Knowing that there's a 聞かせて天声人語 app, and that it's iOS only makes me sad. But not sad enough to switch.

@bouzunikukerya If you come across anything interesting 国語-wise, let me know (or just post in this thread). I haven't had a whole lot of luck finding anything decent just by surfing Amazon.co.jp. That's pretty hit and miss.

I only remember my answers for the one reading passage I didn't have time for (the last long reading one); I bubbled all of them as four... got 2/4 correct. That's the kind of luck I'd like to have on the other answers I guessed on, so that I might actually pass...

All this talk about books is reminding me that I promised a review of one of the books I used... Probably won't be until closer to the end of the year; should I post it here or in a separate thread in the 'learning resources' subforum?

(2015-12-14, 10:08 pm)sholum Wrote: I only remember my answers for the one reading passage I didn't have time for (the last long reading one); I bubbled all of them as four... got 2/4 correct. That's the kind of luck I'd like to have on the other answers I guessed on, so that I might actually pass...

All this talk about books is reminding me that I promised a review of one of the books I used... Probably won't be until closer to the end of the year; should I post it here or in a separate thread in the 'learning resources' subforum?

I'm on the scout for materials myself.  Out of curiosity, what's the book?

(2015-12-14, 9:59 pm)rich_f Wrote: @bouzunikukerya If you come across anything interesting 国語-wise, let me know (or just post in this thread). I haven't had a whole lot of luck finding anything decent just by surfing Amazon.co.jp. That's pretty hit and miss.

Hey rich - bouzunikukerya was me (had lost my ability to log in as my old ID until Fabrice helped me retrieve my password). 

My friend had recommended two in particular: 新編現代文 and 新編 国語 II (both by 三省堂). Both are older, and were current back when he was studying, which was around the time of the transition to the new-form JLPT. Looks like you can find some of these used from amazon.co.jp and honto.jp, but as I understand, a decent 国語 can be found by going to specialty education bookstores in Japan. Aya and I will hit one up in January and I'll let you know what I find.

(2015-12-14, 10:34 pm)gaiaslastlaugh Wrote:

(2015-12-14, 9:59 pm)rich_f Wrote: @bouzunikukerya If you come across anything interesting 国語-wise, let me know (or just post in this thread). I haven't had a whole lot of luck finding anything decent just by surfing Amazon.co.jp. That's pretty hit and miss.

Hey rich - bouzunikukerya was me (had lost my ability to log in as my old ID until Fabrice helped me retrieve my password). 

My friend had recommended two in particular: 新編現代文 and 新編 国語 II (both by 三省堂). Both are older, and were current back when he was studying, which was around the time of the transition to the new-form JLPT. Looks like you can find some of these used from amazon.co.jp and honto.jp, but as I understand, a decent 国語 can be found by going to specialty education bookstores in Japan. Aya and I will hit one up in January and I'll let you know what I find.

Oh, cool! I'll have a look at those 三省堂 books and see what's up, I'd also love to know what you find out when you go book hunting next month. I'm jealous! If I have to take the N1 again, I'm going to take the summer N1, and I'll probably combine it with either a trip over there. 

I've been going through my pile of N1 grammar books over the last couple of months as review for the test, and I've noticed quite a bit of deviation from publisher to publisher as to what's considered "N1-worthy" for grammar. I have amassed quite the messy list so far. Some of the more obscure stuff that wasn't in the more mainstream books sure enough showed up on the N1 this year, too. I think it was 以外のなにものでもない, and I found that in some random book somewhere. (Not in Shin Kanzen Master N1.)

Also, when I do a reply to a post, seems like Chrome + JP input is broken here, too. Quick replies still work okay, though.

(2015-12-14, 10:18 pm)Raulsen Wrote: I'm on the scout for materials myself.  Out of curiosity, what's the book?

The book is called "Try!　日本語能力試験N1", subtitled "文法から伸ばす日本語", by ABK, published by ASK. I mentioned it earlier in the thread (shouldn't get too many search hits for this site), if you want a bit of overview.

