Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

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lavengro
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Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

Postby lavengro » Mon Dec 05, 2022 12:49 am

I have decided to commit to taking the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) next year in December 2023, assuming testing will be made available in Vancouver (it was offered here this year, for all levels). Aiming almost certainly for the N5 test, which is the lowest level of five. If studying goes extremely well over the next year (spoiler alert – that is highly unlikely to be the case), I will perhaps consider signing up for the N4 test.

According to the information on the interwebs (https://www.jlpt.jp/e/about/levelsummary.html), the JLPT N5 is aimed at testing “the ability to understand some basic Japanese” as follows:

Reading
- One is able to read and understand typical expressions and sentences written in hiragana, katakana, and basic kanji.

Listening
- One is able to listen and comprehend conversations about topics regularly encountered in daily life and classroom situations, and is able to pick up necessary information from short conversations spoken slowly.

I am solid on the kana (the hiragana and katakana syllabaries) and I am working through Wanikani (https://www.wanikani.com), presently at level 6 (of 60 levels), after having restarted from level 1 in October, 2022. I should be able to learn enough kanji for the N5 test, and possibly will be able at my present rate of progress through Wanikani to learn enough for the N4 test.

I have not started studying grammar yet apart from a few hours spent poking around at Tae Kim’s Guide to Grammar (https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar) and at parts of Chapter 1 of Genki 1 and incidental limited grammar as it arises in the Mango Languages Japanese course, where I have completed Unit 1 (9 lessons, plus the listening and reading modules) and two lessons from Unit 2 and in the first few units of the Absolute Beginner pathway in Japanesepod 101.

I have very limited exposure to listening to spoken Japanese – I assume that will be the most challenging aspect of the testing. Understanding spoken language has always been the hardest skill for me across all of the languages I have started studying (and then ruthlessly abandoned).

Weekly updates to keep myself honest for perhaps four or five weeks, after which undoubtedly I will find some other shiny thing to shift to instead of Japanese.
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CDR
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Re: Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

Postby CDR » Mon Dec 05, 2022 7:41 am

I just posted in my own log about the beating I received today :lol:

For reference, I took the N3.

lavengro wrote:I have very limited exposure to listening to spoken Japanese – I assume that will be the most challenging aspect of the testing. Understanding spoken language has always been the hardest skill for me across all of the languages I have started studying (and then ruthlessly abandoned).


You are correct, the listening section is the most difficult in my highly biased opinion.

I did not have time, but I highly recommend closer to the test (like, November), to just practice as many listening questions (and really, all question types) as you can, over and over until you understand them. JapaneseTest4You has a some practice listening questions (and all other sections) for free!

I purchased access to Migii, which is an Android app with a bunch of practice questions for all levels, including listening. I used it to be able to pass N5/4 practice tests, but did not use my time wisely enough to train up N3.

lavengro wrote:...I am working through Wanikani (https://www.wanikani.com), presently at level 6 (of 60 levels), after having restarted from level 1 in October, 2022...


More unsolicited reflections:

I started WaniKani in Janauary of 2022, and because I was too cheap, I abandoned it in favour of Anki. Then proceeded to spend way more money in total on various other language learning software subscriptions. Had I stuck to WaniKani, I could have been half way or closed to finished by this point, and have way more money in the bank :lol:.
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lavengro
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Re: Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

Postby lavengro » Mon Dec 05, 2022 4:44 pm

Thanks CDR for the comments and resource suggestions, much appreciated. I have a full plate presently with resources, but the references to Migii and JapaneseTest4You, neither of which I had heard of, will likely be very helpful for me down the road, closer to the testing (unless I have moved onto Swahili or Hungarian by then). Agreed about Wanikani being pricey, but it has been the one resource across any language that I have enjoyed the most so there is value for me. I make a point with Wanikani for the vocabulary items to frequently listen to the sound recording each time for reinforcement and to try to get my ear familiar with oral Japanese. Most of my other resources at present have oral components (particularly Mango languages and I have started Pimsleur just yesterday - the public library in an adjacent municipality has all five levels of Pimsleur Japanese).

Good luck to both of us (you obviously at a higher level) in December, 2023!
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Re: Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

Postby CDR » Tue Dec 06, 2022 2:22 am

lavengro wrote:...but it has been the one resource across any language that I have enjoyed the most so there is value for me...

That's value worth any price!

lavengro wrote:Good luck to both of us in December, 2023!


Cheers to that! Let's do our best :D

lavengro wrote: (unless I have moved onto Swahili or Hungarian by then).

I've spent the last 6 months not allowing myself to start studying Swahili :lol: we'll see if we can stay strong. :lol:
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Re: Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

Postby golyplot » Tue Dec 06, 2022 3:38 am

For what it's worth, I devoted considerable time to practicing Japanese listening, and I took the low level practice JLPTs many times, and I always struggled on the listening section, particularly "Quick response". I feel like it is testing somewhat different skills than listening comprehension in general. In particular, being able to infer things from context is useful for normal listening but won't help you at all on the JLPT.


Also, re Wanikani: There's a secret deal (or at least there was in the past, you never know when they'll change their policies, etc.) where you can upgrade to a lifetime subscription for $60 after you reach level 60. So the cheapest way to do WK is to subscribe for a year at the annual price, race up to level 60, then upgrade to lifetime. At that point you can reset and go through everything more slowly to learn it properly. I actually ended up going this route more or less on accident.
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lavengro
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Re: Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

Postby lavengro » Tue Dec 06, 2022 3:25 pm

golyplot wrote:So the cheapest way to do WK is to subscribe for a year at the annual price, race up to level 60, then upgrade to lifetime.

