Thoughts on JLPT? (Japanese Language Proficiency test)

[XtremeKinKee]

Hello!

Was wondering if anyone here has any experience of JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency test)?

If so, just wanted to grab some opinions on how useful it is in helping you improve your Japanese in general, because as a crazy fan of Japanese I want to be able to (one day hopefully) casually go to Japan on my own and also managing to understand pretty much everything that is written down and understand what peeps are saying. (I'm very Ambitious. ;)) I know this will probably take a very long time but I'm a patient guy ;)

Currently I got the basics down and have a GCSE qualification in Japanese being able to read, write Hiragana, Katakana, understand a fair chunk of Kanji (Thanks to my Chinese) and grammar etc etc (The stuff usually in any GCSE language course).
I wanted to carry on learning Japanese in University, but they don't offer anything higher than Asset Language Level 2 :( (Funny story that I got kicked out of that class in Uni cause apparently I "Knew" too much Japanese xD )

I understand that JLPT does not do any speaking examinations what-so-ever it's all multiple choice from what I read online... so I'll probably just have to speak to a wall or something to practice my Japanese cause apparently its very rare to find Japanese people in my University.. :(

So any ideas if JLPT is a good way of me increasing my knowledge of Japanese? :)

Any thoughts will be appreciated :)

Tah.

 

[pichu655889]

Hello!

I'm actually going to be taking the JLPT (Level N3 - I know, not too good with the language yet) this coming July. As you've said, the JLPT only consists of multiple choice questions up to the highest difficulty level I believe. While that may not help conversational skills, it does test grammar, vocabulary, reading and listening skills to some extent. In my opinion, taking both the JLPT and the GCSE examination would be good if you're looking to improve, and it's official and international recognition of your proficiency in Japanese which is always good.

You could try chatting in Japanese in this section if you're looking for some place to practice, although it wouldn't be actually spoken conversations, it still can help if you don't use the language regularly I suppose. Of course, the best way to improve your Japanese would be to jump into Japan and stay there for a while :P Otherwise, the best you can do is probably 多听，多说，多读，多写

Chinese... hmm yes, Chinese. Helps with kanji but oh goodness someone help me in that language

Hope that helped!

 

[lenneth]

I did JLPT N3 level last year but I didn't pass the test because of 2 points >.<
This year I'm going to do the test again, N3 level. I hope I pass :3
I like kanji a lot so this part of the test isn't so difficult. But I don't like the listening part of the test x.x
It's like one tiny radio for a whole class to hear. Hm, it doesn't work much for me =.='
I'll try my best again thou ;D
Ganbarimashou!!!

 

[XtremeKinKee]

Thanks for all the replies so far :)

I decided I might start from the N5 and work my way upwards cause it's been a while since I used Japanese properly and I might of forgotten some stuff and might learn some new stuff too if I start from the beginning :)

So..... is there any books that you guys recommend on where I can start?

I got a old housemate that did JLPT as well, he's currently doing N2 and he pointed me to one of the books which is called: "Nihongo so-matome", I'll probably start with that but not sure so just wanted to see what books you guys used to get yourselves to where you are now :)

Thanks for the reply once again ^_^

 

[pichu655889]

For someone like you who already holds a GCSE certification in the language, I would actually recommend starting from N3 (or higher). N4 and N5 are actually pretty easy. You can always take a look at sample questions that are available on the JLPT website: click here and here.

About study material, I can't really help with that because I mainly use the course material provided by the centre I'm learning Japanese from. However, I do have two books as supplementary material that could help jump-start or refresh your memory again, one for grammar and another for vocabulary. You can also find resources compiled by people on the web, just google a little here and there.

If you don't bother spending some money you can always purchase practice workbooks. I'm not sure where you live though, so you might have to buy them online if there aren't any bookshops that sell them in your area. I can't recommend any particular publisher/series however. There are also books that provide self-study material for JLPT so again if you're willing to spend the money you can always go for such books as well.