Hello!
I had planned to take the N5 test in December. This was to help keep me motivated toward a goal with a ‘closed box’ of things to learn. Unofrtunately it booked up way too fast so I missed out, and now I’m a bit deflated about my near-term learning journey.
I’m hoping I can find something that I can work towards by the end of the year, for example, being able to read a certain book/manga. Understand a certain TV show/anime without subtitles. Something I can quanitfy as an achievement to work towards to replace the test.
WIth N5 being very beginner, I’m doubtful there is too much out there, but I’m hopeful someone may have some ideas 🙂
6 comments
I’d take a practice test. If you passed it, you would have likely passed the actual test.
Move on to N4 and try to take it next time.
You can watch and read Flying Witch. Very nice story and about as easy as it gets without going into material for learners. Use capture 2 text and yomichan for easy lookups with the manga. You can use english subtitles first with the anime then go back and rewatch with Japanese ones.
Idk what level I’m at, but I certainly enjoy being able to talk in Japanese with my teacher! Just being able to (roughly) explain what I’ve been up to that week makes me so proud of my progress! And I’m proud of every kanji character I can read in restaurants or in anime. Heck, I’m proud that I no longer hesitate with hiragana, almost no difficulty with katakana. It might not be much, but I like to think “Most people talk about wishing they could speak another language. I’m actually putting in the time and effort and doing it!”. That’s what works for me
I found the N5 is absolutely the best level to start learning N4! 😉
If we are talking about motivation factors just find something that you are into, for example I like history so I watch things that are about history but in japanese and I try to understand what they are saying and also writing down new words. When I started learning japanese I just wanted to learn this language with no particular goal, but then I found that there is something called JLPT, so I decided that I will take the N5 to keep me motivated, because working towards the goal keeps me motivated and I got results yesterday and I passed my N5 next goal is N4/N3 🙂
You can’t do much with either an N5 or N4 if your goal is getting a non-English job in Japan.
If you don’t have a material goal like getting a job, the test gives you a clear study checklist and it can be a safe, low-stakes environment to get a feel for the format of the JLPT. I took the N5 in July, it turned out to be kinda far below my skill level, but I’m really glad I did it. It was a chance for me to be around other language learners. As a self-learner it was a good way to measure my skills.
If you have limited resources and don’t want to pay for testing fees 5 times, avoid it. But if you can afford to take it, you might be motivated to work towards the N5 as a tangible goal and it might feel good to pass with flying colours. If you do badly, you’ll still probably pass and you won’t have failed a test with a longer time. 🙂