantasy world where he takes the role of shield wielder. It's like a video game - he tried to equip a proper weapon to go with his shield but alas, there was an error message and his class type can't equip any weapons. Several other kids were summoned with him and they all got classes that can wield weapons and seem to know a lot more about this world than he does. Watching him suffer is kind of fun but I'm getting tired of the whole regular Japanese kid gets suddenly put into a video fantasy game world.

I'm about to finish another light novel: フェアリーテールクロニクル. This book is in the Amazon Audio store which prompted me to get the novel so I could look up vocabulary. However, I think I'm getting sick to death of the same theme - modern Japanese kid is now suddenly in fantasy video game land. (The first novel technically isn't a video game land but it may as well be). I'm using the text to speech Voice Dream app to read this. The app can be very effective at getting me to focus more and maintain a good reading pace. However, sometimes I lose focus and the app keeps reading. This can happen when I'm reading a paper book too but maybe a little less often. Although I definitely get the gist of what's happened, I'm not even really sure if they're trapped in this fantasy game or not. I think I spaced when they explained it. And I lost track of all of the characters so I really don't know who's talking to whom at this point except if it's the main character (also the narrator). In part I blame Japanese names from being so annoyingly different from western names but clearly I'm not into this book. It's bad enough I don't know if I'll count it as read or not when I finish. Another thing I dislike about the book is how much it goes into video game crafting and selling and buying virtual goods. This was a tedious aspect to me in all the MMO games I played so I don't appreciate the chapter after chapter they spend on it. I thought about starting over again but I probably won't.

I got a book called 神様ゲーム. It seems to be the first detective book by a popular Japanese author and many follow books too. The main characters are in middle school so in general it's very easy to follow. I'm 10% done already and just started reading on a whim at 1 am tonight. Anyway. Time for sleep.
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kraemder
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Re: Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

Postby kraemder » Sun Aug 06, 2017 4:17 pm

I've been doing what I call lazy studying lately. Namely, instead of reading actual books, I'm watching anime with Japanese subs and just pausing it to look up words I wan to study and saving it in Midori. I still have Anki going strong however. I've gone back to the Core, slowly adding the vocabulary that's above game 6K barrier which to me means N1 level. As I stated in a previous post, I don't think vocabulary was a weak point for me on the test but rather reading speed and not practicing the listening portion in advance. I'll know for sure when the results come out. Either way, of course I'd like to improve my vocabulary even if it's not needed for the N1 per se.

I'm noticing that my listening comprehension is getting better as far as real world Japanese. It's gradual but I really think I feel the progress now. I couldn't tell pretty much the first year I was here. I'm sure it got better but it was just so frustrating. If you come to Japan and do a true full immersion then I am sure your listening comprehension will improve faster than mine did but that could be very stressful I think. Unless it's say with family who are kind and supportive of you.

So I'm currently watching this cute series called 南鎌倉高校女子自転車部 or the English: Minami Kamakura High School Girls Cycling Club. I think they attend an all girls school but I wasn't paying perfect attention to be sure. It's a very cute anime about some girls who start a cycling after school club. I used to be a cycling junky so this anime is right up my alley. Except I'm not a girl I guess but that's ok. For some reason the school is having a bike race in which all the clubs compete. You'd think the cycling club would be a shoe in to win but the main character is such a beginner she literally learned how to ride a bicycle just a few weeks ago and the others aren't that much further ahead. The star of the race is this anime club member ina full bear outfit screaming クマクマクマ! while passing everyone. The bear has won me over and I'm cheering against the protagonists although I like them all right. Maybe if they had a proper war chant too. Anyway.

I'm calling this lazy studying but it might be pretty effective. I understand more with the subs on and as you've heard, you need real understanding to achieve real learning. Sure, in real life there's no kanji but oh well.
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kraemder
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Re: Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

Postby kraemder » Sun Aug 06, 2017 5:47 pm

I know I just posted but another quick post because I have to get his off my chest. I HATE how the Japanese people always say Let's .... whenever they post an event or anything in Facebook. They say it a lot too but they abuse this expression to no end when posting information about stuff. And in this anime, my beloved クマクマ mystery rider turned out to be a blond foreign exchange student from Colorado who speaks perfect Japanese except with a funny accent and she loves to say レッツ as much as possible. The episode ended with everyone screaming レッツサイクリング! I still like the character although I fear I will need to endure many レッツ to come. She took off her クマ mask unfortunately and there's no sign of her putting it back on. It's a terrible shame.
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kraemder
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Re: Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

Postby kraemder » Wed Aug 23, 2017 5:58 am

I got my N1 results today. I've never done so poorly on a JLPT test in my life haha. I also wasn't so disinterested in the results before. I felt horrible after failing the N4, I was really happy to pass N3, and was pretty disappointed at almost passing the N2 twice before passing it the third time.

