Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

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koolawant
Yellow Belt
Posts: 89
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:04 am
Location: Japan
Languages: English (N)
Japanese (B2-C1*)

JLPT N2 Certified
x 209

Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

Postby koolawant » Sun Jan 05, 2020 11:39 am

Decided to make a new log as the old on is all over the place.

For those who don't know, I majored in Japanese in college, recently graduated, and moved to Japan to work. I will probably be here for a long time so my end goal would be C2 equivalent.

I'll use this first post as a place holder.

2020 Updates
2 x
: 6343 / 50000 50,000 pages read / Japanese

koolawant
Yellow Belt
Posts: 89
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:04 am
Location: Japan
Languages: English (N)
Japanese (B2-C1*)

JLPT N2 Certified
x 209

Re: Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

Postby koolawant » Sun Jan 05, 2020 11:50 am

I sat the N2 in December of 2019. Realistically this should have been a level that I should have easily passed. But, my grammar is extremely weak and I'm sure it dragged down my score by a ton. On the other hand, I thought I did excellent during the listening section and would be very surprised if I did not score over 80% in that area.

So what did I learn?

You can not go into a test like this and not study.

I'll be honest, I thought that just me living here and using Japanese would be enough. But the longer I'm here the more I realize this is not the case! There are some glaring issues with my Japanese (mostly grammar) that need fixing and I'm going to buckle down and do what needs to be done this year to push my Japanese to the C1/N1 level. There is a solid chance that I did not pass because I was trying to skirt by on minimum effort. Lesson well learned however, so no regrets...I think!

My goals for 2020 are to:

Continue Studying everyday (this year is the year of textbooks)
Sit the N2 again if I failed in June/July (and pass well)
Sit the N1 in December

I have started with N1 vocab and grammar, while brushing back up on N2 grammar and reading comprehension (my weakest areas). Currently I have 4 Kanzen Master textbooks in rotation that I'm working through daily.

The vocab book will take me the better part of year to finish. Since I'm working through the N2 and N1 grammar books, and the N2 reading comprehension book simultaneously I expect to be done by June 2020. I'm learning that I don't need to be in a rush because when I rush I have to go back over and do it again; ultimately wasting more time!

Then I will work on drilling grammar points home until the test in December (most likely with various other level appropriate textbooks). I will also start with the N1 reading comprehension book from June and slowly but thoroughly work through it.

I live here so I have no issues engaging with natives and native content but that will be my focus for next year. For now, I sorely need some desk study (that I've been avoiding and neglecting the entire time).
4 x
: 6343 / 50000 50,000 pages read / Japanese

alaart
Green Belt
Posts: 338
Joined: Sat Aug 03, 2019 6:58 am
Location: Kaoshiung
Languages: DE (N), EN
B1: NL, JP, PT (BR), ZH
A2: KR
A1: ES
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=10867
x 1027

Re: Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

Postby alaart » Sun Jan 05, 2020 10:11 pm

Hello there, wish you good luck :).

I'm working towards JLPT2 too for summer. Since you wrote that your main focus is grammar, I'm a bit curious, since I used a similar approach of a lot of speaking and input, and very little grammar books up until now.

What particularly are you working on? I guess you are talking about production, not recognition.

I just planned to go through the nihongonomori grammar series for JLPT2, and maybe buy an exercise book.

I'm an exchange student right now, greetings from Nagoya.
0 x

koolawant
Yellow Belt
Posts: 89
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:04 am
Location: Japan
Languages: English (N)
Japanese (B2-C1*)

JLPT N2 Certified
x 209

Re: Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

Postby koolawant » Mon Jan 06, 2020 12:37 pm

alaart wrote:Hello there, wish you good luck :).

I'm working towards JLPT2 too for summer. Since you wrote that your main focus is grammar, I'm a bit curious, since I used a similar approach of a lot of speaking and input, and very little grammar books up until now.

What particularly are you working on? I guess you are talking about production, not recognition.

I just planned to go through the nihongonomori grammar series for JLPT2, and maybe buy an exercise book.

I'm an exchange student right now, greetings from Nagoya.



Greetings from Kyushu!