(2015-12-14, 11:05 pm)rich_f Wrote: Some of the more obscure stuff that wasn't in the more mainstream books sure enough showed up on the N1 this year, too. I think it was 以外のなにものでもない, and I found that in some random book somewhere. (Not in Shin Kanzen Master N1.)

In the past, I showed my disinterest in taking any kind of language exams and my position here has not changed an inch. I haven't studied your particular 以外のなにものでもない but my first guess was that it means something along the lines ""With exception of ~ nothing else". Then I consulted google and found some examples on weblio.

It does look to me that many of those "obscure stuff" is just common sense. Why stress yourself over some exam?

(2015-12-15, 2:32 am)Inny Jan Wrote:

(2015-12-14, 11:05 pm)rich_f Wrote: Some of the more obscure stuff that wasn't in the more mainstream books sure enough showed up on the N1 this year, too. I think it was 以外のなにものでもない, and I found that in some random book somewhere. (Not in Shin Kanzen Master N1.)

In the past, I showed my disinterest in taking any kind of language exams and my position here has not changed an inch. I haven't studied your particular 以外のなにものでもない but my first guess was that it means something along the lines ""With exception of ~ nothing else". Then I consulted google and found some examples on weblio.

It does look to me that many of those "obscure stuff" is just common sense. Why stress yourself over some exam?

Because people might give us free money if we pass it (and then do a ton of other things and just happen to be students)? That's my reason, at least.

(2015-12-15, 4:07 am)sholum Wrote:

(2015-12-15, 2:32 am)Inny Jan Wrote: It does look to me that many of those "obscure stuff" is just common sense. Why stress yourself over some exam?

Because people might give us free money if we pass it (and then do a ton of other things and just happen to be students)? That's my reason, at least.

The same reason any adult gets any professional level certification - to demonstrate that they have certain specialized skills. In the case of the JLPT, some jobs require N1 certification (check out stateside job postings at Nintendo and Amazon for examples), so obtaining it broadens your future job opportunities both inside and outside of Japan.

So I've been playing around with that 聞かせて天声人語 game/app. It's (maybe not so) surprisingly difficult... 天声人語 is already hard enough for me to read, but throwing in voices forces me to quickly move along with the narrator. I guess that's not a bad thing, though. One thing I hate is the quizzes at the end. It gives you something like 4 or 5 quiz questions at the end of each story, and only one of those questions are relevant to the actual story. Everything else seems like it's stuff that you're supposed to know before hand. I can always pick out the correct answer for the story-related question (especially since it tells you the question before the story, so I'm on the look out for the answer), but I've only ever been able to get 1 of the non-story-related questions correct from each quiz through pure luck. That part feels like a waste of time.

I wonder if this is really an effective way of practicing for me since I feel like half of the vocab goes over my head. I can roughly figure it out when I'm reading it (slowly), but listening at full speed is a little much right now. For reference, here's the one I just did a few minutes ago that lost me with some vocab: https://twishort.com/bfsfc

(2015-12-16, 11:51 am)zx573 Wrote: I wonder if this is really an effective way of practicing for me since I feel like half of the vocab goes over my head.  I can roughly figure it out when I'm reading it (slowly), but listening at full speed is a little much right now. For reference, here's the one I just did a few minutes ago that lost me with some vocab: https://twishort.com/bfsfc

For me it varies widely from article to article. There are some where I can get the meaning on the first go, and others where I need to read and study multiple times - or bring it to a lesson with one of my teachers - to really get what's going on in some parts. Compared to my casual online reading, I almost always pick up new words from a 天声人語 article, which is as fun as it is frustrating.

(2015-12-16, 1:01 pm)gaiaslastlaugh Wrote: For me it varies widely from article to article. There are some where I can get the meaning on the first go, and others where I need to read and study multiple times - or bring it to a lesson with one of my teachers - to really get what's going on in some parts. Compared to my casual online reading, I almost always pick up new words from a 天声人語 article, which is as fun as it is frustrating.

