文プロ(Bunpro) N3 Grammar Explanations in Japanese - Nov 13th, 2025 - Japanese Grammar and Vocab SRS

Hi, all! :raised_hands:

You can now learn N1 Grammar on Bunpro in Japanese!


Purpose :fire:

This is a new feature for N1-level learners who want to study grammar in Japanese. By learning in Japanese, you won’t have to switch between English and Japanese during your studies, which allows you to keep your brain in ‘Japanese mode’ and helps you to think in Japanese.


Are there any differences between English and Japanese? :thinking:

We translated English write-ups into Japanese, so the structure and information remain the same. However, while the original English write-ups are written from the perspective of English speakers for English speakers, we had to modify the Japanese write-ups a bit.

For example, we often compare English and Japanese in our write-ups, but in the Japanese version, we had to remove the explanation that use English meanings.

Our translation goals are (1) to have zero English in Japanese write-ups (and we have successfully written 99.9% in Japanese) and (2) to ensure natural Japanese. So, please note that sometimes the translations may not be 1:1 literal translations.


What is the level of Grammar and Vocabulary? :writing_hand:

We use only the grammar that users have already learned at each level. Regarding vocabulary, we use words that are listed on our N5 to N1 vocabulary lists as much as possible. However, there may be a few words that are not on those lists although they are still commonly used. If you find any of them too difficult or if there’s anything we missed, please let us know! We’re always open to modify and improve our contents.


How to switch between English and Japanese? :arrows_counterclockwise:

Just click the button at the top-right corner of the write-ups box! You can find this switch on every grammar page. Once you change the language, the setting will be applied to all other grammar pages.


Is the Japanese available only N1? :eyes:

Yes, the Japanese write-ups are currently available only for N1 grammar. However, we plan on expanding this all the way down to N3 content in the future!


We hope this new feature can help you in your learning journey! :airplane: :japan:

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Tried the links but getting to an error page, code 500?

Seems we changed the file structure. They should accessible here: Kana Practice | Bunpro

Hiragana Chart

Katakana Chart

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Thank you very much!

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Hey all!

After much anticipation, we’re happy to announce the Beta release of Community Decks! :tada:

Community Decks allow you to:

  • Create your own Decks
  • Clone existing ones to edit as you please
  • Share your Decks (privately and publicly)
  • Access other users’ publicly shared Decks to use on your own.

:world_map: How to Access:

You need to opt into Beta features in your account settings. Simply toggle the “Opt In” setting under “Bunpro Beta” to “Yes” and the new changes will replace the old version of Decks.

You can always opt out of the Beta if you want the old Decks view.
Doing so will not delete your Custom Decks.


:sparkles: Broad Deck Changes

We made some sweeping changes to the Explore Decks and individual Deck pages.

The browse decks page now has four tabs.

  • My Decks:
    • Your Learn Queue Decks, Custom Decks, and Bookmarked Decks
  • Bunpro:
    • This page contains the Bunpro Grammar, Vocab and Misc decks (Kansai-ben and Onomatopoeia)
  • Textbooks:
    • All of the various textbook paths such as Genki, Tae Kim and so on.
  • Community:
    • All public decks grouped by Deck Type (Grammar, Vocab, Anime, Novel and so on)

Each deck tile on the browse page has a “User Count” attached so you can see which Decks are popular. We also added a Bunpro icon to tell which are “Official Bunpro Decks” at a quick glance.

One downgrade was the removal of the Review button on each Deck tile. This was ultimately done because the query to calculate the number due takes a little bit of time. While not an issue when there are only a few Decks, pages with more took several seconds to load sometimes.

  • Given the unexpected sadness about this change, we have brought the little guy out of retirement on just the My Decks page. That means all the decks shown here (learning, custom or bookmarked) will have the button available.

On the Individual Deck pages themselves, we adjusted the information in the header to include the Deck Type and user count.

We also streamlined the available buttons, including a Review button along with the Learn button and made it more clear if the deck was in your Learn queue or not.

The button group in the bottom contains the following buttons:
Bookmark - Edit (if it is your deck) - Clone - Deck Settings


:art: Custom Decks

Creating
Under the My Decks page, you can click on the “Create a New Deck” button to open a form that lets you specify the title, description, type and also upload a cover image.

Once you create a Deck, it will take you to the Edit page.

