Anyone got any suggestions on how to do so. Going to study JLPT ones, because I'm aiming to take JLPT Level 1 in the winter time. I haven't really studied grammar when I started japanese, so need some advice on how to proceed. Want to do this correctly/effectively if possible.

I got the time to do so. So I can definitely start studying asap.

Tae Kim (up to special topics), Kanzen Master 2, Kanzen Master 1. Supplement sticky points with the Dictionary of (level) Japanese Grammar explanations. I think that's about 2000 sentences in all.

Out of interest, have you done any JLPT 2 or 3 mock tests to gauge how you'll do at the real thing? If you're not doing well on a JLPT 2 then it may be better to aim for that. If you're passing JLPT 2 then getting to level 1 seems doable at the pace you're setting.

I basically read a book on JLPT 1 grammar from cover to cover and SRSed two or three example sentence for every grammar point I did not already know. It works.. apparently.

Nukemarine Wrote:Tae Kim (up to special topics), Kanzen Master 2, Kanzen Master 1. Supplement sticky points with the Dictionary of (level) Japanese Grammar explanations. I think that's about 2000 sentences in all.

Out of interest, have you done any JLPT 2 or 3 mock tests to gauge how you'll do at the real thing? If you're not doing well on a JLPT 2 then it may be better to aim for that. If you're passing JLPT 2 then getting to level 1 seems doable at the pace you're setting.

Thanks for the info. I did do the tae kim grammar and I didn't find it hard at all. Although that was a while back, I'm sure now I can easily blaze through it/understand it without much effort.

I actually haven't taken the mock tests for level 2 yet. I took one for level 4 and it was easy. I want to study for it a bit then take the mock tests. So i'm treating it as a real test,etc,etc. There is a site that lists the tests from the 1990's up to 2009.
I can follow news/read the subtitles pretty well. So I'm aiming for level 2 and 1 for sure.

So how should I go about it? SRS the points I don't understand well?/break it down and look it up on a dictionary?(monolingual perhaps)

ta12121,
The test WILL be different this year so the best way to prepare for the test is to take the official placement test. I recommend looking at them in order.

Here is the 1級 (NJLPT) placement test:

Where you write the answers:
http://www.jlpt.jp/j/about/pdf/mondai/N1-kaitou.pdf

Questions:
http://www.jlpt.jp/j/about/pdf/mondai/N1-mondai.pdf

Listening Audio:
http://www.jlpt.jp/j/about/mp3/N1Sample.mp3

Script of Audio section (There won't be one in the actual test):
http://www.jlpt.jp/j/about/pdf/mondai/N1-script.pdf

Answers:
http://www.jlpt.jp/j/about/pdf/mondai/N1-seikai.pdf

頑張ってください！

gyuujuice Wrote:ta12121,
The test WILL be different this year so the best way to prepare for the test is to take the official placement test. I recommend looking at them in order.

Here is the 1級 (NJLPT) placement test:

Where you write the answers:
http://www.jlpt.jp/j/about/pdf/mondai/N1-kaitou.pdf

Questions:
http://www.jlpt.jp/j/about/pdf/mondai/N1-mondai.pdf

Listening Audio:
http://www.jlpt.jp/j/about/mp3/N1Sample.mp3

Script of Audio section (There won't be one in the actual test):
http://www.jlpt.jp/j/about/pdf/mondai/N1-script.pdf

Answers:
http://www.jlpt.jp/j/about/pdf/mondai/N1-seikai.pdf

頑張ってください！

Thank!!! you so much!!!

I'm so glad I was helpful. (n_n)b

Also, I think the only book you will need for this test is "完全マスター文法". There are a few grammar pieces that you may not know because of their frequency. This book is short but it covers the differences between similar expressions. Plus it's all in Japanese.

御互いに頑張りましょうね。

gyuujuice Wrote:I'm so glad I was helpful. (n_n)b

Also, I think the only book you will need for this test is "完全マスター文法". There are a few grammar pieces that you may not know because of their frequency. This book is short but it covers the differences between similar expressions. Plus it's all in Japanese.

御互いに頑張りましょうね。

thanks. I'll buy level 2 and level 1 of those books this summer
Google docs seems to be showing previews, which is good. Sometimes I have the feeling it's showing the whole book lol. But yea it would be best to get a physical copy.

I just took the online placement test for level 2 and I feel a lot more confident that I will be able to pass. I haven't studied Japanese for a long time. I've just been using it on lang-8. I know 20% of the grammar already and more than half of the vocabulary. Obviously my kanji is up to snuff thaks to Heisig.

