Oh really? I seriously must’ve skipped over that when looking at the immigration services website (update, did check and saw a lot of things that I quickly skimmed but said what you did, weird) But since that is the case I assume that since my sister said “next year” meaning once she got her associates degree that she meant after getting her degree but also when their borders open. My apologies for seeming like a bit of a fool haha. I appreciate you letting me know though so I now know I might have a bit more wiggle room, or maybe not? It seems to be slowing down but that also might be the opinion of a foolish American.
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Gunna copy this gif just to compound the message. 
(@McYodo, I think the reason your message rubbed @Slowopoke (sorry, Slowopoke, don’t know if you want a ping or not 
) the wrong way was because some of the stuff you said you got from the JLPT website ran contrary to what they had been saying when they might well have had first hand experience and were just trying to give you the benefit of that experience. I’m sure you didn’t mean anything by explaining what you saw on the website, but I thought you might find it helpful to know what may have caused the friction. I’ve had similar situations before and would have appreciated if someone had explained to me what had caused it. Once again, not trying to blame you for anything, just suggesting what could have caused the misunderstanding).
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I swear I’m not trolling, I’m actually just braindead. I had actually read over the visa information, at least enough to get the gist and I saw the fees info and ALSO that Americans are exempt from fees but I totally forgot that when replying. I swear I know what I’m talking about though lol.
As for the language test, is that true? I swear I read about foreigners needing to take a language exam if they don’t have N1-N2 certificates. However that might also have been some fine print that I wasn’t reading, or just I straight up missed a word that indicated the section about the test was meant for something else.
The only language test I am aware of to actually get into Japan is that people from some southeast Asian countries need to pass an immigration language exam to be able to come… but those people are getting visas to do stuff like manual labor in agriculture. I’m guessing that’s not what you had in mind…
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OH! That might make sense, a few other replies corrected me on things I kind of rushed to type out and got mixed up and garbled since I was having like 3 different conversations at once and I was trying to make sure everyone got a reply. For future reference of anyone else reading this post, take ANYTHING I say with a whole jar of salt because I’m pretty damn stupid and I probably said some incorrect stuff along the way. I appreciate it though Maulrus
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Yeah, I’m looking through it and while I’m still not entirely sure what it all means, I think the language exam was something about junior high schoolers immigrating to Japan? I probably summarized that wrong but you get the idea. I suppose it’s a good thing to know though since I won’t get rejected entry due to lack of linguistic experience (not being ignorant, I know I still need to know Japanese to live there. Just a bit of stress off my shoulders)
I would actually love to go to college in Japan however I think I’ll need a few years there since y’know they know wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more than me in terms of Japanese so it’d be very hard to keep up. Plus it’d be a seperate visa and it’d be all super complicated but I think I’ll figure that stuff out either later in the year or once I get there, since it’s still a ways away
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It sounds like what you’re getting confused about is that if you’ve passed the N2 or N1 you get exempt from having the Japanese language section of the Middle School Equivalency Exam, which is used for students who were educated abroad and now want to enter a Japanese high school. That does not apply to you lol.
Sounds like you’re excited about this plan, and you’ve got a million ideas so you’re doing a bunch of research, but not taking the time to process that research and think about how much of it is actually relevant to you, and now you’ve accidentally confused yourself haha. I would recommend you take a breath, slow down, write out exactly what your goal is and the steps you need to achieve it.
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It’s not impossible but lets do the basic math here.
Based on estimated study time on wiki Japanese-Language Proficiency Test - Wikipedia
In order to pass N1 you might need 4800 hours study time and 2800 hours for N2
So you need to study 4800/(9x30) = 17.7 hours/day to pass N1
And you need to study 2800/(9x30) = 10 hours/day to pass N2
You might be different but for me I’m self studying Japanese full-time and 8 hours/day is already my limit. 6-7 hours/day is my average study hours for the last 3 months. When I’m talking about study hours I really mean it. It’s not like 8:00-17:00 is counted as 8 hours. However, I use an apps to count my time when I’m doing nothing but focus entirely on Japanese.
How about vocabs? They said there are 10000 and 6000 vocabs for N1 and N2 respectively
I would like to add 50% to the count since you need to know more than that to actually use the langauge on that level effectively.
You need to learn 15000/(9x30) = 55 and 9000/(/9x30) = 33 vocabs for N1 and N2.
Which is not that bad I’m learning around 30-40 new vocab daily on Kitsun.
I’m not gonna talk about other aspect as reading, grammar, and listening. Since they can’t be calculated like those two but you gotta do what you need to do.
So if you can do all of these it’s possible I guess.
