Japanese Language Proficiency Test

[Supergoal]

I've finally decided to take the test after a couple of years of not really thinking all that much about it.

I have a question though.

Does the test require you to write Chinese characters? or is it just a read and recognise them with multiple selection?

To be honest, I'm not so sure how the test is actually structured. If anyone has done it it'd be great to hear how you found it.

[venom743]

I've done it 3 times. Level 3, 2 and 1 (passed them all). It's definetely worth taking especially if you want a job apart from English teaching (in Japan).
From what I can remember there are 4 sections, Vocab + Kanji, Listening, Reading (comprehension) and Grammar. You won't need to write but you'll have to be able to read the different Kanji readings (on and kun).

Hope that helps!

BTW, what level are you taking?

[BaudAttitude]

I took and passed level 4 (nothing impressive, I know) last December, and I'm plotting to take level 3 this year.

You don't need to WRITE any Kanji - it's all multiple choice - but you do need to know how you would have written them.

Basically for the written bit, you get four very slightly different versions of the same kanji, each with maybe an extra line here or there or a line that crosses another line instead of just being perpendicular to that line... and then you're asked to choose which is the right one.

Overall, the test is structured in such a way, if you are not sure about your answers, the time limit will kill you. You have enough time to read through each section, pick the right answer, and move on.

To put another way: If you spend time thinking "is this the right answer?", you are not proficient enough to pass the level at which you are taking the test.

It's unforgiving but entirely fair.

[Supergoal]

Actually I'm not sure what level to take. Since the test is only once a year I don't want to take the wrong test and thing I could have done more or struggled too much.

Does anyone know where I could get access to past papers so I could have a look at?

I think I've asked you before, Venom, I know your Japanese is pretty darn good! What line of work are you doing here?

[saif]

Supergoal, by all accounts there is a large jump from 3 to 2. I did 3 a few years back but it was relatively simple for me but two requires proper graft.

Go down to a decent sized bookshop and have a look at the guides they have - pretty useful. What's you study method? Have you got one?

[Mayhem]

And if you want a personal story about it, go read the latest entry (June 28th) here

http://www.gaijinsmash.net/

[sj33]

And if you want a personal story about it, go read the latest entry (June 28th) here

http://www.gaijinsmash.net/

Quote from page..

"Student: Man, English is difficult!

Me: No it's not! C'mere, check this out. (writes an "e" on my chalkboard) You see this? It's an "e". Took me, what, half a second to write that? Look how simple and sexy that is. "e". And it looks like what it sounds like too, you just look at it and you think "okay, that's "e"". Now, look at this (pulls out my 1-kyuu study book). Look at this -> 藍 What the **** is this? You know what this is? "Indigo". How the **** is any of that squiggly line **** "indigo"? What's going on here - you've got the number two, a dish, a retainer, and sagebrush all having sex with each other, and somehow this is supposed to represent "indigo"? And THEN I'm supposed to also remember that this can sound like "ai", OR "ran"? What the hell? I wanna write out all the colors in a rainbow, look how easy this **** is in English. ROYGBIV. See, I'm done! I wanna write it out in Japanese, I can't, cause it'll take me 20 ****ing minutes just to write out "indigo"! Don't give me that "English is difficult!" ****."

[fuse]

My teacher mentioned these earlier in the year but then seemed to not mention it ever again when we got nearer the end of the course... not sure if she's avoiding the issue or not

Quite interesting reading up about it on that site though, I might ask for more details and see if she thinks I'm ready for the level 4 one. I'm happy with hirigana/katakana, know about 40ish kanji (reading+writing), and have a good grasp of all of the grammatical structures we've seen sofar.

[venom743]

Actually I'm not sure what level to take. Since the test is only once a year I don't want to take the wrong test and thing I could have done more or struggled too much.

Does anyone know where I could get access to past papers so I could have a look at?

I think I've asked you before, Venom, I know your Japanese is pretty darn good! What line of work are you doing here?

I work in the localisation department for a games company. Go to a bookstore like kinokuniya. They have lots of textbooks which are mainly based on past papers for each of the tests.

[BaudAttitude]

If you don't want to go out to a bookstore, there are two excellent sites you can use to see what level of stuff test you should be trying for.

1) the Meguro Language Center's web site. This is a school, but click the "Free Materials" link and scroll WAY down the page to the heading titled "Guide to passing to Japanese Language Proficiency Test"

http://www.mlcjapanese.co.jp/

They have free training guides for each level of the JLPT, with all the vocab and kanji you need to know for each year. They're a bit weak on grammar points but at least you'll get a feel for things.

Or, go to the jlpt study forum, at

http://www.jlptstudy.com/

Which also has plenty of free stuff, and links to past papers if I remember right.

[BaudAttitude]

I work in the localisation department for a games company. Go to a bookstore like kinokuniya. They have lots of textbooks which are mainly based on past papers for each of the tests.

This is actually my career goal in 3 years or so, would you mind if I asked what your degree is in?

Short background: I'm going back to school after 15 years or so of doing software QA / development because I've found that the Japanese government doesn't like handing out work visa unless you can show them at least a Bachelor's. At this point I've completed a year of college and I'm trying to decide what that Bachelor's should be in so I can set appropriate goals.

[Supergoal]

Thanks that's quite a useful website where you can check your ability for the test. I'll be giving that a go later today

[Supergoal]

I've decided to have a go at level 3. Since I'm not depending on a result from the test for work I think I'd like to have a go feeling confident that I can do it. Kind of defeats the point of the test mind

Saying that Level 2 and 3 have such a big difference between them. I reckon I can read about 850 Chinese characters which isn't enough for level 2. I think my level is between them.

[r3z]

Hi.. did anyone else take the JLPT in December in the end? I went for Lvl 2 (despite lack of study and not knowing a considerable amount of the grammar) and got my certificate in the post today! The score was 270 which isn't too bad (writing/vocab and listening were pretty good but only scraped 60% on the reading/grammar), but I am really pleased with the pass

[kryss]

Yeah I got Level 2 as well, though a bit lower in the barrel as I hadn't studied for months - 245.

In comparison, when I took level 3 in December 2006 I got 350/400.



Going to sort out a proper certificate sometime this month.