Some people learn faster or have better strategies than others, but my story been studying for around seven years now on and off, lived in Japan for six years, passed N4, N3. Taken N2 four times since 2016 and failed every time. I guess i’m not a great learner. It took some years to feel comfortable taking it at that level, I perhaps levelled up too quick. Anyhow, don’t underestimate the vast difficulty of the JLPT. It’s a beast.
This is a realistic journey. Well done!
That’s indeed insane. I met a guy in Duolingo (those people that have taken like every single course of every language there) he told me he was able to get to HSK6 (like the N1 but for Chinese) in 14 months studying about 6 to 8 hours per day.
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There’s lots more grammar than you’ll find in Genki. I recommend you also study the 日本語総まとめ books and 日本語の森 (on youtube).
Chinese is easier for English-native speakers to learn than Japanese is (because Japanese is more structurally different from English).
Bold of you to assume everyone is an English native speaker, haha
Its not the case. Nevertheless is as you say of course.
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Learning Chinese is my goal after I feel comfortable enough speaking Japanese. Reading your story about the guy who did it that fast makes me feel more motivated somehow lol, even though I’d still take 20 years. Thank you for sharing!
Anyway, do you have any idea what his native language actually is? I find the influence your mother tongue has on learning new languages super interesting!
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Yes!
He is from Ecuador, so Spanish.
I hope you reach your goal. I also want to learn many languages, Chinese included
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Ohh I see!! Spanish is also such a nice language!
Thank you, I hope you reach your goals too 
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It depends on what you mean by that, I guess. Do you mean N3 fully covered, but you wouldn’t yet be able to pass the N2 because you haven’t done all of that yet?
BunPro currently has 218 N3 points, and 205 N2 grammar points. They’re still actively adding to both of those categories. There are only 26 N1 points available at this time, but they’re also adding to that over time.
So I suppose it would hinge on what you deem to be good value for your money. Because not everything is finished yet, a year sub is currently 30 dollars, I believe.
Yep, exactly that. They give a brief breakdown of grammar points, and there are links to outside sources if you want more in-depth coverage of it.
Every grammar point has numerous example sentences, and you do your reviews by filling out the blanks in those sentences. First it’ll just show you the sentence with the blank, so you can parse it and try to think of what the answer might be. If you want, you can reveal the English prompt for what the grammar point should be. If you want, you can also show the whole translation of the sentence. So it trains recall, and not just recognition.
To be honest, I like having something pre-made. I tend to get bogged down on how best to study, rather than actually studying. So a system where it is a matter of “do lessons, then do reviews,” means I’m not getting in my own way.
I could have made flashcards of my many grammar notes with a system like Anki, but I find that a tedious and cumbersome process, so I never did it. Like with WK, I just have to show up to BP every day. It’s something I could commit to consistently, and that’s the most important part of making progress.
You’re also fully in control of what you want to learn or skip. So if you know 80% of N3 stuff, you can simply add the stuff you don’t know, or stuff you want to cement more. It doesn’t force you to go through everything.
Free 30 day trial is free, so it’s easy to see what you think of it. Not everyone likes it equally, but be sure to dip your toes in if you think it might be helpful to you. ^^ And you get the free trial just by signing up with email. Not one of those deals where they have you fully sub with payment info, in the hopes that you’ll just forget to cancel after the free period.
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Honestly, from 0 to N2 in a year seems like something that can only happen with non stop study.
Today I’m doing N3, but I feel like I need a whole nother year to get to N2.
I really hope that’s doable though.
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After a near pass on N3, I did get to the N2 level in a “year” made of:
- binge read manga for 5 months
- ohs**t only a month left!
- binge read manga some more
- 2 weeks before, read all the grammar from sou matome or something (can’t remember)
- fail the N2
- subscribe for the next one, swear it will be different this time
- proceed to do the exact same thing
- pass by zero (0) points
- get the same damn certificate as someone who got full score
- ???
- profit
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I think I’m going to try it for a year!
because when I get excited about something I AM IN
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You can get way better immersion than that at home. There are so many Youtube channels, pdocasts, anime, tv shows, books, manga and movies.
I’m sorry, are you saying you can get better immersion using internet resources than you could living in Japan in a full immersion environment? I’ll admit there are a lot of great resources out there, but you think those resources are “way better” than living with a host family in Japan speaking Japanese 24/7? Or am I misunderstanding something?
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I don’t agree; all those are passive. Being forced to produce speech and writing, and being forced to use the language to accomplish every day tasks, creates more engagement than you can get with even very aggressive use of such media.
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However, I did have the experience of studying Japanese at the Middlebury Summer Language Institute (nine weeks, live in a dorm with students and language teachers (who are professional linguists, not just Japanese speakers) and eat in a cafeteria with them, and sign a pledge to use no language other than Japanese. Nine weeks.
Then a year at Hiroshima University Engineering School as a graduate student.
I chose to fly back to USA to do another nine weeks at Middlebury, which for me, at that time, was more productive for my Japanese than a year at Hirodai was.
This was in the middle 1980s, well before Internet was widely available.
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Not being a debbie downer but I think its a pretty tough goal to set yourself, just do your absolute best at a comfortable pace, because if you go at break-neck speed you will burn out. Over the years i’d had many ups and downs, phases of wanting to quit and abandon my studies to huge levels of motivation. Personally, I have taken a ‘relaxed but dedicated’ approach, choosing to study lightly for the most part, but always with study everyday. I’ve lived in Japan on two separate occasions (six years total) living in Tokyo and the remote inaka where nobody spoke a word of English. I’ve done Japanese language school in Osaka and for the last two years+ had bi-weekly one-to-one lessons with a native Japanese teacher. I am yet to pass N2, even after 4 attempts (5 this Dec) over 3 years. Like Wk, hitting your N2 goal shouldn’t be time-orientated, I think you should just work a pace which suits you and then take it when you feel comfortable and ready. Good luck with your journey.
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I would recommend those for N3, but for N2 you cant beat the 新完全マスターseries (文法 and 読解)
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