At least it's not just me, then. Some seem kinda doable while others seem out there.

On my drive home today I was thinking about the app a little, and decided to see if I could extract the text and associated voice files for each story, but it turns out that the text is stored as images, so my idea of easily putting things in Anki is out of question now.

My book should be here tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

So I received my book, but much to my dismay, it's missing the DVD. :|

This is what the seller wrote in their description that made me buy their copy: "Condition: Used - Acceptable - Highlighting/Underlining/Notes etc. Satisfaction 100% guaranteed!" Says nothing about the missing DVD, or else I wouldn't have bought it. Going to try asking for a partial refund at the very least since I found the videos from the DVD on Youtube and don't want to wait until probably after Christmas to get another copy.

(2015-12-18, 4:05 pm)zx573 Wrote: So I received my book, but much to my dismay, it's missing the DVD. :|

This is what the seller wrote in their description that made me buy their copy: "Condition: Used - Acceptable - Highlighting/Underlining/Notes etc. Satisfaction 100% guaranteed!" Says nothing about the missing DVD, or else I wouldn't have bought it. Going to try asking for a partial refund at the very least since I found the videos from the DVD on Youtube and don't want to wait until probably after Christmas to get another copy.

Yeah, many times used books on Amazon that are supposed to come with CD/DVD's don't.  Especially when they are cheap.  You always have to question it if it is not specifically stated that the items come with it.

(2015-12-18, 4:41 pm)PotbellyPig Wrote: Yeah, many times used books on Amazon that are supposed to come with CD/DVD's don't.  Especially when they are cheap.  You always have to question it if it is not specifically stated that the items come with it.

I gambled and lost I guess. It was a $3 book but I paid $6.99 for expedited shipping to get it before Christmas, too. Should've known the price was too good to include the DVD.

Fortunately for me, it only took the seller an hour and a half to respond. They issued me a full refund and didn't ask for me to send it back or anything. I backed up all of the videos from the Youtube channel that I found (looks like all 20 from the DVD) just so I at least have a permanent copy now.

For books thing, I also started reading my first paper back in Japanese.
The book is called : "負けない！　―挑戦することは楽しいこと"
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4591128660
It is about the life of female tennis star, Date Kimiko, who left tennis at age of 26 and now returned at age of 37.
I got the book from a local library as it seemed to have easy vocabulary.
If you have covered N2 vocabulary and grammar, you should be able to read this book too.
I come across around 1-2 new Kanji per page, which is cool.
There are 140~ something pages in total and I read around 50 of them yesterday itself.
Very motivating as well.....
After 11 years in retirement, the girl suddenly realized how much she loved Tennis.
And also came back to regain the top rankings in Womens tennis.

(2015-12-20, 11:02 pm)dudeshane01 Wrote: For books thing, I also started reading my first paper back in Japanese.
The book is called : "負けない！　―挑戦することは楽しいこと"
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4591128660
It is about the life of female tennis star, Date Kimiko, who left tennis at age of 26 and now returned at age of 37.

FYI, 朝日新聞 just interviewed her for her take on the controversy around Japanese law requiring married couples to choose a single last name. She married German race car driver Michael Krumm, and legally changed her last name to Krumm, even though she'd much prefer to use a hyphenated combo like Krumm-Date.

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASHD863T5HD8UPQJ00V.html

Thanks for the book recommendation; I may look that up.

(2015-12-15, 10:46 am)gaiaslastlaugh Wrote:

(2015-12-15, 4:07 am)sholum Wrote:

(2015-12-15, 2:32 am)Inny Jan Wrote: It does look to me that many of those "obscure stuff" is just common sense. Why stress yourself over some exam?

Because people might give us free money if we pass it (and then do a ton of other things and just happen to be students)? That's my reason, at least.

The same reason any adult gets any professional level certification - to demonstrate that they have certain specialized skills. In the case of the JLPT, some jobs require N1 certification (check out stateside job postings at Nintendo and Amazon for examples), so obtaining it broadens your future job opportunities both inside and outside of Japan.

