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I see these around the forums a lot. Search won't let you search for something like that, and don't see them in the glossary. Does it have something to do with level of proficiency?
Thanks.
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N5/N4/etc are the levels of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. 5 is the lowest, 1 is the highest.
n+1 is something else entirely, it's based on Stephen Krashen's hypothesis that there is a natural order for acquiring grammatical structures in a foreign language. Language that we understand 100% perfectly is "n." "n+1" is material that goes just a little bit beyond that, so that we still understand what we're hearing but haven't acquired that specific structure yet.
(By the way, a lot of people misunderstand "n+1" as a concept. One of the things that Krashen stresses is that ALL material will contain some amount of "n+1" language as long as it's simple enough for you to understand it, and so long as the material hasn't been sanitized to emphasize one particular grammar structure. Whatever aspect of the language is "n+1" for you, you will encounter it.)
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I thought the input hypothesis term was "i + 1." Wikipedia seems to agree.
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Yeah, originally it is i+1.
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Ah, thanks for clearing that up for me. Then is there a difference when people say JLPT1/2/3 as opposed to N1/2/3, etc? Or different ways of saying the same thing?
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The levels were redone a few years ago. N1/N2/N3 is to refer to the new levels.
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What they said about N+1. As for the exams level, after the reform from a couple of years ago
JLPT1=N1
JLPT2=N2
N3 is a new level between former levels 3 and 2
JLPT3=N4
JLPT4=N5
Lots of websites keep using the old names, mainly because the new exams don't have neat lists made of all the terms you need to know for each exam, so they're more of a reference point than a comprehensive list.