kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5176 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 393 of 436 14 October 2013 at 1:57am | IP Logged |
I'm guessing we'd just post which exercises we do and any thoughts on them just like we normally do.
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cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6117 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish
| Message 394 of 436 14 October 2013 at 2:20am | IP Logged |
Hey, I don't need another textbook, but I'm on 新完全マスター文法日本語能力試験N2 -- page 147, which was assigned by my class. I think this is the last of the word jumble JLPT N2 stuff -- ooh, except for my other practice test book which has another whole collection of which maybe about half-way through those.
Are you taking the JLPT this year?
Edited by cathrynm on 14 October 2013 at 2:21am
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5974 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 395 of 436 14 October 2013 at 9:36am | IP Logged |
No JLPT for me this year. I might attempt N1 next year, but I need to level up first.
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kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5176 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 396 of 436 14 October 2013 at 9:44am | IP Logged |
g-bod wrote:
No JLPT for me this year. I might attempt N1 next year, but I need to level up first. |
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That's how I feel about the N3 this year O.o. Too bad I'm already signed up.
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cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6117 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish
| Message 397 of 436 14 October 2013 at 3:23pm | IP Logged |
Oh wait, I take this back. There's two of us working for the JLPT. Maybe, we can both share in our study progress. I don't know about you, but me, I find the dread of imminent failure strangely motivating, really. I forget how many days left, but I think it's really early December this year.
Edited by cathrynm on 14 October 2013 at 3:26pm
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5974 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 398 of 436 14 October 2013 at 7:40pm | IP Logged |
Yeah I guess I can't join in the fun of JLPT panic this year.
@kraemder having flicked throught MNN Chukyu I, I think it gives quite a sound basis for N3 level grammar. Your Japonin classes should be pretty good preparation too. If you haven't already done so, do the official practice paper (all available online as free and legal downloads from the JLPT website here). If you can score 53% or above (pass mark for N3) on the official practice test under timed conditions, you don't have anything to worry about. Also, you should keep reading ドラえもん.
@cathrynm have you started watching TV yet? I just happened to log everything for the November 6 week challenge prior to sitting N2 last year (I'd registered to do French because my Japanese is too advanced, but N2 ended up taking priority). My stats are here. If you sort by tag, you can see I watched a lot of TV.
When I prepared for N3, I tried cramming as much information from JLPT drill books into my head as possible. I found it very stressful. I hated the fact that there was no official specification for that level. Students for the other levels could still continue using lists based on the old specifications, but I just had to trust the people who'd written such courses as Somatome. Come test day, I found that most of the questions on the paper didn't incorporate things I'd studied in the drill books. However, I could still answer the questions because it was stuff I knew anyway, either from classes, or conversations, or language exchange, or it was an expression I kept hearing over and over again while watching TV so I had just had to look it up or ask one of my friends to explain it. At that point I started to lose rather a lot of faith in the JLPT prep publishing industry, but I was also happy to blame the JLPT in part for not providing an official study list for the level.
I was fairly certain I was going to fail N2. I tried making a study plan to cover the material in the New Kanzen Master textbooks, but I barely scratched the surface of any of them. I decided I would treat N2 like some kind of mock exam and take things slowly. I watched a lot of TV and did a bit of extensive reading. I wasn't able to do language exchange for most of that time thanks to some technical problems my partner was having. I did do some Japonin classes but I soon discovered that any more than 1 or 2 a week was just too much to take in. I spent a lot of time on Kanji in Context and a bit of time on the Kanzen Master books. It was a huge shock when I passed. Maybe I got lucky overall, but I think the fact that I scored a comfortable 39/60 on the listening paper is significant.
I think it's important to consider that there is no longer an official test specification of necessary vocabulary and grammar points at any level. I used to find the Summary of Linguistic Competence on the JLPT website frustratingly vague, but I think the overall aim in the overhaul of the JLPT was to stop people from focusing on lists of words and expressions and start focusing more on real language skills. From the various JLPT logs and blogs that are online, I don't think this approach has been a complete success in changing attitudes towards preparing for the test, however following my own experiences of N3 and N2 it is now something I embrace completely.
In order to reach a level where I can pass N1, I need to broaden my general knowledge of the language, improve my grammatical accuracy, increase my reading comprehension and speed, and make sure my listening comprehension keeps pace with everything else. This is all stuff I can do without going anywhere near a JLPT drill book.
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dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4657 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese
| Message 399 of 436 14 October 2013 at 9:01pm | IP Logged |
cathrynm wrote:
Oh wait, I take this back. There's two of us working for the JLPT.
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I'm still in the JLPT game - but I'm not planning to try N3 until next summer.
cathrynm wrote:
I forget how many days left, but I think it's really early December
this year. |
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1st December 2013 - it doesn't get any earlier than that! There's a web page somewhere
with an interactive countdown timer, but I can't find it right now.
g-bod wrote:
My stats are
here. If you sort
by tag, you can see I watched a lot of TV.
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Wow. That's over 3 hours per day five days a week or ~2.5hours/day 7 days a week.
That's most certainly in the lot range!
g-bod wrote:
At that point I started to lose rather a lot of faith in the JLPT prep publishing
industry, but I was also happy to blame the JLPT in part for not providing an official
study list for the level.
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I've never taken an official language test in anything except Japanese. Anyone know
whether the French, German or Spanish tests have any kind of official vocabulary lists?
My daughter's studying Italian at university right now and, again, AFAIK there's no
vocabulary list, just plenty of reading and listening.
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5974 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 400 of 436 14 October 2013 at 9:36pm | IP Logged |
dampingwire wrote:
g-bod wrote:
My stats are
here. If you sort
by tag, you can see I watched a lot of TV.
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Wow. That's over 3 hours per day five days a week or ~2.5hours/day 7 days a week.
That's most certainly in the lot range!
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Not quite! My overall hours for Japanese were in that range, but for TV it was just over 28 hours. It averages at 40 minutes (or just short of one episode of a typical J Drama) a day.
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