The listening questions seemed easy. Is that the actual difficulty of the test? I heard it was hard but my listening comprehension sucks and I could guess the correct answers without much work. Maybe it's just an easy example to show how it works.

I'm been learning Japanese for a total of 9.2 months. Once it reaches September, it will have been 1 full year. By that time i'm confident I will know way more than the joyo kanji(2042, I think they added more kanji to the list now though). I know around 1700+(In terms of readings) so far. And by the time december comes I should be ready for it no problem(I hope). Personally I'm consistent I always do my reps, I always read/immerse my self in Japanese. 90% of my media nowadays is Japanese.

So you will have passed the 1級 in one year of study?!
うそつき！

Seriously, that's incredible!
Are you living in Japan currently?

gyuujuice Wrote:So you will have passed the 1級 in one year of study?!
うそつき！

Seriously, that's incredible!
Are you living in Japan currently?

I'd be more interested in the hours he studied during that year than the year itself. One can then look at his hours of experiencing Japanese (the fun stuff like watching shows, reading books, playing games, surfing sites in Japanese).

It'll also be interesting to know how he does on 2級 and 1級 mock exams (better than waiting a few months for actual test results, and he can do multiple tests to gauge areas of weakness).

Of course, the results of one person is meaningless on the whole. Best if others that go the various self-study routes post how they did and the efforts put in to do it. Yeah, it'll all be anecdotal but in this game that's the best evidence there is.

gyuujuice Wrote:So you will have passed the 1級 in one year of study?!
うそつき！

Seriously, that's incredible!
Are you living in Japan currently?

I've got some swampland in Florida to sell you...

nest0r Wrote:

gyuujuice Wrote:So you will have passed the 1級 in one year of study?!
うそつき！

Seriously, that's incredible!
Are you living in Japan currently?

I've got some swampland in Florida to sell you...

...I don't get you. :\
Besides I'll already inherit some swampland in Georgia in 10 years.

gyuujuice Wrote:So you will have passed the 1級 in one year of study?!
うそつき！

Seriously, that's incredible!
Are you living in Japan currently?

Not living in japan. But I do spend quite a lot of time immersing myself in the langauge. Personally if you have read some of my other threads that i posted in. I tend to do a lot of srs reps each day. Combined with all my decks it's like 700-1500 max daily. My vocab deck i just read/understand and then move onto the next card. My sentence deck is the same, I have a kanji deck mixed in with kana(I'm doing RTK 3, should be done within a few more days) and lastly is my production deck. Which i revamped. I;ve only started to include more important stuff,numbers,dates,counters,basic names,phrases,etc. (I haven't been concentrating on this deck just yet because what I want to do is finish my kanji deck. Wait till my reviews get smaller. It will cuz I tend to rate it easy/good always since I'm doing RTK 1+3 again. Almost done RTK 3. So once that's done I will have merged my kanji deck with my production deck. That will mean I only have 3 decks to deal with.

Nukemarine Wrote:

gyuujuice Wrote:So you will have passed the 1級 in one year of study?!
うそつき！

Seriously, that's incredible!
Are you living in Japan currently?

I'd be more interested in the hours he studied during that year than the year itself. One can then look at his hours of experiencing Japanese (the fun stuff like watching shows, reading books, playing games, surfing sites in Japanese).

It'll also be interesting to know how he does on 2級 and 1級 mock exams (better than waiting a few months for actual test results, and he can do multiple tests to gauge areas of weakness).

Of course, the results of one person is meaningless on the whole. Best if others that go the various self-study routes post how they did and the efforts put in to do it. Yeah, it'll all be anecdotal but in this game that's the best evidence there is.

Actually I've srsed a large quantity of the stuff in the beginning. I always kept thinking to myself back then that the more I do the more I'll learn faster,etc. That was a mistake, only reason it was a mistake was I couldn't handle that load but I still did it. Nowadays the load isn't that big to me anymore because nowadays I read way more than usual(It engraves the readings in my mind the more I immerse myself/read/follow subtitles from drama's,news,shows,etc. My immersion was always up everyday. I think those things can add up to improvement as well.

I know I've gotten far cuz, I don't actually need to add that much cards into my srs, If I just immerse myself and read a lot I can definitely get good. With the addition of the srs though I can definitely improve really well.

