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[urfe]

I've applied to take 漢字検定 5級 and 4級 (5級 is elementary school grade 6, 4級 is junior high school level).

Finishing up the last Professor Layton game, and when I do I'll let my commute be mainly for preparing for the tests. Hopefully 5級 will be easy, but there's still a lot of kanji I can write from memory.

Good times.

 

[eefara]

Hmm. I'm not sure which level of the JLPT I should go for. I'd probably be okay reading-wise going for N3, but my listening comprehension's pretty terrible; I'm not sure what level I'm sitting at, but it's probably somewhere around N4.

I'll take a practice test this weekend or so; might help me nail down what level I should commit to.

 

[Kurita]

Hmm. I'm not sure which level of the JLPT I should go for. I'd probably be okay reading-wise going for N3, but my listening comprehension's pretty terrible; I'm not sure what level I'm sitting at, but it's probably somewhere around N4.

I'll take a practice test this weekend or so; might help me nail down what level I should commit to.

I don't really see the point of going for anything lower than N3 tbh Can't hurt to go for something a bit harder!
Unless N4 is enough for whatever you want to do

 

[eefara]

I don't really see the point of going for anything lower than N3 tbh Can't hurt to go for something a bit harder!
Unless N4 is enough for whatever you want to do

That's a good point. I'm just taking the test for fun, tbh, and to give me a goal to aim towards while I study. The listening's a bit intimidating, hahaha, which is why I'm hedging.

 

[urfe]

I don't really see the point of going for anything lower than N3 tbh Can't hurt to go for something a bit harder!
Unless N4 is enough for whatever you want to do

I don't think anything has "real value" below N2 (i.e. job/school requirements), but N4 is all elementary Japanese and I think one can have normal conversations with all the information internalized.

 

[Kilrogg]

The only value of the JLPT is to give you one more source of motivation to work on your Japanese in a timely fashion.

N1 is useful in much the same way the TOEIC is useful for non-native speakers of English: you kinda need it, but it won't open any doors for you.

 

[TickleMeElbow]

I don't really see the point of going for anything lower than N3 tbh Can't hurt to go for something a bit harder!
Unless N4 is enough for whatever you want to do

I've proctored the JLPT a couple times. They put me in N5 both times, and there were quite a few people taking it. There were even several 40 + year olds in there. It was kind of odd, but maybe people are intimidated by the higher levels, or want to test the waters before going up.

I saw several people who were in N5 the year before coming back for higher levels the second time.

 

[UristMcDwarf]

Hi folks, I just registered for N4 this coming December. I'd say my current level is around N5? Probably less in some areas. I'm committing 3 hours a day to Japanese practice and study. Luckily I have some native Japanese speakers in my family to help. Wish me luck!

Question though: How accurate is the Kanji list on the app KanjiQ? I'm planning on white boarding it, but want to make sure I'm not missing some Kanji, Thanks!

 

[Hypron]

I just found this book and it seems perfect to learn Kanji on a whiteboard.

It's got reading (in katakana/hiragana, no rōmaji crap), example words (that only use Kanji learnt up to that point), translation, and stroke order (plus an explanation and some other info) for each of 2300 Kanji.

Presentation-wise it seems quite similar to the way Genki gives you Kanji (a nice box for each Kanji that encompasses all the information about it), which I found pretty good.

I couldn't quite find any resource online that combined all those things in such a practical way so I'll get it. The fact the vocab only includes Kanji it's already taught you should also avoid having to decide "do I learn this other Kanji or not?" every time an unknown Kanji pops up in the related vocab, or having to read over all previous entries again after each session to find words associated to the Kanji you just learnt.

 

[eefara]

I just found this book and it seems perfect to learn Kanji on a whiteboard.

It's got reading (in katakana/hiragana, no rōmaji crap), example words (that only use Kanji learnt up to that point), translation, and stroke order (plus an explanation and some other info) for each of 2300 Kanji.

Presentation-wise it seems quite similar to the way Genki gives you Kanji (a nice box for each Kanji that encompasses all the information about it), which I found pretty good.

I couldn't quite find any resource online that combined all those things in such a practical way so I'll get it. The fact the vocab only includes Kanji it's already taught you should also avoid having to decide "do I learn this other Kanji or not?" every time an unknown Kanji pops up in the related vocab, or having to read over all previous entries again after each session to find words associated to the Kanji you just learnt.