Scores by Scoring Section
Language Knowledge (Vocabulary/Grammar) 29 / 60
Reading 13 / 60
Listening 26 / 60
Reference Information (※) Vocabulary B
Grammar B
Total Score 68 / 180

I think it's interesting how the ratios seem to match up with my N2 results. Language Knowledge is the best, Listening is a close 2nd, and reading comprehension is way behind the other two. Between December and July, I didn't intend to change this ratio much. I figured this was just the way my brain works and how I process Japanese and I would have to find a way to pass the test with this ratio. Right now, I'm thinking never mind the test. I just want my reading comprehension to go up.

I look at this and think maybe it's not possible for me to pass the N1. At least not for several years. It's a pretty big point deficit to overcome and I'm not all that motivated to jump start my Japanese studies right now. I mostly just feel like doing extensive reading of material that I find interesting that probably isn't related to the test (maybe a few essays but not a lot). And speaking practice if I can find interesting people to talk to. If I do a lot of reading then in theory my score should go up but I've been doing reading all along anyway so probably not a lot unless I really focused on material that's similar to what's on the test. I don't want to do that - I will get too bored and passing the N1 isn't enough of a motivation right now to overcome that. Basically I don't want to study Japanese with the goal of getting better - I just feel like using it a bit for enjoyment and not worrying too much about my Japanese level. It's time for a studying break I think. Then again, if I'm reading Japanese - by most people's standards, that -is- studying Japanese.
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kraemder
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Re: Kraemder's attempt at JLPT N1 (Japanese)

Postby kraemder » Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:33 am

Well I've had more time to absorb the test results and retreading my post updating the log with then I haven't changed a whole lot. I really don't want to go into study my butt off to pass the N1 mode right now. I said I don't want to study to improve my Japanese but maybe that wasn't true. I do want to. Just maybe not for the test so much. I'd love for my reading ability to get better so I can read faster and read more interesting things in Japanese. And I'd like to have more interesting conversations in Japanese.

One of my few Japanese friends invited me to his wedding reception (披露宴). I haven't had a Japanese girlfriend nor have I worked in a Japanese speaking environment. I went to the reception and honestly I often feel a bit out of place at those events in America and in Japan it was a bit worse. He invited maybe 130 people and fit them into a restaurant right next to Yokohama station. When I arrived, I basically went around taking to people I knew. It was actually more than expected since a lot of sharehouse people went. I asked my friend Yuki where Naoki was and she pointed to a guy standing at a table with a bunch of people I didn't know. I of course headed over there to say hi and thank him for inviting me. I started by asking him what the hell he meant by no dress code as everyone there had on formal attire and ties. He gave a neutral response. I felt a little awkward. I then realized he was a lot taller than before. I then realized he wasn't Naoki. I apologized and explained I thought he was someone else and then ran away to the other side of the room. Yeah, I didn't totally recover from that after.

But I got tons of Japanese practice. People started speaking English to me and I was happy just to have anyone talk to me but it became apparent my Japanese was better than their English quickly so I spoke Japanese. Lots of it. And then I sang Japanese at karaoke after even though I am terrible at karaoke.

Reading lots and lots is wonderful for your Japanese. Going out and really socializing in Japanese after you've done a lot of reading is even better. If I ever got a job speaking Japanese or lived with a girlfriend who spoke no English I think even an old guy like me could get to speaking Japanese pretty well. With a few mistakes but still I think I could really get to having complex conversations where I effectively held up my end of the conversation.

But I'm looking to go home now. Being in Japan is really interesting but it's a terrible career move. When I came, I didn't mind at all and just wanted to see what would happen but now I think I've had enough. We'll see how well (quickly) I'm able to get back into the swing of things in the states.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the light novel サクラダリセットon my kindle app on my iPhone. I've gotten better at selecting (highlighting) words on my phone although it still involves two taps. I'm saving unknown words in Midori for studying and sometimes copying the sentence over to the notes section in Midori but not too much. And I have a couple decks in Anki I'm working on. The upper part of the Core 10,000 and this deck called JTest4you. Both are setup as sentence decks. The JTest4you deck is gigantic. It has so much grammar practice and is divided according to jlpt level. I am reviewing N3 to N1 (slowly). I also have a few other non Japanese decks in Anki. My total Anki time today was 24 minutes which is nothing compared to what I was doing a year ago when I wanted to pass the N2. I was watching some videos on you tube and I'm pretty taken by Krashnen and his advocating lots of reading. However, I also think that a lot of words don't repeat enough for me to learn them without using some flashcards - hence Midori.

So I guess it shows that I'm very much still studying. But I don't have plans to register for the N1 this December since I don't know where I'm going to be then. If I find out I'll be in Seattle, which is a possibility, and since Seattle offers the test, I probably would sign up just to see how I do. But I wouldn't be looking to travel very far to do the test like I have in the past. I really don't think I'll pass it if I take N1 this year.
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