Your WaniKani Level VS Your JLPT Level

Japanese Language
41

It’s actually funny because you have the best JLPT level. I think you made your own textbook by mixing many textbooks haha.

I agree with this. It’s crazy how easier it is to learn Japanese after doing WaniKani. You don’t have to look up words in a textbook every 5 seconds anymore.

@udonbaka @Belthazar I wanted to fix it but they said “You cannot change a poll after the first 5 minutes”, RIP I guess. Thanks for noticing it anyway :joy:

@Naphthalene Damn, the WaniKani experience must have been completely different for you.

Can you pick a short name? It’s almost Chinese at this point…

Wait, are your French? O_o

I guess improving even more in Japanese won’t be that useful. Maybe start a project or something that involves Japanese. BTW, did you find the N1 really useful compared to N2 when it comes to daily conversations?

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42

Abbreviate things the way all Japanese do, and pick, like, the first and middle kanji, and stick them together. 中要. ちゅうよう.

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43

It was, I guess, as I came in knowing about 1500 kanji. I basically never read lessons, smashing the “skip” button instead. Last couple of times I mentioned that, a few people mentioned they didn’t even know there is a skip button :joy: The lesson quiz was very good at catching up holes in my knowledge – things I thought I knew, but actually didn’t. Long versus short sounds were common offenders.

Not going to lie, I had to look up the full title. It’s not that bad, though :joy:
中級 intermediate level
日本語 Japanese
文法 grammar
要点 main points
整理 arrangement/organization
→ (lit.) arrangement of main intermediate level Japanese grammar points
ポイント 20 err 20 points? I always thought it was written the other way around, but the publisher begs to differ.

I am le French, indeedly.

TL;DR: since the JLPT does not test conversation, my level there was ~N3 at best at the time. Being able to produce Japanese at N2 should be fine.

I talk too much

Well, I felt the N1 was barely enough for my needs (which is one of the reason I kept trying to improve further, but resources are really hard to come by at the advanced level). It doesn’t help that my skill are completely unbalanced. If I had to put it based on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), after passing the N1 my level was something like:
listening: B1/B2 (intermediate)
reading: B2/C1 (low advanced)
Which is enough over all to pass. However, production was:
speaking: A2/B1 (low intermediate; only using N4 and maybe some N3 vocab and grammar)
writing: B1 (low intermediate)

In that sense, in terms of daily conversation, I could have been at the same level (and probably was) back at the N3 level. That actually makes sense, actually, considering that’s when I stop going to proper Japanese classes, which forced me to speak and write. As both an introvert and a book worm, I instantly ditched the things that I had no use for :crazy_face:

Things got better with time, as my work is technically in Japanese, so I have to do some regular output, but it’s not great. The most progress I have made over the past 3 years is in reading (the thing that obviously needed it the least). Thanks to WK ironing out the kinks, and the metric ton of reading I have done recently, I feel I am squarely in the C1 zone.

Well, daily life, including work, already involves Japanese. But yeah, I would need something that forces me to go beyond my comfort zone.

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44
  • WaniKani Level: 59 (I have been slowly working through the 40s and 50s for several years, doing WK pretty inconsistently)
  • JLPT Level: I haven’t taken it but when I look for grammar resources I typically aim for N2 stuff and find it’s a good level of difficulty so probably between N3 - N2.
  • Resources/Materials(Completed): Completed is kinda a vague term so I’ll just list things I used for a significant period: Tae Kim, Genki II, Tobira, Shin Kanzen Master N2, Nihongo no Mori, Imabi. But more than anything, the biggest resource has been internet access to an endless supply of native Japanese material. Everything else is just a reference to help me make better sense of it.
  • Your Next Goal: Getting to a point where I feel comfortable with conversational Japanese

I relate to this a lot, although I technically haven’t completed WK either :sweat_smile: I wouldn’t say I’ve needed to totally “complete” things though to get a lot out of them.

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45

I’m new to learning Japanese. I’d like to prepare for the N5, but I think the December test is too soon to reach that goal. I wish it were available quarterly instead of yearly/biannually.