I'll do the JLPT level 2 and 1 and see how I get. I'll do them within this week and post my results on the weekend. For either if I do good or bad lol.

Wow, that is a lot of reps! Your'e quite the role model. I will have 6-8 hours free to study Japanese everyday starting the 15th of June. I should be able to make 1000 cards everyday easy. ^__^

Please do post your progress!

gyuujuice Wrote:Wow, that is a lot of reps! Your'e quite the role model. I will have 6-8 hours free to study Japanese everyday starting the 15th of June. I should be able to make 1000 cards everyday easy. ^__^

Please do post your progress!

Make sure you keep reading as much as possible as well/writing. I will be writing quite a lot soon, should get my writing muscles in gear lol.
Going to make a grammar/JLPT deck and then once I'm done, I'll merge it with my main sentence deck and be done with grammar(For now, anything else I don't get I can easily add to my sentence deck later, same applies for my vocab deck.) Lastly is my production deck, that will be increased as well soon.

The Kanzen Master books are pretty good. They're by the same publisher that make the grammar book we used in my Grammar class here (日本語文法演習自動詞・他動詞・使役・受身ーボイスー）. I probably wouldn't recommend it. Or at least, know what you're getting into before you start (hint: it's similar to doing a workbook without previous knowledge or textbook)

ta12121 Wrote:I'll do the JLPT level 2 and 1 and see how I get. I'll do them within this week and post my results on the weekend. For either if I do good or bad lol.

I'm quite curious to see what happens here.

Hello,

I don't wanna start a new thread for this (there are enough grammar threads out there anyways), so here we go.

I'm still studying for N2 in December (as stupid me missed the deadline for the one in June *headdesk*). Kanji and listening are not really a problem.
My weak point (at least that's what I think) is grammar (and thus also the reading section).
I've been studying with the 2kyuu Kanzen Master grammar book and am almost through with it! It's probably enough to pass the test, but of course I don't study Japanese to pass JLPT tests!

I use Lang-8 sometimes and I have the feeling that I still make stupid beginner mistakes (esp. "ha" and "ga" confusion, but also passive voice related stuff and "saseru" related stuff and the particles that go with it).
Also, I often have a hard time to FULLY understand some of the grammar points explained in the Kanzen book. I often ask here in this forum in the "what's this word/phrase" thread, but I have the feeling that I'm barely improving at all.

Any tips for me?
I was thinking about translating stuff!
Both from Japanese and into Japanese to get a better feeling for sentence structure and grammar use in general.
Is that a good idea? Of course, I would post my translations on Lang-8 to see how good or bad it was in the end.
If it's a good idea, then what material should I translate?
I think manga is not the way to go, esp. if I wanna also use it on the side as prep for the JLPT then novels would probably be better?
But then I'm worried about copyright stuff when posting it to Lang-8.
What about news articles online? But that's often boring and for me still very difficult.

What do you think? Any suggestions?
Lately I really tend to use all my motivation as I don't see much improvement anymore and I'm also not sure what/how to study.

Right now I only concentrate on 2 decks: review my RTK1 kanji and my Kanzen 2kyuu grammar deck. With that I have my hands full already.

Suggestions!?

I think it's a very good idea, especially if you enjoy the process.

I don`t think anybody should care about your posting or translating copyrighted stuff, especially if you don't post whole works.

頑張って！

Hmm. Translation is a dangerous tool. On the one hand, it can help a lot because it can expose places where you don't understand things as well as you thought you did until you started translating. On the other hand, translation involves a lot of skills that go beyond simple reading, and you can be able to read and understand a passage without being able to translate it.

I especially think that translating from English to Japanese is unlikely to help your Japanese grammar.

Unfortunately you're in that large "intermediate" area where it doesn't feel like you're improving for a long time...you just have to stick with it and you get better eventually.

@yudantaiteki: Thanks for always helping me!
Yah, I think motivation is a problem when you don't feel ANY improvement (and it's been like that for almost a year) - things are so slow that you don't feel any improvement at that stage.
Any idea how to get motivated again?
Was there another thread about it? (>.o'')

chochajin Wrote:Suggestions!?

I would read a lot of books... And if you find sentences you like containing your problem grammar points, put them into your SRS (or whatever way you remember stuff).

caivano Wrote:

chochajin Wrote:Suggestions!?

I would read a lot of books... And if you find sentences you like containing your problem grammar points, put them into your SRS (or whatever way you remember stuff).

I already started doing that over a year ago. I don't have the feeling that it really helped me much