I have this book! It's fantastic, and really well suited for whiteboarding, I would say. The reference sections in the back are extremely helpful as well, make sure to check those out.

 

[Hypron]

I have this book! It's fantastic, and really well suited for whiteboarding, I would say. The reference sections in the back are extremely helpful as well, make sure to check those out.

Awesome to hear, thanks! It's making me even more keen to get it.

By the time it arrives I should have finished Genki I so I should be able to dive straight into it.

By the way, do you also have the dictionary of the same name? I was wondering if that was worthwhile to get.

 

[eefara]

Awesome to hear, thanks! It's making me even more keen to get it.

By the time it arrives I should have finished Genki I so I should be able to dive straight into it.

By the way, do you also have the dictionary of the same name? I was wondering if that was worthwhile to get.

Nope, I don't have the partner dictionary. It's been on my list to get, though, so if I pick it up in the future I'll post my thoughts on it here!

 

[I'm an expert]

looked at the preview.. once it started getting into pictures of men resting against trees I started to throw up.. it's just unnecessary info that clouds your brain while brute forcing

the appeal is obviously the kanji all together in a book that you dont have to print out.. surely worth 20 bucks.. but again everything in that book is immediately available for free

glad to see people going the correct route with learning kanji though


every day

every single day

the same kanji

dont take shortcuts, dont be a pussy

few short months to change your life

please pm me for email address to send your donations to

 

[Hypron]

Nope, I don't have the partner dictionary. It's been on my list to get, though, so if I pick it up in the future I'll post my thoughts on it here!

Cool, I'll look forward to reading them!

looked at the preview.. once it started getting into pictures of men resting against trees I started to throw up.. it's just unnecessary info that clouds your brain while brute forcing

the appeal is obviously the kanji all together in a book that you dont have to print out.. surely worth 20 bucks.. but again everything in that book is immediately available for free

This is true, but I looked around for a bit and every free source I could find was missing something - generally the stroke order, but sometimes the layout was just bad. I guess you're paying extra for the convenience.

This book also has the advantage of having an anki deck that contains all the kanji and words. I won't use the deck itself but it should be easy enough to export it to a .txt and do a bit of post-processing to generate a vocab list that's ordered the same way as the words in the textbook. Saves having to enter the words manually (and making typos).

glad to see people going the correct route with learning kanji though


every day

every single day

the same kanji

dont take shortcuts, dont be a pussy

few short months to change your life

please pm me for email address to send your donations to

I'll send you 10 bucks when I finish �� (January next year).

 

[eefara]

How did my username make it's way in that last quote box? I was seriously confused for a moment there, hahaha. I'll take any money offered, though.

 

[Hypron]

How did my username make it's way in that last quote box? I was seriously confused for a moment there, hahaha. I'll take any money offered, though.

wooops haha

I split the quote in two and copy-pasted the wrong quote tag haha

 

[Kilrogg]

looked at the preview.. once it started getting into pictures of men resting against trees I started to throw up.. it's just unnecessary info that clouds your brain while brute forcing

I always wonder if those books stick to the "kanji tell a visual story!" thing all the way to the end. If so, they must become hilarious once they get into explaining the stories behind kanji with 4+ keys. Good luck explaining something as common as 興.

If you're gonna break down kanji at all, you might as well tell people from the get-go that, no, kanji are not manga. You get one or two meaning-keys and one or two pronunciation-keys for on'yomi and that's it. But even that is mostly gonna help you in a pinch when you want to try your luck at reading a kanji you don't know/don't remember. It's not really gonna help you actually learn them.

 

[I'm an expert]

im sure the only goal of these dumb descriptions is another method for remembering radicals. but in my experience, you will just get that from the practice. the only way i think someone might inadvertently skip radical memorization is if they started from like lvl 1 25 stroke kanji and worked backwards. if you do any normal path starting from the basics, you will just intrinsically encounter all of the major radicals and youll be able to decipher new kanji on your own. i think i mention it in my guide, but when you get to those complicated kanji that are made up of many radicals and youve written all of those separately literally thousands of times, the complicated kanji is simply not.

i dont look down on any study method (except weebery) but again, why are you reading a bunch of english sentences during your kanji practice. english sentences that just add unnecessary info. it's silly to me.

anyway, in a few weeks here ill have an abundant amount of time so i can give the OT a proper run through to update a bunch of stuff. im assuming many people will be doing jlpt in december so i think im going to try to make like a weekly post for discussion purposes, something people can tackle together. that way this thread actually begins to regain its feel of community.

