Hi all, so I have been listening to Akane Sensei and Miku Real Japanese podcasts and YouTube pretty much daily for the past two years and it has definitely helped with my speaking and listening skills from a conversation perspective, but after taking a few mock tests and doing some research I think I might need to step it up a bit more and change my listening habits for the N2 test and beyond. I understood the main points of all the dialogue in the mock tests just fine but it seemed a little fast and I had trouble catching the details which caused me to miss the questions.
I have read a few folks having N2 success preparing with 4989 American Life and Terrace House, so I am thinking about that. I’ve also started drilling every day old listening test questions and check the transcripts when needed.
I have checked great posts like https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/xyoj5w/100_of_japanese_podcasts/
But I would like to know what shows/podcasts did you listen to specifically to prepare and make the N2 listening sections seem easy in comparison? Should I be okay with just 4989 American Life or do I really also need to start watching a show daily like Terrace House? Much appreciated!
2 comments
I’m into voice actors so i listen to loads of blcd, anime radios, voice actor radios, voice actor narrated short clips/ documentaries. I really recommend voice actor/anime radios because they speak very clearly and they’re talking about that specific show (like my hero academia radio-characters’ VA talk about the plot, BTS stories, and etc) all while speaking casual and ネイティブ japanese. Something like this: https://youtu.be/zA3dGuw3kkE
Also, when you listen to radios, there’s no visual to help you fill in the gaps which makes you concentrate even more to what they’re saying. You can find some full of them on youtube depending on the anime. I’m also taking N2 this December and i havent studied for the chokkai part separately but just constantly listening to these media naturally increased my listening ability. I got 60/60 for n3 and i’m aiming for something similar on n2 as well.
A lot of what’s hard about the listening part is just understanding what they’re going to ask for in the limited context you’re given.
Example: in the quick fire questions, there’s basically 0 context so they will aim to trip you up with double negatives, directional or temporal actions, or set answers to phrases in specific situations. If you’re ready, you’ll know which part of the question to focus on.
If you’re able to get the answer after a second listen, your listening is probably fine; you’re just falling into the trap answers due to inexperience.
Good luck in Dec!