Currently: just started level 8 on WK, but I’m probably/maybe going to slow down here and focus on Genki 1 (finished Units 1 and 2 but need to review).
In addition, I’ve started a little Tae Kim’s and want to continue with that. And I’ve done some of the early lessons on Duolingo (which initially taught me hiragana). I go to YouTube for Japanese learning videos every once in a while, but I need to find a new routine with that. The first hundred or so lessons on Remembering the Kanji is what enabled me to gain the confidence to hop on WK. I’ve got a couple phrase books too, and they are helping me gain confidence with survival phrases.

Goals: Genki lesson 3 and onward. Get back to Tae Kim’s too. Build my vocabulary through WK… and supplement with other resources.

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46

Surprisingly, I was able to read the whole title which felt so satisfying. However, understanding the whole meaning is a different story, thanks for the explanation :joy:

Not “la française”? Je ne sais pas pourquoi, I always thought you were a girl :open_mouth:

I don’t think I will ever go for N1, N2 is probably my ultimate goal. Thanks a lot for talking too much!

Ah, I didn’t know that. Well, you can always start a personal project like making a book in Japanese, I don’t know, anything that will make you excited about Japanese again. Oh never mind, it’s time to improve your speaking skills and get them to “C1” :wink:

@Belthazar I noticed that with anime, but I thought that was something official. I mean how do I know which one to pick, what if I choose 法 I will get 中法, ちゅうぽう which you might not recognize.

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47

It was a parody of Americans trying to imitate the French accent. They basically put “le” everywhere. Using something like “la” would be too advanced and ruin the joke.

Same as with acronyms: you take the first bit of the words you like best (well, the main words usually, or the first one and one in the middle). Here, the bits are kanji instead of letters.

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48

Because the 法 is the second half of the word 文法, so it doesn’t make sense to pick that. And the 文法 is the second half of the phrase 日本語文法, so it doesn’t make sense to pick the 文 either.:slightly_smiling_face:

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49
  • WaniKani Level: 50
  • JLPT Level: N2
  • Resources/Materials(Completed):
  • Books: Japanese from Zero 1, 2, 3 and 4, Genki I - II, Minna no nihongo, Tobira.
  • Videos: all nihongo no mori series, all japanese ammo with misa, japanese from zero, japanesepod101, terrace house series, animes, dramas, etc…
  • Podcast: japanesepod101, nihongo con teppei, Shiku-hakku American Life, let’s learn japanese from small talk, ゆとりは笑ってバズりたい, 自分らしく夢を叶えるラジオ, じんきとぽてこの、話せばわかる, ec.
  • Your Next Goal: JLPT N1
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50

WaniKani Level: 29
JLPT Level: N3 (not yet certified but this is according to my JCAT scores from a couple months ago. I will be taking the exam this December to hopefully make it official!)
Resources: Rosetta Stone Completed in high school, Attain Corp.'s JLPT N4 course, Attain Corp.'s JLPT N3 course, Torii for vocabulary, Pimsleur’s for active speaking, HelloTalk to chat with natives
Next Goal: master the 10K words on Torii, Pass the JLPT N3, $$$

I answered that grammar is more important than WaniKani. I say this because it’s sort of like asking if spelling is more important than comprehension. I personally think one should know the basic grammar structures even before getting deep into the WaniKani levels, because it would be difficult to understand any example sentences and the usages of words. So even if you did manage to remember all of the readings and English translations, you wouldn’t be able to use any of what you learned in a practical sense. I also think it would be even easier for you to remember words and kanji from Wanikani if you already understood how they can function in a sentence (how intransitive and transitive verbs work with を or が、how and where to put your adjectives in a sentences, etc.)

WaniKani suggests that people study grammar by level 10, but I say start even earlier! If you have your hiragana down, and are learning katakana, that’s enough to start your grammar journey.

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51

Oh right, the poll. I got too distracted by the current stat/goal thing. :upside_down_face:

I also answered grammar > Wanikani, because Wanikani is just one of many ways to learn Kanji, (and some vocab) while grammar is, well. :wink:

I had them as equally important before I thought about that, because I think all aspects of a language are important to learn. Thinking about it even more, grammar is important for all the applications of a language, while Kanji is only useful for 2 of them… so, I guess I’d go vocab>/=grammar>kanji.

Something like that.

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52

Hey I am curious how you learned Japanese if you didn’t use books are you living in Japan or something?

