JLPT (japanese language proficiency test)

[Luca]

im sorry if this thread already exists, but its hard to find it

so i think its a good idea to have a thread where you can talk about it and exchange experience.

for those who do not know whats talked about: the JLPT is a test you can do one time a year in japan or in your country that gives you the chance of getting a prove of your skills in the japanese language. many universities or companies want you to have done it if youre not native speaker.

and here i begin with my first question: i read you should now about 100 kanji and 100 vocabularies to get the first of the four levels, but i know much more.
the problem is: i have learned japanese only for 3 months now, so should i take part or better wait till next year?

looking forward to reading your answer

[freel4ncer]

i think if you've done it for 3 months, if its intensive, then you should have no problem passing the 1st of the 4 levels. however, dont be too confident as there are components such as listening, which requires some practise. if you rather, you could skip the 1st level and go try for lvl 3, (order is 4-3-2-1 easiest to most difficult) perhaps at the end of this year when there will be exams

[8May1993]

The JLPT exam is made of 4 levels where the 1st is the hardest (near native level) and 4 is the easiest. then second hardest is 3rd level etc...i think you should wait atleast till you've studied it for a year. do you study japanese on your own? if you do, the best thing to do is get a teacher (ONLY NATIVE JAPANESE) i know from experience, non native japanese teachers are not the same no matter how well they know the language. i took level 4 after 2 years of studying japanese. and i did JLPT again last year and passed level 3, but i've studied japanese for almost 4 years now.
good luck

[Sangetsu]

I believe that beginning in 2009 there will be 5 levels instead of 4. I don't imagine that there will be much change to the lower levels (3 and 4), more than likely, a new level was added between 1 and 2.

You will probably need more than three months study to pass level 5 (or 4, under the current standard). But the test will not be held until December, so if you begin studying now, you should be able to learn enough to pass.

You'll need to know both kanas, the 100 or so kanji (though you won't see that many on the test), basic grammar, vocabulary, and listening.

Keep in mind that the kanji part of the exam doesn't focus exclusively on the definition of a particular character, you will be asked to write out a few kanji in hiragana, which can be difficult as some kanji have extended vowel sounds which might not be noticed when they are spoken: "ちょ" versus "ちょう", and so on. Make sure to memorize the hiragana spellings.

[8May1993]

Originally Posted by Sangetsu

I believe that beginning in 2009 there will be 5 levels instead of 4. I don't imagine that there will be much change to the lower levels (3 and 4), more than likely, a new level was added between 1 and 2.

You will probably need more than three months study to pass level 5 (or 4, under the current standard). But the test will not be held until December, so if you begin studying now, you should be able to learn enough to pass.

You'll need to know both kanas, the 100 or so kanji (though you won't see that many on the test), basic grammar, vocabulary, and listening.

Keep in mind that the kanji part of the exam doesn't focus exclusively on the definition of a particular character, you will be asked to write out a few kanji in hiragana, which can be difficult as some kanji have extended vowel sounds which might not be noticed when they are spoken: "ちょ" versus "ちょう", and so on. Make sure to memorize the hiragana spellings.

yeah i heard about that too, i think the five levels will be like N1 - N5 or something like that. im not sure the change, but as far as i know its because the difference in difficulty between like levels 2 - 3 and from 2 - 1 is so big they need to make some level in between so that its a bit more fair. thats what i heard.