Building & Editing
The first step of any new Deck is to add a Unit. You can add a title and label to make it more clear what the theme of the unit is. For a textbook Deck for example you might call it ‘Lesson 1’. For an anime deck, it might be Episode 1. Each Deck can have any number of Units.

After you have at least one Unit, you can add cards to your Deck. These cards reference Grammar/Vocab within Bunpro and live under a specific Unit. You can add any number of cards to a Unit.

Within the Add Card search, you can also specify which Unit it should be added to.

Lastly, you can drag and drop both Units and cards to sort the default order they appear in, within the Deck.

To edit the title, description, type or cover image, use the small pencil icon next to the Deck title

image

Cloning
One additional way to build a Deck is to clone an existing one. A cloned Deck will be copy of an existing one but it will belong to you. You can edit it, adding, removing or rearranging it to get it just the way you want.

Sharing Decks
Once you have built your deck, you can optionally choose to share it. This will give you a link you can send directly to another user that will let them see the deck and even study from it.

If you want to share your Deck more broadly, you can send your Deck for admin review, and once approved, it will show up under the Community tab and any user can study from it.

There might even be some “Deck Builder” badges coming in the near future :smiley:


:handshake: Community Decks

Building and sharing a Deck, whether it is for a textbook, manga or TV show, is a great way to help other users also learning from the same media.

With a Bunpro Deck in hand, whether you pre-study the content or simply use the Deck as a quick lookup as you go, it makes reading a new book, or watching a new show go so much more smoothly.

If you make an awesome Deck, don’t be too shy to share it. Even for obscure content, it is guaranteed to have have a positive impact on other users and help them in their learning journey!

Here is an example of a really cool one already made by a user: Japanese Regions & Prefectures


We hope you enjoy this update!

As this is a Beta, we welcome and encourage any and all discussion and feedback. We look forward to hearing from you!

The Bunpro Team :bowing_man:

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Happy BunsGiving 2024! :tada:

BunsGiving is back again this year!

Whether you celebrate it as Thanksgiving, 勤労感謝の日, or as just another day in late November, what better time of the year than now to show someone how much you care by giving them the Gift of Grammar™!


Why spread the Gift of Grammar™?

Over the years, we have had users reach out about gifting Bunpro subscriptions to friends and family. While this has always unofficially been a thing, with the success of BunsGiving a couple years ago, we made it an official time of the year here!

Starting today, through next Monday, all gifted subscriptions are 20% off!

Share the joy of tackling new grammar, smashing a tall stack of reviews, exorcizing pesky ghosts, and seeing your JLPT progress bars slowly fill up. Not to mention the pure joy of synonym hell, the fear of losing motivation to study daily to keep your streak, or yet another color update!! Bunpro truly has something for everyone. :stuck_out_tongue:

So if there is someone you would like to support or encourage, whether it is a friend, a family member, or even that someone special :wink:, a Bunpro subscription is the perfect gift for any occasion.


How can I gift a subscription?

We streamlined the progress this year. Simply log into your Bunpro account, access your subscription page here: Subscription Page and fill in the Bunsgiving Form.

  • The email address or Bunpro username you want to send the gift to
  • How much subscription time you’d like to gift.
  • Lastly, if you would like to include a message to the person you are gifting it to, please let us know. Alternatively, you can gift it anonymously as well.

We will send you an invoice for the subscription time you wish to gift that you can pay for via PayPal. Once we have a transaction ID, we will apply it to their account.

The sale prices are as follows:

Length Price
1 month $5 → $4
1 year $50 → $40
Lifetime $150 → $120
Custom Depends on length

Black Friday Lifetime Sale

Maybe that special someone in need of a little grammar TLC is you. While the Bunsgiving Sale is active, you can give yourself the Gift of Grammar directly with a discounted lifetime membership ($120). See your subscription page for details.


Annual Lifetime Sale

The BunsGiving Sale on subscriptions is separate from the upcoming annual sale on lifetime memberships ($120) that will begin in late December.


As always, the Bunpro team is eternally grateful for the continued support and feedback everyone provides. You are what we are thankful for this BunsGiving Season. :bowing_man:

いつもありがとうございます。

Bonus festive prose (with a lot of editing) from ChatGPT

The air is thick and warm, like the promise of comfort and chaos in equal measure. It’s the scent of grammar reviews slowly coming due, releasing an earthy aroma that mingles with the sweet waft of cinnamon and cloves from Thanksgiving dinner. Your fingers tingle for the excitement of synonyms and at least one “Can you say it another way?” in your upcoming review session.

The air smells like memories, too: the sweetness of N5 grammar being mastered, the frustration of N3’s synonym hell, and of course, the pure ecstasy you felt when reading an N1 grammar writeup all in Japanese for the first time. It’s the smell of familiarity, of huddling over the keyboard, of a million tiny moments stitched together over years, each one leaving its own linguistic mark. You can almost taste it, thick and heavy, as the interface pulls you in, filling you with a hunger for knowledge, nostalgia, and the quiet joy of tradition. It’s Bunsgiving—before the first new grammar of the day, before the chaos of a review pile too large to tackle in one sitting, right there in the stillness lies the promise that everything else will be just as it should. :turkey:

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Hey All!

Some things are meant to go together: Hot chocolate & marshmallows :coffee:, Nara deer & bowing for biscuits :deer: and Bunpro & an annual Lifetime Sale!

bowing-deer (1)


From now through roughly the 7th of January 2025, all Lifetime subscriptions will be on sale for $120 (down from their usual price of $150). As always, if you are currently subscribed and decide to upgrade, you will be prorated for any unused time on your current subscription.

Link to Sale

We’d like to split this post into three categories - Past, Present, and Future. Let’s start by taking a look at an overview of additions and adjustments we made to the site in 2024!


Content Updates:

  • Practice reading Japanese: New and improved Reading Passages for all levels
  • Expand beyond the JLPT: New every-day grammar like ~やがる and おおよそ.
  • Fully immerse: N1 grammar explanations entirely in Japanese.
  • Improve your reading comprehension: Over 40,000 new Vocab example sentences for words of all levels.
  • Built in Dictionary: JMDict information is now integrated into our Vocab definitions.
  • Hone your Pronunciation: Pitch accent audio for Vocab.

Platform Updates:

  • Better first experience: Revamped our onboarding and added a new user tour.
  • Control what and how you learn: Our new Learn Queue & Daily Goal lets you set up your study flow and pace to fit your needs.
  • Vocab Cram: Improved Cram’s interface and options to Cram Vocab & Decks.
  • GoKana Arcade Game: A fun way for new (and old) learners to test their kana skills.
  • Create and Share Custom Decks (Beta): Build your own custom Grammar & Vocab Decks to learn from or share with friends. This includes a text import tool, allowing you to import from sources such as Anki.
  • Optimize your Learning: Improved SRS intervals and big quality of life improvements such as Ghosts and Self-Study reviews for Vocab
  • Improved mobile experience: Expanded functionality and improved the UI with plans for a full release in 2025.

After a busy year last year, we kept our foot on the gas and pushed out a lot of updates to the site this year! Our theme this year was 進化(しんか)- “evolution/progress/improvement”, as a lot of the work this year revolved around changing and improving the existing experience of using the site. Things like overhauling how and what you study, improving the SRS algorithm, adding a bunch of QoL improvements like JMDict info and Vocab Ghosts/Self-Study.


As is tradition now, last year we laid out for you what we had on our horizons for 2024 to get you excited as a Bunpro user - let’s see how we did!

Looking back on our goals for 2024 from one year ago:

  • Release 75-100 new Grammar Points from our list, including some N0 content.
    • We only fully released about 20 :frowning: But we have a lot more in varying states of completion and have also been adding new ones to our list of Grammar we want to add.
    • We will be focusing more effort toward getting that Grammar released this coming year.
  • Full overhaul of Decks including but not limited to: adjustments to the content in existing Decks and a “Bunpro order”, ability to create and share your own Decks.
    • Done, plus Custom Decks are in Beta!
  • A better search :mag_right:
    • Done!
  • Finishing and releasing N2 and N1 Vocab sentences, translations and fill in the blank/reading reviews.
    • Done!
  • New Reading Passages and an update to existing ones (rewriting to reflect and obey the new Grammar ordering).
    • Done!
  • A full release of the mobile app.
    • Done for Android, quite close for iOS (only waiting on supporting in-app subscriptions)
  • While we have been teasing it for a long time, maybe 2024 will actually be the year of the Bunpro Merch store.
    • 2025 for sure! :joy:
  • With all the requests we get to add kanji info to the site, we might begin to explore what that looks like.
    • Maybe 2025 :sweat:
  • Start adding the additional Vocab lists as study-able Decks with cloze translations, aiming for at least 5 new decks of 1000 words each translated in 2024, each with 8 example sentences.
    • Made good progress on adding a lot of sentences (over 100k currently on the site) but no specific Decks yet for the additional lists.
  • Add tense/similar information for ever single Grammar Point on the website (almost done!)
    • Done
  • Re-recording of all female audio on the website with a far better microphone! (N5 will be finished very soon!)
    • We have newly recorded audio for grammar by professional voice actors/actresses. This is in post production.
  • Have already begun the beta production of a relatively large scale project that will integrate students even more with their external teachers and forms of study… More info coming! :shushing_face:
    • Released the Teacher Dashboard!
  • Japanese/English hints for N3, N2, and possibly even N1 Vocab!
    • Currently in progress!

Our Goals for 2025

  • Finish and Release 50-75 new Grammar Points from our list.
  • A Profile overhaul to make it a more useful and fun part of the site.
  • N1 Reading Passages
  • New professional audio for Grammar and real audio to replace the TTS that Vocab has.
  • A full release of the mobile app followed by some design overhauls and changes to take advantage of app-only functionality.
  • The future might finally be hear and 2025 may actually be the year of the Bunpro Merch store.
  • Explore adding some sort of kanji aspect to the site, if only the information and ability to see Vocab that share kanji.
  • Japanese/English hints for Vocab from N3 on.

And that’s it! Another year in the books for Bunpro! We say it every year but everything we do is shaped by the feedback, both positive and negative from users like you. Bunpro would not be anywhere close to the site it is today without all of you, so thank you for everything you do! All of us here at the team hope that no matter how you are spending the holidays, you are having an enjoyable time.

See you in 2025!

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あけましておめでとうございます!

Check out how much progress you made in 2024 with Your 2024 Recap

This year we included vocab data (if you have been studying vocab on Bunpro)!


It can be easy to get caught up in all your reviews and miss the forest for the trees. Whether you study numerous hours every day, or a few hours a week, the fact that you’ve stuck with learning Japanese is a feat in and of itself. We hope that with this recap you’re able to truly see the great progress you made in 2024! :tada:

Some food for thought:
Think about any aspect of your learning that you struggled with at the beginning of 2024. Whether it was a tough grammar point or struggling to follow an episode of your favorite show in Japanese, it may be worthwhile to revisit those again now to show yourself just how far you’ve come in such a short time!


It was a ton of fun seeing all of the charts that were posted in the yearly recap threads the past two years, as well as reading what your thoughts on the year were + your future goals, so please continue to do that again this year!

From all of us here at Bunpro, thanks for making 2024 another exciting year for us . Thank you for continuing to use and support us with such passion and enthusiasm year after year.

今年もよろしくお願いします!
The Bunpro Team

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I’m not sure if this is the right place for my question but here goes… I just purchased the lifetime subscription on bunpro and decided to sync my account with Wanikani for the vocab. I now have over 600 reviews, and that is after checking the box “Import all Vocab reviews past WaniKani SRS 4 as Seasoned (SRS 8)”.

However, I’m confident I know all of my wanikani reviews in the master/enlightened stages and don’t need to be tested on bunpro 12 times before clearing them - it would be amazing if there was a way to add the option to mark vocab reviews past wanikani srs 3 as seasoned as well.

As I understand it clearing vocab reviews from the start on bunpro takes 12 tries. I have 600 right now, so I would need to do 7200 reviews before clearing everything ? :sweat_smile:

Please let me know if there is a way around this :pray:

There is the option to import for practice and to import as mastered. The former marks everything you have studied on WK as partially studied on Bunpro to give you extra practice while the later doesn’t.

When we import for practice the SRS is set to 7 on Bunpro, but also due right away for the first time which can give you a big chunk of reviews to do :sweat:

Hope that helps answer your question!

I see - it’s a relief if all vocab items are already marked as SRS 7. Thank you for your reply !

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:fireworks: Happy New Year All! :fireworks:

Today we have the huge pleasure of being able to officially introduce a project that has been in the works for several months now, and that I have been dying to leak, but somehow managed to keep under wraps…

A complete revamp of the audio on Bunpro!


:thinking: Just how complete? :thinking:

Complete complete.

As some of you may have already noticed in N5, there is a completely new set of female voice recordings.