Production. I understand it perfectly fine when I hear it but can't reproduce the same sentence for myself. Grr

I would recommend the exercise book if you"re thinking about it. Better to be over prepared than under. the N2 isn't difficult per say but it will try to trip you up often. Good luck!
0 x
: 6343 / 50000 50,000 pages read / Japanese

kraemder
Green Belt
Posts: 323
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:10 am
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Languages: English (N)
Japanese (JLPT N2)
German (read several books)
Spanish (read a couple books)
Korean (studying for about a year semi seriously)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1204
x 498

Re: Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

Postby kraemder » Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:40 am

I struggled to pass N2 and had to retake it a couple times before I passed. Although I didn't get a really good score I passed with a good buffer. It was thanks to studying lots of grammar and kanji. Doing those 新完全マスター books really works. I put all the exercises into Anki and drilled them to death. I have tried the N1 but haven't been able to crack that. I feel like for me personally going from N2 to N1 would take 1.5 to 2 years of consistent study. Which is what it took for me to go from N3 to N2... I know some other westerners can do it faster but also many fail completely so whatever. Just being in Japan will get you great listening skills and you might even get perfect scores on the listening portions of the JLPT eventually just from that. But the rest will probably take actual studying. I'm not 'studying' Japanese anymore but I read books often and watch TV still so maybe it's getting better - who knows. Good luck on your goals I'll be reading the log.
3 x

koolawant
Yellow Belt
Posts: 89
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:04 am
Location: Japan
Languages: English (N)
Japanese (B2-C1*)

JLPT N2 Certified
x 209

Re: Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

Postby koolawant » Tue Jan 14, 2020 2:11 pm

Just a quick check in.

I've been plugging away at my daily desk study.

Not surprisingly, I'm already having difficulties with N1 material and I'm barely 3 pages in :lol: . I find the concepts and nuances to be much more fine tuned than what I've experienced before. For the most part, it takes about 3 days for me to begin to wrap my head around certain points. But a year is long and I have time so I've just been taking as long as it takes to root words/grammar into my head. N2 review is going really well though.

I have found that the desk study is helping me a lot. I didn't think I would notice results so soon but lately I can tell that my writing has gotten better (receiving less corrections, sometimes none at all!) and I'm much quicker at forming lengthier speeches off the cuff.

That's all for now!!
1 x
: 6343 / 50000 50,000 pages read / Japanese

koolawant
Yellow Belt
Posts: 89
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:04 am
Location: Japan
Languages: English (N)
Japanese (B2-C1*)

JLPT N2 Certified
x 209

Re: Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

Postby koolawant » Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:10 pm

I passed the N2 on my first time!

Pretty happy since I did essentially no study or test prep.

Onwards to N1
5 x
: 6343 / 50000 50,000 pages read / Japanese

golyplot
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1726
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:41 pm
Languages: Am. English (N), German, French, ASL (abandoned), Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12230
x 3404

Re: Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

Postby golyplot » Wed Jan 22, 2020 3:42 pm

Congrats!

I've never taken the JLPT, but that sounds like a huge achievement.
1 x

tuckamore
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2016 6:41 pm
Languages: English (N), Japanese (intermediate), French (intermediate), Thai (beginner), Swahili (beginner)
x 299

Re: Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

Postby tuckamore » Wed Jan 22, 2020 8:37 pm

koolawant wrote:I passed the N2 on my first time!

Pretty happy since I did essentially no study or test prep.

Onwards to N1

おめでとうございます!
1 x
: 10000 / 10000 10000 Japanese pages
: 1510 / 10000 the next 10000 Japanese pages

koolawant
Yellow Belt
Posts: 89
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 2:04 am
Location: Japan
Languages: English (N)
Japanese (B2-C1*)

JLPT N2 Certified
x 209

Re: Koolawant's Log (Japanese)

Postby koolawant » Sun Feb 02, 2020 2:35 pm

Not much to report. January studies went well and I completed my desk study nearly everyday (unless I was sick).

Also I've decided that I wanted to read 50,000 pages within the next 2 years so I'm starting to form a habit of reading before bedtime. I actually do enjoy reading in Japanese, it just takes me so long to do it.

January reads: (started the end of January)

マジックツリーハウス 1 (恐竜の谷の大冒険)reread

When I read this book a year ago I could understand the story well enough, but it"s insane how much better my comprehension is this time around. Very few unknown words so the read was super enjoyable.
1 x
: 6343 / 50000 50,000 pages read / Japanese


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