I’m currently only using WaniKani with no large aspirations to take JLPT exams. I was wondering how many other WaniKani users do this too. Or are the majority of people here studying for JLPT?
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For me, the goal has always been to become able to read Japanese books, play Japanese games and watch Japanese shows and anime in Japanese.
I do consider taking JLPT, but only as a side goal. I don’t plan on moving to Japan or working in a Japanese company; I’m doing it entirely as a hobby for myself 
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Hi, I just started last week. But I’m just learning for personal interest casually. No aspirations to take the JLPT or any other formalized tested.
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I only initally started WK and broader JP study as just a productive timekiller that maybe could let me engage with some video games and things in the far future- but when I ended up enjoying it considerably more than I thought going in and ended up making good progress, my goals shifted to be a little more “objective” and technical. At some point I’d now like to take the JLPT and get some certification, along with looking into studying JP for a degree.
Still a ways off and it’s still not the main motivation to continue, but slowly making my way towards it.
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If your goal is to mainly use Japanese, some people recommend doing WaniKani up to around Level 30-40 and from then on learning your own Kanji that you encounter in your immersion. We have some members that made good progress that way.
Either way, even if your goal is not JLPT, but general Japanese reading for enjoyment, I would recommend it up to Level 30 at least. If you find you get a bigger benefit from WaniKani at that time, you can always decide to continue doing it.
Caveat: If you already know a decent chunk of Kanji (let’s say around 400+) then I think the beginning of WaniKani will probably be too much of a waste, and you might be better off going the “individually adding your own Kanji to Anki” route for efficiency.
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The most important thing for me is being able to read anything I want without too much struggle. Manga, books, videogames, forums and even library documentation at work, nothing makes me happier than reading through any piece of text without touching the dictionary.
Sooo yep, not here for the certificate as well, learning for the fun of it 
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I’m just here for a good time…and a long time as it turns out. The lifetime subscription has paid for itself.
Seriously though, my goals changed with my life stage but never included certification because I don’t need it. Lately, I am curious about my objective level of proficiency and have been looking at taking a standardized test that is not the JLPT.
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I think those standardized tests are especially popular within the Japanese learning community mainly because of the demographics but if you don’t care about them just ignore them. That’s what I do.
I have studied many languages to various degrees of fluency but the only standardized test I ever took was for English because I was forced to do it as part of my school’s curriculum.
That said some people enjoy having those goalposts to work towards, as well as some “objective” measure of progress, so if that appeals to you maybe you’ll find value in those tests.
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Personally I’m just here for a good time. No plans on taking the JLPT unless I decide to move to Japan and it becomes necessary. I work in a medical field so that would be very difficult lol, I’d have to be JLPT1, do extra study for medical vocabs, and take their native certification exams for my field (known in japan as 臨床検査技師). Or change careers. 
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I have no plans to take any tests myself. I’m only learning in the hopes that I’ll be able to enjoy Japanese media in its original form (my trust in localizers has only ever gone down) and to be able to enjoy stuff that never got translated.
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I just want to read cool books and travel in japan properly. Not particularly interested in jlpt even though a bit of structure is a good idea.
I’m just going to fall back on my knowledge of learning English. Mainly just read, and watch TV.
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I’ve used the jlpt as a measuring stick as it’s over of the few common measurements of Japanese level that most people are familiar with, and maybe I’ll take the test at some stage if it’s convenient, but it’s by itself what I’d consider an important goal
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I’m just learning Japanese to read manga and eventually watch anime without subtitles. So like others have said, I’m here for a good time lol
I use the jlpt levels as a guide for goals and to track my progress (for example I’m trying to learn all of the N3 vocab by July, and N2 vocab by the end of the year), but I have no intention of taking the test unless the opportunity to go to Japan ever comes up. Then it might be a good way to prove to myself that I’m ready to go if I pass the test.
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I’d argue optimizing for an exam might even be harmful to overall language acquisition. Also it’s boring.
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well, I’m 86, so I hardly expect to take any exams! I’ve reached level 18 on wanikani; I thoroughly enjoy the constant memory probes - it is so fun to find my mind ‘knows’ word forms I have no conscious knowledge of, so when I guess, I very often get the form right - and I find that using wanikani is my best way to learn vocabulary (which is slow at my age). Any other method is too boring. The algorhythm works to keep me re-learning what I’ve forgotten…and now so many kanji are familiar that a lot of the new vocabulary is no work at all. I test myself every morning and every evening on whatever reviews the algorhythm dishes up. Meanwhile, I’m learning the grammar and usage through private lessons. And why? I enjoy it.
mariko
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You said Japanese community. I think maybe you are talking about Japanese universities or companies, and that is true. JLPT is the most well-known test, and Japanese language requirements for jobs or study abroad programs are often communicated in terms of JLPT level. However, more than 90% of the Japanese people I have met don’t know anything about the JLPT. The only Japanese people I have met who even know what the JLPT is teach Japanese to foreigners or work with foreigners/international students.
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I think if the test/exam doesn’t align with your language learning goals it is a waste of time, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it is harmful to language acquisition.
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Not sure when I will next sit an official JLPT exam but for me, the level progression in JLPT books and materials is helpful to decide what to study first and what to leave for now.
At around N3 level, I am trying to get more into easier ‘real’ Japanese, especially via SatoriReader and iTalki 会話 sessions.
I have some mock exams I bought from Udemy and when I get the time, I’d like to give them a go, to check my score and highlight areas to work on.
So: no solid JLPT goals for the moment - they’re on the backburner.
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The JLPT website also has one (maybe two) 
free practice exams. Check those out if you haven’t already.
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About 48 days ago, I started WaniKani on the spur of the moment after a friend of mine asked me if I had ever tried WaniKani, and I hadn’t. So, I basically started WaniKani in order try it and share my opinion of it, but WaniKani quickly became an obsession for me.
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