53

I do live in Japan, but it’s not like I haven’t used resources. I’ve just never diligently finished any of them, to my recollection. I’ve done bits and pieces of lots of things.

And I tend to find reference books more suited to my learning style than textbooks anyway. That is, when I encounter something I don’t understand, like a grammar point, I look it up in a reference book or on a website like Stack Exchange, and add it to my repertoire.

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54
  • WaniKani Level: 56
  • JLPT Level: N2, passed July 2019 at level 50
  • Resources/Materials(Completed): Pimsleur 1-5 (1-4 twice), BunPro N5-N3 (and 80% of N2 at time of passing), LingoDeer Japanese I & II, 漢検学習ステップ１０－８級 books, various other apps pre-LingoDeer/DuoLingo in an attempt to find something that worked.
  • Your Next Goal: JLPT N1 (taking in July 2020, expected pass by July 2021), 漢検６級

Gonna add this in to avoid disrupting the format, but I do think it’s worth mentioning.

  • Resources Currently In Use: Dogen’s Japanese Phonetics series, 日本語の森 JLPT series on YouTube, still studying for 漢検 using books, practice sheets, and the 3DS Training game, and also have a few decks lined up on Kitsun for vocab, while also reading Japanese books in my free time for practice and keeping things fresh.
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55

I have seen this mentioned so many times here. I am kind of tempted to check it out but I guess it’s only on Netflix?

56
  • WaniKani Level: 14
  • JLPT Level: Passed N4 this year
  • Resources/Materials(Completed): In my college Japanese classes I finished Genki I and II, but that was some time ago. Lately I’ve finished several JLPT N5/N4 books–mainly all the books in the Nihongo So-Matome series. I have also finished courses/course sections on apps like LingoDeer, Bunpo, Duolingo, etc.
  • Your Next Goal: I’m working to improve my conversational Japanese. Once I can go to the post office, ward office, etc without feeling nervous then I’ll consider that goal achieved! I’m also aiming for N3 next summer, but I know I need to prioritize speaking.
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57

Wanikani level: 5
JLPT Level: 5 (matching!)
Resources/Materials: I listened to radio/podcasts and watched anime (first with English subtitles, then none, then Japanese for any series that I liked enough to rewatch) for two years and engaged in ten thousand embarrassingly sparse conversations with supportive Japanese coworkers (in the US) and Japanese farmers (in Japan). I also dabbled around in reference books and practiced writing kanji over and over again to improve my handwriting and calm down at the end of the day. The result is that my listening and speaking are disproportionately high compared to my grammar, and I feel pleased rather than annoyed that I have to write my address in kanji all the time.

I love the Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar
I also love “How to Tell The Difference Between Japanese Particles” (a classic for our times) and Essential Japanese Vocabulary. I used Chinese etymology books to study the evolution of the characters before I started Japanese, and it has made kanji study more interesting and easy.

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58
  • WaniKani Level: 45
  • JLPT Level: Passing N3 in a month
  • Resources/Materials: Tobira, Bunpro, a few manga (trying to read one per week at least)
  • Your Next Goal: I want to be fluent enough to go back and live in Japan again. I really struggled last time as I didn’t have time to learn the language and only worked with English-speaking colleagues.
59

This is an interesting topic. Figured I would put down my level corresponding to when I passed the JLPT based on my WK Stats data because I’ve always thought about how much the vocab knowledge really matters. If it means anything I failed N1 the first go around at Level 45
2014 Level 16 - N5
2016 Level 39 - N2
2018 Level 52 - N1

  • WaniKani Level: 60
  • JLPT Level: N1 - Passed 12/2018
  • Resources/Materials: All my college classes are in Japanese, so most of my studying is going to class, doing the work, and then supplementing it by making anki decks for new vocabulary and study terms. I also just regularly consume Japanese media and regularly talk with most of my friends in Japanese.
    Back when I did JLPT-focused studying it mostly revolved around Shin Kanzen Master plus some Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar. Also a few mock exams.
  • Your Next Goal: Getting good marks on my next exams, making some noticeable improvement on conversational skills.
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60

Damn, doing so much Japanese stuff most be really cool because it helps a lot with studies. You just gave me an idea for another topic like this, time to spam the forum :smiley: