The Japanese Language Proficiency Test, or JLPT, or 「日本語能力試験」 (I’m writing this down so I finally remember what the damn test is called in Japanese), is a test given once a year so that those who study Japanese may get proper certification to show that, yes, they know *this* much Japanese. 4 is the easiest, requiring only basic Japanese education, while level 1 is super crazy difficult and you really shouldn’t try it.
I have been aiming for the JLPT2, which is the “business” level, and described on the official site as…
Level 2: The examinee has mastered grammar to a relatively high level, knows around 1,000 kanji and 6,000 words, and has the ability to converse, read, and write about matters of a general nature. This level is normally reached after studying Japanese for around 600 hours, which is equivalent to completing an intermediate course.
Passing Score: 240/400
Writing-vocabulary: 35 min
Listening: 40min
Reading-grammar: 70min
Total: 145min
And looking at the material required, I can’t tell if I’m in over my head or not. I’m pretty confident I could pass the level 3 without too much trouble, but I might be in a situation where the level 3 is too simple and the level 2 is too difficult. Also, because I haven’t been regularly exposed to normal Japanese since leaving Japan three years ago, I fear my listening skills have deteriorated significantly.
That said, the weirdest thing is that upon checking out some sample tests, I found the reading comprehension to be easier than the isolated vocabulary section. This goes against everything I’ve ever experienced with foreign language exams.
In the meantime, I’ve been trying to master all ~1000 kanji required for the test, and the result is I’ve been making weirder and weirder tricks for remembering certain words.
極, or pole, I remember because it sort of looks like Souther, the Pole Star.
憎, or hatred, I remember because the right side looks kind of like Optimus Prime, and the left side looks sort of like a cannon (yes, I know it’s a version of the heart radical), so “Megatron hates Optimus Prime.”
Every time I do something like this, a baby probably dies.
OGIUE MANIAX 
The hatred kanji looks like it’s giving me the finger.
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I’m aiming for the fictional JLPT 6
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Okay, that’s a great way to remember that second kanji (which I’ve yet to learn anyways). I hate 極, it pops up all the time in Maths and Physics…
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I remember when I did the DELF (Diplôme d’Etudes en Langue Française) that a lot of people found level 4 (six is the highest) too be easier than level 3, because there was a lot more writing and conversation in in level three. I guess that happens a lot.
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There’s quite a big gap between JLPT3 and JLPT2 (and it’s probably why they decided to add this one level in between these two, to be implemented a few years from now), and just like you, I find the reading comprehension easier than the vocabs and grammar. It’s probably because of the ‘media’ I’ve been exposing myself with, which are all like mangas and novels and whatnot. I took JLPT2 last year, and based on the scores I got from the mock exam, I became confident that I’ll pass… and I did. I was hoping to get a higher score though, but my sucky listening skills really pulled me down T__T
I’m gonna expose myself to tons of listening materials in preparation for JLPT1 this year: Drama CDs, JDramas, etc. The real real pain in JLPT1 is the kanji, which requires you to have a knowledge that’d be enough to write the complicated kanjis without the magic of IME.
Your trick to memorize kanjis is nothing but brilliant genius. I mean, association is an effective way of memorizing XD You might also want to read ‘Remembering the Kanji’ series of books, though you seem to be practicing what the author did there :P
and boy has this comment became soo long. pardon the verbosity.
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I’m tempted to wait around until 2010 when they reform the tests but for the sake of my resume, I’d rather just get it over with. JLPT in December! And cry trying!
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How about the Japanese just switch to romanji
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Wow nice way of remembering kanji… I stick to remembering the radicals and how they come together to come up with the word.. But sometimes the radicals themselves are too vague so I just make a story out of it. But people say that “Remembering Kanji” books offer a fun way of remembering kanji.
@cacti: That would be nice but because of Japanese limited sounds, if you use romaji there would be so many homonyms, you wont know what is going on already.
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> Every time I do something like this, a baby probably dies.
Google “Remembering the Kanji”. Tons of people learn this way, and it’s extraordinarily effective. If it works, it works. Doesn’t matter how silly it seems.
(PS: for 憎 I call the left-side “feelings” and the right-side “cyborg”, so together the kanji represents hatred regular people feel towards augmented people…)
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