This will be happening with the male recordings as well, and will apply to all of the audio on the website

TTSは? 👀

This includes the replacement of all the AI generated TTS (text-to-speech) Vocab audio too! (eventually)

The male recordings are still processing, but we already have all of the female content, so all the way through N1 will be getting added to the site within the next few weeks!

Oh, and also, this also includes new audio for all of the Reading Passages!


:studio_microphone: What makes it so special? :studio_microphone:

I am glad you asked!
Here is a list of some of the things you will notice straight away with the new recordings:

:mage: Character voices

As we are using professional Japanese voice actors, we encouraged them to use any of their character voices that they felt fit the sentences or scripts they were reading. If you’re really keen-eared, you may even recognize a voice from one of their professional game/anime works! Check out some of them in the readings! N4 reading examples.

:sparkles: Quality

As it has all been professionally recorded, the editing itself is also top-notch! It’s an absolute joy to listen to and will have you creating ghosts just because you wanna hear them over and over again!


:control_knobs: Audio Player Feature Additions :control_knobs:

The audio is getting an upgrade, so we also of course had to update our player!

As some of you may know, these have been available for a while now, but we’ve only just found the right announcement to talk about them:

:mantelpiece_clock: Timestamps in Reading Passages

Navigate to and from each individual sentence within Reading Passages!

Stuck on something in particular in one of our longer passages? Play the part that you are having trouble with again, or just play the same sentence over and over because you’re having a good time!

4e2cba0a29a7ec936edf09ba6a1f53beec3ca392

:couple: “Alternating” gender mode for Examples

Want to hear both, the genders for a particular sentence during Reviews?

Now you can change your Preferred Voice Gender to “Alternate”, and the audio will switch backwards and forwards between the Male and Female voice actors.

This can be set in the Voice Preferences menu (the audio player settings popout):

:turtle::rabbit2: Playback Speed Slider

A few users mentioned that ‘Slow’ mode was a bit too slow, and normal speed was a bit too fast.
So we’ve given you a slider to adjust, to specify exactly what speed fits your listening ability.
This too can be found in the audio player settings.


:gift: That about wraps it up! :gift:

All of this audio will slowly be released over the coming weeks (for Grammar) and months (for Vocab), but we were so excited about it, and wanted to start this year off with a bang! :fireworks:

We hope all of your studies this year go smoothly, and we look forward to what 2025 will bring.

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It has been a while since we made an update post. お待たせしました。 :bowing_man:

Today we have a spicy little meatball of an update for you. Introducing…

:page_facing_up: Related Grammar Descriptions :nerd_face:

This update is a somewhat simple, but hopefully useful one.
We have had our Grammar Geniuses™️ (don’t sue us Apple) go through and add some explanation text to the Related Grammar section.

Currently it is only available for N5, but we are working to get N4 and beyond all covered in the coming weeks and months.

:hammer_and_wrench: How to use:

Click anywhere on the item to expand the text, or click “Expand All” to expand them all at the same time!

To open the Grammar in a new window, click the :up_right_arrow: icon.


:high_voltage: Quick Cram :high_voltage:

We’ve also added a Quick Cram button to the top right of this section, so you can study the current Grammar Point alongside all the Related Grammar!


We have a lot of other even spicier meatballs cooking in the kitchen, but here is one to keep you satiated until the mains arrive. :man_cook::cook:

:heart: The Bunpro Team

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Just following up to let everyone know N4 now also has related grammar descriptions. :tada:

We also added a bunch of miscellaneous related grammar, in particular to points that didn’t have anything before.


These can help especially with the increase in N4 of similar words that have different nuances/uses:

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Hi, All :smile_cat::heavy_heart_exclamation:

Today, we’re excited to share that we’ve just released Japanese translations for all N2 grammar explanations!


Why did we make this? :star2:

Last year, we released the Japanese explanations for N1 grammar as announced here. As we mentioned then, this feature is for anyone who wants to learn grammar in Japanese. It helps you get more exposure to Japanese and encourages you to think in Japanese while learning.


What kind of Japanese is used? :woman_teacher:

The N2 explanations are written in simple and plain Japanese - generally easier than the N1 explanations. We only use grammar points that you’ve already learned by that level.

As for vocabulary, most words are N2 level or lower. A few might be a bit more advanced, but don’t worry - we make sure they are commonly used in daily life or Japanese language classes.


Now with Furigana! :accept:

We’ve added furigana to all kanji in N2 grammar explanations - and N1, too!

As always, you can click the kanji to turn the furigana on or off. That way, you don’t need to look up readings each time you see a tricky kanji.

(Also, while adding furigana to the N1 explanations, we made a few small wording updates to improve readability!)


How to switch between English and Japanese? :arrows_counterclockwise:

Just click the switch button in the top-right corner of any grammar explanation. Once you switch, your setting will apply across all grammar pages.


So, what’s next? :point_right:

We’re not exactly sure yet how far we’ll go with this feature, but for now, we’re planning to at least cover N3 grammar explanations in Japanese. We’re still thinking about the best way to explain them, since N3 includes many basic grammar points that are often used in writing. That said, many Japanese textbooks also start offering Japanese-only explanations around the N3 level, so we think it’s a natural next step!


Thank you always for your support and for being part of the Bunpro community. We hope this will be helpful for even more learners! 一緒に頑張りましょう! :muscle::books:

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Hello! :wave:

I hope everyone is doing well and those who took the JLPT aren’t too nervous about their results! After a period of working on other things, we’re happy to announce that we’re refocusing on our push to add missing grammar points to Bunpro! :partying_face:

This post is here to announce what we’re adding, explain how we will approach missing grammar from now on, and also to remind newer users of what we are planning to add (and how you can best make suggestions).


What’s New This Time? :mag:

We’re starting off by adding 11 new grammar points across different levels:

Of course, all new grammar points come not just with a writeup but also come with a full set of example sentences. Be sure to check them out! Please note though that we do not have audio for these new grammar points yet, but the audio will be coming very soon!

Besides new grammar points, in some cases, frequently requested additional information is better served by being added to our existing grammar points. For example, this time we are also updating the writeup for たりする with some extra information on the たりして pattern.


What Comes Next? :arrow_right:

From now on, we are planning on releasing around five new grammar points per month!

We will be filling some gaps in JLPT grammar and, in an effort to be more comprehensive as a general learning and reference tool, we will also be adding more grammar that is considered to be outside of the JLPT. You can currently find these points at the bottom of the Grammar List from the Content menu, or can search for them directly.


‘I Have a Suggestion!’ :raised_hand_with_fingers_splayed:

In the original announcement about the future of missing grammar, we shared a priority list. We will continue to focus on that list for the moment, although suggestions are always welcome.

The original announcement thread is still the best place for suggestions however we will try our best to keep track of suggestions wherever you may make them. We may or may not have a secret list behind the scenes :eyes:


文アマから文プロへ :fountain_pen:

On the content team we are busy working away on various other projects, as well as continually trying to improve the content we already have. Although we can’t quite talk about any of the other projects yet, we hope everyone will enjoy the new grammar writeups, and we thank you for all of your suggestions and feedback so far! :bowing_man:

We’ll see you for the next batch of new grammar next month!

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N2 Related Grammar descriptions are live :tada:

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Hi all!

I hope everyone is gearing up for a great weekend! Today we are proud to announce a new feature that we have been working on behind the scenes for quite some time now… JLPT Practice Tests!!

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While not everybody is aiming to take the JLPT, it is universally considered a measure of competency that is synonymous with Japanese language learning.

We wanted to give people taking the test a quality practice resource while also letting those not taking it have something they would be able to accurately measure their ability by, and hopefully have a bit of fun while doing so! Let’s get straight into taking a look at the features.


:memo: Overview :memo:

  • 25 Full JLPT Practice Tests (5 for each level!).
  • Accompanying illustrations.
  • Professionally recorded audio.
  • Special Badges.
  • JLPT Level indicator for your forum profile.

:bar_chart: Breakdown :bar_chart:

:arrow_right: Practice Test Index :arrow_left:

On the JLPT practice test index page, you will find five complete tests for each level, including a breakdown of the questions per section and the total test time.

This page will also show you your final score and most recent test date for each test.

Details

Clicking the Details button for any test will give you a further breakdown of the allotted time and let you start any given section of the exam.

Test

Inside each test section, everything will be in Japanese, reflecting the format of the actual JLPT.

Let’s take a look at what this page is showing us :microscope:.

