I made it to Level 33 or 36 the first time and crashed and burned. Started over and got as far as Level 27, missed N4 by 5 points and then got depressed enough I stopped pursuing any language learning for about 5 months, had been trying intermittently to deal with the mountain of reviews.
So I’m in the easy-peasy level I again. I’m hoping this will seal whatever cracks there are.
[large amounts of self-pity deleted.]
Anyway, on up the mountain. I can still read about 800 Kanji. I just have more work to do.
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BTDT - I missed the N4 passing grade by 3 points.
Since I have no particular need for a JLPT certificate (although I have passed the N5, which will be useful if I should ever decide to apply to a language school in Japan), I’ve decided to hold off from studying for the JLPT, at least for now (although at some point in the future I may decide to go for the N3).
While passing a JLPT level can serve as a ‘proxy’ for your level of familiarity with the Japanese language, studying for the JLPT is different enough from studying Japanese in order to achieve a level of comfort in reading, listening, and speaking that, at least for now, I’ve modified my approach to learning the language, with the goal of actually ‘learning’.rather than having a goal of passing a test.
Much of what’s involved in studying for and passing the JLPT requires getting into the mindset of the test creators and figuring out how to handle all of the curve balls and distractions that they intentionally throw in your direction.
That’s a very different approach to learning from what is needed to watch an anime or J-drama or a news program or whatever - or to read websites or manga, or to engage in conversations. I’d prefer to focus on those things for now.
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Sounds like we are in a very similar space. When I was in Japan last November I found I had met one of my language goals - to be able to get around, do basic things like order food and go shopping, make reservations - just survival stuff. I’m not at the level of casual conversation yet, and won’t be for some time, but it was certainly a big step up from where I was the first time I was there.
One of the things that I think makes it particularly hard for N4 (now having three failures under my belt (85-87-80 go figure) is that the listening section focuses so much on casual Japanese, and it’s hard for foreigners to get much practice with that unless we are living there and make friends (which I don’t).
My reading is far better than my speaking is better than my listening. I’ve never not passed a section - and if I could do even marginally better in one of them I would pass. But given the available tools reading practice is more readily available. I’ve been working with a couple of italki tutors and that’s been good, but it’s not like being in Japan every day, and the Japanese cinema I like best is old movies from the 30’s to the 50’s, so the language is very different - though I can pick up some of it.
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I like this screen - sort of a blend of bunpro and wanikani - is there a special plugin for it?
