What is your ideas about the difference between “advance” and “near-native?”
I think “advanced” includes anyone who can interact with natives smoothly and clearly, meaning that it is not particularly strenuous for either party. There might be occasional mistakes, and the learner might need to look things up occasionally or work around certain things, but an advanced learner can still work around those things in a way that the native isn’t going to be confused by.
Maybe that is a bit of an vague answer, but I don’t want to make a definition with many elements.
Near-native is just that; the person can use the language almost as well as they can use their own native language, which is a much higher bar.
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In your mind, does this smooth conversation include somewhat specialized topics, such as politics and economics? Nothing too technical, just stuff the average well-educated person might discuss.
Yeah, I think that advanced learners can talk about things that they are interested in. There are people who are native English speakers who can’t speak coherently about politics or economics, but I think if an advanced learner does know something about those things it would be reasonable to think they could discuss them in the second language too.
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Yeah, I can confirm that at the point I passed N1 I was nowhere near being able to hold such a conversation, and I was missing massive parts of N2 in terms of grammar. If I remember correctly, I got 20/60 on the grammar/vocab part of the test, with a C in grammar, so very close (well, one point away) from being disqualified.
I was saved by my reading (50/60) and listening (35/60), for a grand total of 105, where 100 is the passing grade.
Yep, that was after 8 years of studying Japanese, most of them while being in Japan. But I’m nowhere near fast, since I could manage with French (! damn that expat bubble) and English just fine. (So learning Japanese was almost a hobby)
A dedicated learner (doing only Japanese) can probably go from 0 to N1 in 3 years, I think. Faster if they are good and unburnable (as in won’t burn out after doing 6 months of 15h of Japanese a day…)
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Exchange programmes are different from applying normally to a university. Not a single 留学生 I know is N1 level (there are some who are close but thats not the point). Depending on what sort of exchange programme it is you might attend lectures or classes in English which wouldn’t require any Japanese knowledge. There’s plenty of Engineering and Economics exchange students at my uni who are only studying N5 level Japanese while in Japan.
It really depends what university you’re applying to in your home country and what course. I’m on my year abroad in Japan at the moment so if you have any questionsi I’m happy to help 
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The first three (N5 to N3) can be done in a year, particularly if you live in Japan. After that it starts to take more time
You mean the first three within a year? (Or rather, eighteen months, as it’s only offered twice a year?)
That might be possible too. I don’t know. I moved to Japan this year and was already in N3 study material, and I guess was only basing that off of knowing people who did N3 one year, N2 the next, and are aiming for N1 currently (though they may need another year).
It’s totally possible you could shoot up from 0 to N3 within roughly a year in the country if you emphasize studying, since it’s all foundational grammar. This is pretty far aside what the OP was asking, though, since I don’t think they’re coming in at 0?
There are also some Japanese universities that have junior year transfer programs for international students! Some of these give you tuition reductions because you’re international, and some even pay your tuition and give you a monthly stipend.
Some of these begin with a free 6 month language school course, some don’t require the language school (or JLPT) because the courses are in English. I still think these programs, especially because of their low cost, are worth considering, because you don’t have to be JLPT certified when you apply.
Good luck finding what works for you!
i know around half of N4 grammar and while yes the sentences are all very simple, but
is bullshit.
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UTokyo required N1
(As you may have read above. most universities only require japanese proficiency if you enroll in japanese or partly japanese taught classes.)
Which would require 2.73 to 4.38 of studying a day for 3 years.
While residing in japan would mean that they do not count exposure and usage of japanese? In my honest opinion that seems a bit plenty
Yeah, you can do plenty with N4 grammar. There isn’t much that you can’t rephrase with N4 grammar. You just lose the nuance and effect of using the more specialized grammar of higher levels when you do that.
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I think maybe you meant to reply to someone else? I’m literally on an exchange in Japan haha.
Anyway, I’m sure they probably do require N1 for some courses or exchanges, but if its an exchange programme run jointly by OP’s uni and the Japanese one theres probably different requirements that OP doesn’t know yet because they haven’t actually started the course.
Which universities offer this? I’ve only ever seen government-sponsored programs do this, so I’m pretty curious.
Actually, the only program I can find that gives you a stipend on top of paying your tuition is the GSC program at UTokyo.
See details here.
That said, there could definitely be others, as I have not spent a great deal of time looking for this specific scenario.
I believe I found this program using this resource.
EDIT: I definitely misread that link. Tuition is not paid, but housing is. Students do receive 150,000 円 a month!
That said, Meiji Gakuin University’s GTS International Student scholarship program seems pretty generous, as does Hokkaido University’s MJSP.
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