The main test question container on the left:

  • Instructions - These will change based on the question type, and will inform you of exactly what is expected of you in each section.
  • Test question - Depending on the question type, you may see an underline, a blank, a text block, an image or an audio file.
  • Answers to choose from - You can simply click on what you think is the correct one, or use hotkeys 1-4 to choose.
  • Navigation - Arrow buttons let you go back or forward. Useful hotkeys are the left/right arrows and enter.

The Answer sheet on the right:

  • There is a timer at the top that will count down your remaining time.
    • Please note that this is a soft limit timer, and it is there to just give you an idea of whether you were over or under in time. We don’t penalize you for going over.
    • Additionally, if you need to pause your test, simply close the test. When you open it again later, the timer will begin from where you left off.
  • Test question answer sheet - You can see which question you are currently on, and if you skipped any. Clicking on any question number will navigate you directly to that question.
  • Submit answers button - Will end the test and check your answers for you.

Note: The JLPT has breaks between each section. We chose not to force you take a break at all (and no arbitrary minimum amount, like 2 minutes, either). If you are aiming for a more test like experience and sitting down to do a full test in one go, you should definitely consider taking a small break between sections.


Test Makeup

Although each level has a selection of different question types testing different broad language abilities, all tests are divided into the following:

Vocab - A mix of both kanji and vocabulary in a variety of question types such as recognition, recall, usage, replacement, and several others.

Grammar & Reading - Sentence composition and long-form questions designed to test one’s ability to be able to extract specific information from items such as passages and posters.

Listening - Questions that test one’s ability to understand spoken Japanese and either choose appropriate replies, or identify key points within a conversation.

Just like the official JLPT, all of our tests are accompanied by professionally recorded audio files and have artwork where appropriate.


Test Results

So as to not spoil any of the tests, we won’t include a screenshot, but after you submit your results, you can open the test section up and see:

  • Your answers versus the correct answers.
  • Quick links to relevant Bunpro vocabulary and grammar points associated with any question (very useful for brushing up on any missed questions).
  • Extra information/reasons showing you why an incorrect answer doesn’t work, and in many cases a detailed breakdown indicating how you can find the right answer.
  • On listening sections, the audio transcript is available.

Badges

If you pass at least one test, you will earn the associated badge!

While the JLPT uses a private scoring system for weighing each question, the criteria for what we consider a passing score on our tests is: 70% or more total with at least 40% on each section.

If you can achieve a passing mark on one of our tests, you will likely be able to pass the official JLPT. That being said, the actual test varies quite a lot in terms of difficulty year by year.


Forum Indicator

Passing a test will also give you a JLPT indicator on your community forum profile! We feel this will be a much more accurate representation of one’s ability than just the standard 1-100 level that has been displayed up until this point. (This feature is coming very soon!)


:dart: Accuracy :dart:

We have based our practice tests off of the most up to date information publicly provided by the official JLPT website. We have also matched them as closely as possible in terms of difficulty, question total, and duration. However, if (and probably when) the JLPT changes slightly, we will do our best to make small alterations to our tests in order to keep up to date.

One key difference between an official JLPT test and our practice tests is that during the listening section, we allow you to replay audio files as many times as you like. During the actual JLPT, they only play it once. For those wanting the real experience, we recommend proceeding through the test question by question and only listening to each question once in order to get the most accurate representation of your overall ability.

(If you want a really authentic listening test experience, just hook up an external speaker, turn the volume down and put it in the far corner of your room. Even better if you’re sitting near someone tapping a pencil :joy: )

We believe this first batch of five tests generally vary from slightly on the easy side, to level accurate. In the future when we release another batch, we will aim to make them slightly on the harder side and put an indicator on each test showing their relative difficulty so that users can get a better gauge of their ability.


:sunglasses: Availability :sunglasses:

All 25 tests are 100% freely available!

We have made these practice tests accessible to anyone, regardless of whether or not they are a paid user, trial user, or even if they have no Bunpro account at all!

When initially doing research for this project, we found that there was a lack of stellar, accurate JLPT practice tests publicly available, especially ones with quality audio (probably one of the tougher parts of the JLPT).

We want as many people as possible to be able to use these exams whenever and wherever they want, regardless of whether or not they call Bunpro home. Being able to equip people with the tools they need in order to reach their learning goals is at the core of our mission, and this is just one more feature that is allowing us to do just that.

We would love it if you shared these tests with your friends, family, or internet strangers looking to practice for the JLPT, or get a better sense of their current level!

Happy (practice) test taking!

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you guys… this is amazing

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Thank youu!!!

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