 

[JimPanzer]

I dunno guys...WaniKani is working pretty good for me. Sure the storys around each kanji are silly as fuck, but at least they help me over the initial hurdle to get the kanji and its reading in my brain.

 

[Aizo]

im assuming many people will be doing jlpt in december so i think im going to try to make like a weekly post for discussion purposes, something people can tackle together. that way this thread actually begins to regain its feel of community.

That's a great idea!

 

[upandaway]

I dunno guys...WaniKani is working pretty good for me. Sure the storys around each kanji are silly as fuck, but at least they help me over the initial hurdle to get the kanji and its reading in my brain.

I'd say the biggest roadblocks when starting to memorize kanji are different than the ones you face when you're somewhat deeper in. At some point it just starts getting in the way, but until then it can definitely help.

 

[Piichan]

I can't believe it's been more than 5 years since I passed JLPT N1. If I took the test today I'd probably fail lol. Good luck to everyone doing the test in December.

 

[JimPanzer]

I'd say the biggest roadblocks when starting to memorize kanji are different than the ones you face when you're somewhat deeper in. At some point it just starts getting in the way, but until then it can definitely help.

well I'm around at around 1200 kanji learned (individual kanji, not vocab), guess I'm somewhat deep in

 

[KuroNeeko]

im sure the only goal of these dumb descriptions is another method for remembering radicals. but in my experience, you will just get that from the practice. the only way i think someone might inadvertently skip radical memorization is if they started from like lvl 1 25 stroke kanji and worked backwards. if you do any normal path starting from the basics, you will just intrinsically encounter all of the major radicals and youll be able to decipher new kanji on your own. i think i mention it in my guide, but when you get to those complicated kanji that are made up of many radicals and youve written all of those separately literally thousands of times, the complicated kanji is simply not.

i dont look down on any study method (except weebery) but again, why are you reading a bunch of english sentences during your kanji practice. english sentences that just add unnecessary info. it's silly to me.

anyway, in a few weeks here ill have an abundant amount of time so i can give the OT a proper run through to update a bunch of stuff. im assuming many people will be doing jlpt in december so i think im going to try to make like a weekly post for discussion purposes, something people can tackle together. that way this thread actually begins to regain its feel of community.

To be honest, you don't really need to remember the names of all the radicals and whatnot. I mean, you can if you want, but so long as you can identify which part of the kanji is the radical and how many strokes it (and the full character) has, you can find pretty much anything.

I never felt like not knowing their names ever impeded on...well, anything.

 

[urfe]

To be honest, you don't really need to remember the names of all the radicals and whatnot. I mean, you can if you want, but so long as you can identify which part of the kanji is the radical and how many strokes it (and the full character) has, you can find pretty much anything.

I never felt like not knowing their names ever impeded on...well, anything.

It depends on your goals. If you ever need to describe how to write a kanji on the phone for example, it is necessary.

 

[Jintor]

Wasei-Eigo of the day: What does "フらゲ" mean? Post and then look at the spoiler, thanks.

Spoiler

Getting stuff when it breaks street date; getting stuff before it officially goes on sale. From the English "Flying Get"

 

[Hypron]

It sounds like frog I guess?

Edit: wow I was way off the mark haha

 

[JimPanzer]

My guess would be "frag" as in a kill in a online-videogame

edit: honor and shame...shame especially. to be fair I didn't know the english expression either, I'm German.

 

[I'm an expert]

To be honest, you don't really need to remember the names of all the radicals and whatnot. I mean, you can if you want, but so long as you can identify which part of the kanji is the radical and how many strokes it (and the full character) has, you can find pretty much anything.

I never felt like not knowing their names ever impeded on...well, anything.

this isnt my highball talking.. the radicals have names? no fuckin clue

Wasei-Eigo of the day: What does "フらゲ" mean? Post and then look at the spoiler, thanks.