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Look into the MEXT scholarship. There are English language programs. Another option is to go to language school in Japan first (there are programs aimed at getting students to university level Japanese) and then enroll in a university.
Also someone else mentioned that you’re not allowed to work on a student visa. That’s actually not true. You’re allowed to have a part time job (there’s a cap on the number of hours, but I forget how many). Most language schools actively encourage students to get a part time job. (there’s also an issue with shady language schools basically being human trafficking operations to bring in cheap foreign labor, but that’s a separate (but fascinating) issue).
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I guess in my head I was thinking you’re not supposed to work full time, which I don’t think you are. Which for someone who it sounded like their main priority was work and not study, seemed like it would be a problem.
This part of a page about it on a university website seems to contradict itself.
International students coming to Japan with a visa status of “Student” are in general not supposed to work.
It then immediately talks about what work you can do as a student. So, if it’s allowed, it seems like saying “not supposed to” is a strange way to put it. But that was what I remembered hearing.
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Yeah, I still am thrilled about not having to stick at home so I still am a bit overexcited. I’m glad to see I don’t have to take that test, though since that’s a requirement for high school “freshmen” I can assume I would need to be around N1 or N2 for any universities or such opportunities? I’ll probably catch up for a year or two after I move there though so I wouldn’t dare try and get by with the minimums.
And I do appreciate the advice, I have done a very very basic framework around simple questions such as “where” “why” “how” “when” and “who” but I haven’t gotten any certain foundations in since well I learned this 2 weeks ago and I still have the greater half of a year till it happens. So I was just kind of trying my best to appease everyone’s questions with mild assumptions and some half based knowledge, but I’ll be sure to do my best to figure it all out before I actually get there : D
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Well if it is possible I’ll certainly aim to do my best and get there but I agree that it is going to be neigh on impossible to actually get to that level before I move there, which (from what I think, I might be wrong so don’t think I’m certain in this assumption) but I shouldn’t need an N1 level of Japanese to live there, N3 should probably suffice I think? I don’t particularly know but what I do know is that once I’m there I’ll still be studying along with being immersed in the culture so it’ll speed up my learning to par (or so) within a year maybe. That is some impressive maths though, I’ll be sure to reference that as a top of the line goal for my personal studying!
There was a thread on here from a long time ago where someone was working in a convenience store in Japan with only N4. I believe they were on one of the European country working holiday visas though, which America does not have such a thing with Japan.
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That’s insane, well if that guy stood a chance and he actually wanted to do it with his minor knowledge then I’m confident I’ll figure it all out once I’m there. Also to not only you but also all people on the thread I really do appreciate all the help and patience with my mistakes. Wonderful community, I’ll be certain to ask here if I have any more questions! Big thanks to you though Mr./Mrs. Leebo, you had probably dealt with the most of my stupid mistakes so I appreciate you helping me out.
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You might not need JLPT level as a measure. You might need to take different route and seek for some study method that help you use Japanese to communicate rather than passing the JLPT test.
May be study basic grammar and vocab then hire some private teacher on italki or taking group course to learn how to use Japanese to communicate.
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Yeah, I had figured that the entirety of Japanese society didn’t revolve around a literature test but since a lot of people use it as a point of reference I figured it would be best to use that as well. I have been comparing my progress to a lot of other things as well though just because I know how much of a time pinch I’m in.
Also I’m still yet to start on the grammar and vocab but I’ll probably hammer that out in the next few weeks too. Someone else in the thread mentioned Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide so I’ll be checking that out in a bit as well as a bunch of other things. But I’ve gotta admit, I’ve never had this much fun cramming before a ‘test’! I appreciate the advice tho, it helps me out a lot.
You can use it but it might not aligh with your goal because the time constraint you have.
My goal is I want to pass JLPT to put it on my job resume. So I’m studying to pass the test. In order to do that, I need to sacrifice the ability to write, speak and form Japanese sentences for now because they are not part of the test. I will go back to learn those aspects later.
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I think you and your sister might be severely underestimating the effort it would take to pull this situation off, if it’s even possible at that. You should also take into consideration the cons of living in Japan in this sort of situation. It’s not a fairy-tale wonderland here, especially if you can’t properly communicate with people.
Regarding studying, a lot of people excitedly jump into Japanese and want to study at a breakneck pace and eventually get burnt out. The simple truth is that if you don’t study at a reasonable level and stick to it every single day, it’s going to be extremely difficult to make progress. You would also need to make a constant effort applying what you learn through speaking, listening, and reading.
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Yeah I agree. It’s possible but requires a huge amount of effort both physically and mentally with no gaurantee of success.
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