Of course I said this, and then today I had a meeting with someone in my company who works in our Japanese office, and he told me that N2 is just fine for working in the country. So now I'm contemplating saying to hell with N1 and just focusing on immersion, and only going for N1 only if I need it.

(2015-12-21, 8:03 pm)gaiaslastlaugh Wrote: Of course I said this, and then today I had a meeting with someone in my company who works in our Japanese office, and he told me that N2 is just fine for working in the country. So now I'm contemplating saying to hell with N1 and just focusing on immersion, and only going for N1 only if I need it.

Look, I don't want to diminish efforts of those who study for JLPT but here is my experience with English and English exams:

1. Outside of school, I took only one exam testing my English. This was because I had to meet Australian immigration requirements and my English ability had to be evaluated. When I was taking the test, I didn't know what the questions could be, what the format of the exam was, etc. and it was impossible for me to make special preparations for that exam. OTOH, I felt confident with my level and passed the exam in flying colours. The only thing I was doing till then was immersion.

2. When I got to Australia, I never ever got asked about that exam. In the country were they speak a language different from your native one, you are being tested on every step by every day's life. Groceries, petrol station, hair dresser, job interview - these places won't really require from you to show some paper. They will require from you this practical ability to handle any possible situation that can arise... in a language that is not your own.

3. It also happens that I know some people who passed [1]FCE (and then maybe [2]CFE/IELTS) whose English is pretty poor. They learned English to pass the exam, which is different from learning language because you want to be proficient in it.

And lastly,
4. My comment was more about somebody else's comment on "obscure grammar". I didn't see anything "obscure" in their example, and whining about such a thing being tested on JLPT seemed very childish (at the very least...) to me.

PS.
Good luck on landing a job in Japan.

[1]http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/first/
[2]http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/126130-cefr-diagram.pdf

@Inny Jan
The 'whiningt' was that a significant number of points covered by the test weren't touched on in most 'comprehensive' JLPT study materials, so they were gathering more material to study. It's normal to complain about such things without actually being that bothered by it, but the post you replied to didn't even sound like a complaint until you singled out that one line...
In other words, no one was whining about it.

So after N2, I could only manage a 1-2 week break (in which I enjoyed wisdom teeth removal surgery. much fun) before I was dying to jump back in and improve... but I actually feel more lost than before, meaning I feel very in between levels and don't really know where to go from here. Anyone feel like this?

(2015-12-23, 9:10 am)angelneko Wrote: So after N2, I could only manage a 1-2 week break (in which I enjoyed wisdom teeth removal surgery. much fun) before I was dying to jump back in and improve... but I actually feel more lost than before, meaning I feel very in between levels and don't really know where to go from here. Anyone feel like this?

Honestly, I feel like the best thing you can do is just read a lot of stuff that you enjoy in Japanese. Of course essays and editorials are the majority of the readings, but mostly the issue is reading speed. I mostly read light novels, and the news, and that was fine. I just didn't read -enough- of it and had to take the test twice!  I haven't checked out any firm statistics, but it seems to me that N1 is twice as much reading in the same time. The listening test becomes a bit more natural speed too, so try to mix in some of that. 

Of course, the best way to know where to focus your efforts is to get some sample tests, and take them in a timed fashion (you can just mark where you are if time runs out and practice the whole test anyway, and calculate both the timed and untimed scores).

There is of course Kanzen Master and other similar test prep materials, but I never used those so I couldn't say. They are published as a guide for how to get ready for the next test though, so if you're feeling lost maybe something like that would be good for you. I still think you shouldn't neglect reading and listening to actual native materials regardless of any formal prep materials you might use.

(2015-12-23, 9:10 am)angelneko Wrote: So after N2, I could only manage a 1-2 week break (in which I enjoyed wisdom teeth removal surgery. much fun) before I was dying to jump back in and improve... but I actually feel more lost than before, meaning I feel very in between levels and don't really know where to go from here. Anyone feel like this?