Spoiler

Getting stuff when it breaks street date; getting stuff before it officially goes on sale. From the English "Flying Get"

yes, i knew this.. ive known this for years.. but the reason most foreigners know it is because of the akb48 song

 

[Jintor]

My guess would be "frag" as in a kill in a online-videogame

edit: honor and shame...shame especially. to be fair I didn't know the english expression either, I'm German.

there is no english expression so don't feel too bad

 

[Kurita]

this isnt my highball talking.. the radicals have names? no fuckin clue

Yeah they do

 

[I'm an expert]

we've identified a weakness of my method then.. except we dont give a flying get fuck about radical names

 

[Resilient]

your method is inherently shit tho

 

[I'm an expert]

dont take you flunking on n1 after 9 months out on me brah, you aint shit

 

[Resilient]

well it obviously didn't work for shit and it probably killed another dude who is now MIA

 

[Kurita]

we've identified a weakness of my method then.. except we dont give a flying get fuck about radical names

Yeah that's kinda the thing haha

 

[I'm an expert]

well it obviously didn't work for shit and it probably killed another dude who is now MIA

that dude said fuck it, who cares, and got on a plane anyway

your turn

 

[Resilient]

https://youtu.be/hRK7PVJFbS8?t=11s

 

[I'm an expert]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTZ-9HWDKno

bgm for every one of my posts

 

[Oare]

we've identified a weakness of my method then.. except we dont give a flying get fuck about radical names

Everybody does (for a select few of the radicals).
I don't believe it's even possible to live in Japan for any kind of extended period of time without hearing words like 草冠, 人偏, ネ偏 etc.
That's just extremely basic stuff.

 

[I'm an expert]

my fault. i didnt realize. im not really familiar with japan. how long have you lived there and what do you do

 

[Oare]

im not really familiar with japan.

This looks like an attempt at sarcasm, but if you're seriously telling me you've never heard the word くさかんむり, not even a single time, I guess I'm forced to think this is actually true.

how long have you lived there and what do you do

Not that it matters, but 15 years, translator/interpreter.

 

[I'm an expert]

i have nothing else to add

 

[Hypron]

You could still do the same method for the radicals though. Just get a list of radicals and do the same thing as for Kanji.

 

[JimPanzer]

You could still do the same method for the radicals though. Just get a list of radicals and do the same thing as for Kanji.

most of the radicals borrow their name from the kanji were they appear without additional elements anyway...so you would basically learn the same thing twice

 

[Kansoku]

Until I see a photo of I'm an expert holding a sign with "hello douches, I'm I'm an expert", in front of the tokyo tower, I will still think he is mostly bullshit and is trolling everyone.

 

[Oare]

i have nothing else to add

I hope I'm reading this the wrong way (and please forgive the undeserved aggression if I indeed am), but I wonder why it is that in every Japanese language discussion involving westerners, there's always a self-proclaimed acting boss who comes off as arrogant, unfriendly and conceited.
Can't we just discuss things normally without needing to turn things into a cocky shit contest?

 

[Resilient]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QGQtJL7hSk

 

[I'm an expert]

I hope I'm reading this the wrong way (and please forgive the undeserved aggression if I indeed am), but I wonder why it is that in every Japanese language discussion involving westerners, there's always a self-proclaimed acting boss who comes off as arrogant, unfriendly and conceited.
Can't we just discuss things normally without needing to turn things into a cocky shit contest?

not sure why youre even using the word aggression in relation to me or yourself..

you can also ignore that other poster, he is literally nothing

im just not sure why youre coming into the discussion out of no where (you have 5 posts in the last 4 years between this and the other j thread) with absolute statements like how can you live in jland without hearing completely pointless dumb words that mean absolutely nothing, and then you add on that you work in a (very low paid) industry where such concepts would of course be abundant

just left me with nothing much to add

 

[Oare]

im just not sure why youre coming into the discussion out of no where with absolute statements like how can you live in jland without hearing completely pointless dumb words that mean absolutely nothing

You trumpeted an absurd statement, I just said you were wrong.
I'm not saying everybody knows all the radical names and spends their days yelling them out loud. Some of the most commonly used ones aren't even official.
But the fact remains there is a small number of those that literally everybody uses when they need to explain an unusual kanji to somebody else, or simply to avoid confusion.

I simply don't see how anyone could live in Japan, using Japanese as their main language for communication, and not a single time come across words like にんべん or さんずい.
Regardless of their job.