Has Anyone Taken the Japanese Language Proficiency Test?

[Flying Shogi]

Registration opens next week in the US(at least for my region) so I figure I need to start preparing for it. Aiming for N2 and I have 3/5 of the N1 & N2 level books of the Shin Kanzen Master series(Vocab, Kanji, grammar). Kinda regretting not getting the reading comprehension though. Any general tips? I heard it is highly recommended that you wear a wrist watch as there won't be a wall clock in the room. 

General weaknesses 

1) Katakana is a little hard for me since I don't see them a lot but that can be an "easy" fix but it gets bad when it's a long word since my brain can only process 5 Katakana characters at the start of the word. Not knowing where to stop is an also issue. 

2) Transitive and intransitive verbs. I can use them just fine(at least I claim so lol) but reading them along with long noun modification is a challenge. 

   a) On a similar, identifying the modified noun in long noun modification can also be challenging, especially when it comes to vertical up/down reading format 

3) Onomatopoeia

4) I need to learn how to skim. I tend to read all of the text. When I read fast, I kinda just don't read. 

5) Connotation between words. Been working on this as this is interesting

6) Looking up new words without guessing the meaning first. I consider this a personal bad habit since I've read excerpts from novels before and there are always words I don't know and not only is looking each word up is time consuming and but also it also hinders my general understanding of the text. 

7) One specific grammar that I have trouble with is using という to indicate a clause. I feel like I always get them mixed up. One usage is introducing a term/idea so I believe だ is omitted after nouns/na-adjectives while the other one is quoting/summarizing someone else's idea similar to stating an author's argument in your own words in an academic paper so だ is needed to conclude that thought/idea for clauses that end in nouns/na-adjectives?

Edited July 22, 2017 by tobuShogi

[Wist]

I took and passed the N2 six years ago. I took and failed the N1 five years ago. I never retook it, but I probably ought to.

It's great you've identified what you're weak with. I don't have much advice to offer, but I'll try.

A few things I wouldn't worry too much about are katakana reading speed and onomatopoeia. You'll have time to parse any awkwardly long loanwords if needed. And I'd be surprised if onomatopoeia featured with any prominence.

Personally, after registering, I found learning from a grammar dictionary more helpful than anything else I did to prepare. And from the sounds of it, you're not too confident in your grammar. So I would suggest focusing on internalising the grammar in your grammar book as best you can. Otherwise you might find you aren't sure under what circumstances you can use the possible answers in the grammar section, or what some of them even mean. Note that some of the grammar is literary or otherwise esoteric, but  not actually very hard if you've been exposed to it. Fortunately, books like the one you have tend to include those esoteric constructions.

You didn't mention listening, but I'll mention that if you can mostly follow TV, movies, radio, conversations, etc, then you shouldn't have anything to worry about. The dialogues for the listening section are very slow and clearly enunciated.

I don't know what to suggest for vocabulary or reading. Though actually, while this may not be immediately helpful for the JLPT, you may find reading easier books helpful for breaking your immediate "look-up unknown words" habit. The fewer words you understand in a text, the more difficult it will be to use context clues to fill in gaps by surmising meanings. This article (no longer up, but accessible through archive.org) shows what it's like to read a text where you understand 98%, 95%, or 80% of the vocabulary. An easier text gives you more space to work out meanings and lets you read more overall without draining all your stamina.

Reading something with repetitive language you've already read in English can help a lot too. It eliminates the cognitive load of interpreting the story (which I would consider a different skill). You might be surprised how much reading a translation of something like The Hobbit can improve your reading comprehension.

I think you understand right about という, though I'm not confident I understand what you're asking, or if you're evn asking a question. But I'll give you my understanding.

If you're asked what someone said, you could answer with the idea: 「彼女が静かということだ」; or the quote: 「彼女が静かだという」.

With the idea, the clause doesn't require だ: 「彼女が静かというのは、誰に聞いたか」 or 「彼女が静かというのが信じられない」. I don't know why this is... but it seems the nominalisation of いう covers it. いう must be nominalised in any case because it's not a verb (you're saying "this idea", not "this idea was spoken").

With the quote, the clause needs だ if it ends in a noun or a na-adjective: 「彼女が静かだといったのは誰？」 or 「彼女が静かだといっても、信じられない」. The clause is a complete thought, and いう is a verb explaining what happened to it (it was spoken). As such, you can conjugate it or make explicit who did the いう: 「先生は彼女が静かだといっても、信じられない」.

Hopefully I'm not wrong... I haven't checked this in ages. And I'm sorry I don't have a better informed explanation of why the grammar functions as it does.

Best of luck on the exam!

Edited July 22, 2017 by Wist

[Flying Shogi]

19 hours ago, Wist said:

A few things I wouldn't worry too much about are katakana reading speed and onomatopoeia. You'll have time to parse any awkwardly long loanwords if needed. And I'd be surprised if onomatopoeia featured with any prominence.

Personally, after registering, I found learning from a grammar dictionary more helpful than anything else I did to prepare. And from the sounds of it, you're not too confident in your grammar. So I would suggest focusing on internalising the grammar in your grammar book as best you can. Otherwise you might find you aren't sure under what circumstances you can use the possible answers in the grammar section, or what some of them even mean. Note that some of the grammar is literary or otherwise esoteric, but  not actually very hard if you've been exposed to it. Fortunately, books like the one you have tend to include those esoteric constructions.

You didn't mention listening, but I'll mention that if you can mostly follow TV, movies, radio, conversations, etc, then you shouldn't have anything to worry about. The dialogues for the listening section are very slow and clearly enunciated.

I don't know what to suggest for vocabulary or reading. Though actually, while this may not be immediately helpful for the JLPT, you may find reading easier books helpful for breaking your immediate "look-up unknown words" habit. The fewer words you understand in a text, the more difficult it will be to use context clues to fill in gaps by surmising meanings. This article (no longer up, but accessible through archive.org) shows what it's like to read a text where you understand 98%, 95%, or 80% of the vocabulary. An easier text gives you more space to work out meanings and lets you read more overall without draining all your stamina.

Reading something with repetitive language you've already read in English can help a lot too. It eliminates the cognitive load of interpreting the story (which I would consider a different skill). You might be surprised how much reading a translation of something like The Hobbit can improve your reading comprehension.

I think you understand right about という, though I'm not confident I understand what you're asking, or if you're evn asking a question. But I'll give you my understanding.

If you're asked what someone said, you could answer with the idea: 「彼女が静かということだ」; or the quote: 「彼女が静かだという」.

With the idea, the clause doesn't require だ: 「彼女が静かというのは、誰に聞いたか」 or 「彼女が静かというのが信じられない」. I don't know why this is... but it seems the nominalisation of いう covers it. いう must be nominalised in any case because it's not a verb (you're saying "this idea", not "this idea was spoken").

With the quote, the clause needs だ if it ends in a noun or a na-adjective: 「彼女が静かだといったのは誰？」 or 「彼女が静かだといっても、信じられない」. The clause is a complete thought, and いう is a verb explaining what happened to it (it was spoken). As such, you can conjugate it or make explicit who did the いう: 「先生は彼女が静かだといっても、信じられない」.

Hopefully I'm not wrong... I haven't checked this in ages. And I'm sorry I don't have a better informed explanation of why the grammar functions as it does.

Best of luck on the exam!

I mention Katakana and onomatopoeia because usually written in Katakana. Luckily most onomatopoeia are 4 character words but they do add to the tone of the text.

My Katakana reading skills are pretty bad since I'm use to reading "higher" level material so I don't see onomatopoeia being used as much, if not at all. I saw the Katakana for "acquaintance" like a month ago and I literally sat there for like 5 minutes trying to figure out what it meant. Luckily it was a leisure reading. 

I have a grammar dictionary but I usually default to online sources. I need to do double duty by looking it up on the internet and looking it up again in the grammar dictionary. I don't see a lot of new grammar and some of the newer grammar are similar to what I have learned before so I get them mixed up sometimes. I find I do well with examples though. They help me differentiate the usage so I can think of similar looking grammar structure differently.

I would like to think that I am pretty decent with grammar but the problem is that I don't actively explore new grammar so my grammar bank doesn't build. I do look up new grammar whenever I see them though. This is a personal thing but my brain goes all over the place whenever I see completely new grammar for the first time and I can't look it up. It messes with my brain since it goes "what if this changes the meaning of the sentence entirely" and that is very scary to me when I'm under pressure to perform well. If the grammar had some Kanji then I can try to extrapolate some info but all new grammar that is only in Hiragana makes me nervous if I am under an exam environment. I'm also stubborn so I'll try to sit there and try to figure it out too. I think what I'm trying to say is that I need be exposed to more things. I don't like to read in general but most things in Japanese catch my attention even if I'm not that interested in said topic if it was presented to me in English.  

I watch anime on a weekly basis so I'm pretty decent with listening comprehension. I also take the time to pause the video whenever they say something I've never heard before. I usually don't stress over watching anime since I gauge the level first. Like I can watch Pokemon and understand like 80% of it without subs but the more themed anime like 名探偵コナン I'll have to watch with subs and I usually pay attention to new words. I do this because it builds my vocab but also because I have a bad habit of harping on what I don't know so I have to look it up. Been working on that though. I usually am not afraid to ask what a word means if I do get the chance since I like learning new words.

That is an interesting article. One thing that I have realized is that reading something that is not on my level due to limited vocab is VERY mentally draining. Luckily, I've been keeping my impulse in check by making myself read things 3 times. First time to get a general understanding(marking down new words but not looking them up), second time is specifically for Furigana, and the third time is the "real" reading of the text so I will read it and formulate responses based on what I've read like I would in English.

One thing that the author mentioned that really speaks to me is the plateau. I feel like I'm learning a lot but there is so much more to learn. But language is a life long learning processes and I'm trying to incorporate that concept while I learn so I don't get burned out. 

I find that repetition really helps. It really reinforces the idea so it sticks in your brain. I'm interested in linguistics so I've been reading a book called 日本人の英語 by マーク・ピーターセン and the author talks about his experience with learning English. It's quite interesting. I've been marking things as I go so I can satisfy my "look up" impulse and it's been working decently. If it's a word that I feel like is important then I put the book down and look it up but I limit the number of times I'm allowed to do that. 

 

Red: look up meaning & reading

Blue: look up reading if forgotten

Orange: review meaning/definition

All of the examples make sense to me. I fuss over it because it's quite common in Japanese writing and it becomes frustrating when I can't figure out which one I should be using when I write XD Anyway, I think I use という a regular amount but it might get excessive sometimes if I can't think of a good way to connect thoughts so I rely on its conjugation flexibility. I usually go back and try to reword things if I find myself keep having to use という as a crutch as it indicates to me that I haven't thought something out properly. It doesn't help that I like using なぜかというと & というわけ but those two kinda build into the grammar so I don't fuss over them too much. 

Sorry for the long post but thanks for the taking the time to explain things to me.

Edited July 23, 2017 by tobuShogi

[Wist]

You're more disciplined than I ever was. Your approach sounds very sensible.

I prefer online resources too. I also prefer learning from native material instead of textbooks. It does sound like a grammar dictionary would help you though. The exposure to lesser used constructions might prevent some panic as hopefully you won't have to run into any completely new grammar on the test. Though I'm completely with you on needing examples. Do the Shin Kanzen books have example sentences?

How long have you been doing your three passes reading technique? I've never been disciplined enough to do something like that on a regular basis. But it sounds like it would be effective. Has it helped you remember new vocabulary too?

[Flying Shogi]

You give me more credit than I deserve XD

I've been moving away from textbooks since things like novels are more authentic. Not saying textbooks are bad, it's that I prefer to analyze things for myself. 

As for the grammar dictionary, I'll make an effort to use it and see how that goes. 

This is the N2 grammar book from Shin Kanzen Master

 

Explanation/Usage & cautionary tips

Next page has practice problems

I came up with the 3 phase reading method(it's probably out there somewhere already and has a proper name) because I got tired of looking up like 20 words per page and not getting anything out of what I read. Coupled with the physical movement of writing the definitions down and mentally internalizing that I still don't know much is quite damaging to language learning, at least it was to me. I didn't want to learn Japanese with stress. 

As for actual experimentation, I haven't been reading a lot Japanese novels but I did read a few pages(like a month ago) of 日本人の英語 using the 3 step technique and I have to say it helps with comprehension. In terms of vocabulary, I can't say much since I actually haven't done the whole 3 steps since I was reading that book for leisure. That will change soon as the test registration is opening soon so I'll be reading things more from an analytical perspective. I can keep you posted if you're interested but I would say don't take my word for it and give it try if you've got the time. Also, I think of the 3 step technique as more of a set of guidelines than some hard set rules so try what works for you. Language learning is different for everyone so I don't consider as the way to approach it. 

Edited July 23, 2017 by tobuShogi

[Wist]

I rarely test what I understood, and I'm a bit loath to reread. But that's out of laziness. Like you said, the graded repetition should help.

It sounds sensible, so I'll give the 3 phase method an honest try. What kind of responses would you do for the 3rd step? Page/chapter summaries?

[Flying Shogi]

I don't like rereading things either. But I usually go back and read things again if I don't get it or I'm analyzing something. 

As for responses, I'm thinking more along the lines of giving my thoughts on what I read based on what the author has said. Although chapter summaries are not a bad idea. If I do page summaries then I might as well translate the book XD I'm not opposed to that either but that might involve copyright and I don't really want to deal with that. 

I just started maintaining a blog for my Japanese culture/Japan related interests so I most likely will be posting my thoughts there.

This is my first and most recent analysis(both Japanese and English version) of a Japanese song that I like so if you're interested, I would love some feedback. Currently working on the English version's analysis.

https://tobushogi.tumblr.com/post/159913408190/歌の分析１紹介小さな恋のうた歌い手と歌の人物は別人