I remember getting those taken out... not fun. Of course, I decided to get a new hole cut in my butt (actually, it was closer to my lower back) and then sewed up, so I haven't been able to sit for almost two weeks. They also gave me some nice pain pills. I'm currently laying in the bed typing on a wireless keyboard and using my TV as a monitor...
Point being, I'm not exactly in my right mind right now, lol.

But! I have been studying; I couldn't quit doing my Anki reps, though I haven't touched the JLPT grammar deck since the test. I also started doing speaking sessions with my tutor. We're starting from some pretty basic stuff (invitation to go do something, talking about hobbies, other stuff that I understand perfectly if I read it but can't produce it for nothing...), but it's still pretty challenging.
No matter my results from this past test, I want to work on my conversation skills this year. My plans might be delayed, depending on if I can get a class I need this term or not (stupid thing has hardly any sections or seats, and more people that need to take it; I could end up a year behind for one class...), but I want to get as used to speaking as possible before I go.

And I've been reading quite a bit. It's a little difficult to read web novels from the bed (I already scaled up the screen and zoomed in on the browser), but I've been playing a lot of Summon Night (which I recommend as a fun game with mechanics in the vein of Disgaea; there's a lot of lines too, and they're even voiced! I've only played the first one and one of the spin-offs though, so I can't say if they're all good yet). I also have a few physical books I haven't gotten around to reading yet.

My VPN (PIA) finally works with Netflix, but I didn't see much of anything I wanted to watch; anyone noticed any good detective or period (setting) movies/shows? I already checked for Discovery and History channel content, but they haven't gotten any of that (yet?) that I could find.

(2015-12-25, 7:36 pm)sholum Wrote: My VPN (PIA) finally works with Netflix, but I didn't see much of anything I wanted to watch; anyone noticed any good detective or period (setting) movies/shows? I already checked for Discovery and History channel content, but they haven't gotten any of that (yet?) that I could find.

The only "detective" shows I know available through the paid services so far are:

アンフェア. First season is available on Netflix. I found the rapid speaking hard to follow when I tried to watch earlier this year, but YMMV (and after a year of watching 相棒, I might give it another shot). It's supposed to be a great series, and definitely worth a watch if you're a fan of 篠原涼子.

ドS刑事（どえすでか）. Available on Hulu JP. This one's pretty silly and, frankly, unwatchable in a few places. But there are some bright comedic moments.

You can watch the four most recent seasons of 相棒 through certain, less reputable means. I've really been enjoying the 甲斐享 arc.

For a fuller menu of options, I'd highly recommend a subscription to JPHD (https://japannettv.com/shop/index.php?ro...duct_id=89). Full menu of Japanese TV channels, plus seven days worth of recording for each channel. You should be able to find period dramas very easily with this service. Some of the channels occasionally go out, but it still ends up being worth the fee.

Not sure exactly where they might be available, but detective dramas that I've enjoyed are 　逃亡者　https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%80%83%...85_RUNAWAY , BOSS https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOSS_%28%E...3%83%9E%29, and ジウ　警視庁特殊犯捜査係 (which apparently doesn't rate a wiki page, although the novel that inspired the television drama has a page).
I think ＬＩＡＲ　ＧＡＭＥ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIAR_GAME_...3%83%9E%29 is also worth mentioning - it's not exactly a detective show, but the situation the characters are in involves a good amount of sleuthing and mind games so it has a similar feel.

As for documentaries, try looking for stuff from BS Premium, particularly 地球ドラマチック ; not sure where it's available, but it's a good series if you like Discovery/Nature channel kind of stuff but in Japanese.

Edit: Just noticed that crunchyroll.com has added Liar Game and a bunch of other detective/police drama type shows since I last looked at the drama tab. You can (legally!) watch for free, but there's a subscription fee to kill the commercials, get high resolution, and be able to turn off the subtitles (or change the subtitles to another language if you'd rather; Japanese subtitles not included ) I'm currently watching 'Hero' which is a prosecutor's office procedural, with a lot of detective show elements.