Thanks golyplot, but to be honest the concepts of “lavengro” and “race” or "racing" in relation to language learning do not often fall in the same sentence, or even the same paragraph.

I am working through Wanikani old-school fashion without any re-order or other third party apps, and I figure (discounting the first three quicker levels), my top speed even with a tail wind will be perhaps a not-quite-tortoise-but-definitely-not-hare pace of 12 days per level, which means a full two years to get through the entire 60 levels, and more months on top to get all items burned. On that basis, the secret end-of-year 33% discount on a lifetime membership works out advantageously.
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lavengro
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Re: Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

Postby lavengro » Mon Dec 12, 2022 1:09 am

My current active resources:

Wanikani
For anyone who may be interested in giving it a try, Wanikani is free for the first three levels, and fee-based thereafter. One should know hiragana and katakana first, though, before trying Wanikani. I find its approach to be very effective for me. Aiming to get through to and complete level 27 by December 2023 – that would apparently represent 100% of the kanji likely to show up on the JLPT N4 in the unlikely event I try that instead of the lower JLPT N5. That would mean keeping to approximately 12 days per level.

Mango Languages
For anyone who may be interested, Mango Languages is often available for free through public library online services (at least in Canada). I really like Mango, and have used it intermittently for Spanish (Latin American). I expect many or probably most learners on this forum would find its pace really slow, with a frustrating amount of repetition, but I really like enjoy their materials and approach. I made a mistake in my initial post in this thread: I had only completed Chapter 1 of Unit 1 (nine lessons plus listening and reading modules) and a couple of lessons from Chapter 2 of Unit 1, rather than having completed Unit 1.

Pimsleur
I have never sought out transcripts of the Pimsleur material for any of the languages for which I have used Pimsleur (sort of contrary to the point of its methodology), but I likely will use notes for reference as needed with Pimsleur Japanese at least initially, ‘cause Japanese hard – found an informal version here (https://dokumen.tips/documents/pimsleur-japanese-complete-notes.html?page=4).

Tae Kim, Guide to Grammar
There are two free online versions of Tae Kim, one that you click through (https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar) and a 353 page pdf version with chapter and subchapter hyperlinks (http://www.guidetojapanese.org/grammar_guide.pdf). The pdf version does not have the functioning exercises (very limited compared to Genki) which are available in the click-through version.

Tofugu.com describes https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-learning-resources-database/a-guide-to-japanese-grammar-by-tae-kim/ as follows:

It's fairly complete and does a decent job of explaining grammar concepts in a way anyone can understand. That said, Tae Kim's guide may not be ideal for curious learners who are seeking more in-depth explanations. The grammar explanations tend to be quite simple, often providing a one-to-one direct translation. That might be great as a starter, but if you wish to deepen your understanding on a specific grammar point, you may need to consult other grammar resources.

Not counting the introduction chapter and the chapter on writing, there are 110 small grammar sections spread across 352 pdf pages. I am aiming to get through perhaps one grammar section per day for an overview and initial introduction, and then circle back to the beginning and work through the grammar concepts in either rmore detail or with more exercises from Genki I and II subsequently.
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lavengro
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Re: Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

Postby lavengro » Mon Dec 12, 2022 1:30 am

Week 1 summary

Wanikani
– completed level 6 and about half-way through level 7

Mango Languages
– reviewing previous lessons and completed lessons 1, 2 and 3 of Chapter 2 of Unit 1.

Pimsleur
– Completed units 1, 2 and 3 of Pimsleur Japanese 1. Multiple listenings to each.

Tae Kim, Guide to Grammar
- Chapter 3.2 States of being
- 3.2.1 - declarative (- だ),
- 3.2.2 - negative (-じゃない)
- 3.2.3 - past (-だった) and past negative (- じゃなかった)
- Chapter 3.3.1 Particles - introduction
- 3.3.2 topic particle (は)
- 3.3.3 inclusive topic particle (も)

Additional

This clip may explain my main motivation for learning Japanese:



I want to be prepared in case I completely and spontaneously change careers for some reason and one day have to work around an obstructionist interpreter during a television interview. About a millionth of one percent chance of that actually occurring, but as a young Lavengro used to enthusiastically chant as a Boy Scout: “Be Prepared.” The clip is from The Newsroom, one of my favourite shows, and interestingly the resolution of an issue which arose from the on-air interview turned on a Japanese language issue.
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seito
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Re: Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

Postby seito » Fri Dec 16, 2022 10:30 pm

For listening practice, I would strongly recommend Nihongo con Teppei on YouTube. There are several playlists of well-designed audio podcasts there for learners. The beginner series has over 700 now.
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Re: Crawling to a brutal JLPT beating in December 2023

Postby golyplot » Sat Dec 17, 2022 6:32 am

lavengro wrote:I want to be prepared in case I completely and spontaneously change careers for some reason and one day have to work around an obstructionist interpreter during a television interview. About a millionth of one percent chance of that actually occurring, but as a young Lavengro used to enthusiastically chant as a Boy Scout: “Be Prepared.” The clip is from The Newsroom, one of my favourite shows, and interestingly the resolution of an issue which arose from the on-air interview turned on a Japanese language issue.


I'm surprised you didn't link the famous shooting scene from Lost In Translation:




Anyway, I watched the Newsroom scene you linked, and I'm disappointed that I could only understand a little bit of the Japanese, despite being at a much higher level than you.
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