This might sound bizarre but when I was scrolling through YouTube yesterday I found a video of someone passed N1 with only about 1year studying japanese.
physically possible? yes, barely. common? no. easy? no. should you judge yourself based on this, even if you do aim for it? no.
Yes. But that “1 year” can be somewhat misleading. What really matters is the amount of hours you put in. Can you study vocabulary, kanji, grammar, read a lot and listen a lot for 8-10 hours daily?
It is probably possible with a very intense training regimen and a very targeted approach to passing the N1. Basically, studying full time and some more and not caring about anything that is not of use for passing the test (no speaking, no writing, no getting to know the culture, focusing on test strategies etc etc).
Personnaly I would not be able to endure it because it removes all the fun of language learning.
Was the person from the PRC or Taiwan?
It’s best to count it in the number of hours. A guy passed in 1.5 years and logged exactly how many hours he spent on everything — [here’s the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEAcSXGxXgQ). In total it took him just shy of 4k hours which means >10 hours per day if you wanted to do it in one year. It’s physically possible but it’s probably not worth risking burn-out from having to put 8+ hours per day into studying consistently.
(I’m just over 3k hours (after 2 years of study) and am about to attempt the N1 so we’ll see how I go…)
It’s possible, but I wouldn’t advise it. It’s important to maintain your intrinsic motivation and drilling all day every day to maximize results will effect that.
The guy who did that video had several advantages. For example, he mentioned that he grew up in Taiwan. This means he was already very familiar with Chinese characters. This is a HUGE advantage when learning Japanese, especially if you want to pass the N1. Secondly, he mentions that he moved to Japan and lived with Japanese host family for 6 months or so, while also taking Japanese classes. With this total immersion, you will of course learn very quickly.
Outside of a few savants/language geniuses it’s near impossible to do this. 2 years even seems highly unlikely unless you’re living in Japan and studying/speaking hours and hours a day. JLPT is more about your own ego though IMO. A lot of Japanese people that I’ve had encounters with don’t really know what the test is.
But if you can accomplish it in one year, more power to you.
If you speak korean or chinese, yes.
I speak Chinese and know most of the Kanji and I barely scratched N2 in 3 years. If your aim is just to pass the JLPT test, the test itself is not that bad honestly. But if you want to have a fair level of fluency in language and grammar usage and be able to apply what you have learned with ease in real life speaking and writing, then Japanese can be a very difficult language
Yes, takes a lot of dedication and efficient study, and it’ll be the only thing you do outside of work 99.9% of the time, but possible. Even more so if you study specifically for the JLPT (which I wouldn’t recommend since learning words out of context is demotivating and not as easy). You’ll be stuck at the hip with Anki or your SRS of choice, you’ll be watching and reading massive amounts of things meant for native speakers, and you’ll probably be pulling your hair out in the beginning, but it’s possible. I didn’t take the N1 but I hit 10k words at like 8 months in so it’s doable.
Not to downplay the achievements of others, because passing N1 is a huge feat for any learner, especially in a year, but also remember that a lot of people are studying to pass the test.
JLPT says nothing of the communication abilities of said person.
It’s possible. But far from everyone can do it, since you generally need to put in a lot more effort and usually be good at retaining your knowledge. Personally I can’t do it, because of several reasons, one is that I don’t have the time, and one is I don’t really enjoy studying at such high pace.
It also doesn’t say anything about speaking abilities etc.
Most people claiming 1 year, usually had some form of Japanese knowledge or have at least been in touch with the language before in some form.
Anyone selling courses claiming “learn Japanese in X months”, “Become fluent in 1 year” etc I would not trust.
Yes, a handful of people have done that. Just be ready to sacrifice a good 6~8 hours of your day, every day. You’ll need to study a lot. Be sure to ready a battery of resources (e.g. Tae Kim, IMABI, Sou Matome books, the Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar, Shin Kanzen Master books, etc.).
Note: I don’t know whether the people who passed the JLPT N1 in 1 year learned (1) handwriting, and (2) active skills (speaking, writing).
Physically possible, BUT it takes an insane amount of time daily. Also, I would keep in mind that while JLPT N1 is not an easy test to pass, it is a TEST, so there is a limited amount of vocabulary, kanji and grammar required and the contents of the test are quite specific. Getting a JLPT N1 does not equal being fluent, at all.
No. It is not possible for a 1-year-old person to pass the test since it uses too complex of ideas.
Yes it’s possible. No, you’re almost certainly not gonna be the one to do it.
18 comments
physically possible? yes, barely. common? no. easy? no. should you judge yourself based on this, even if you do aim for it? no.
Yes. But that “1 year” can be somewhat misleading. What really matters is the amount of hours you put in. Can you study vocabulary, kanji, grammar, read a lot and listen a lot for 8-10 hours daily?
It is probably possible with a very intense training regimen and a very targeted approach to passing the N1.
Basically, studying full time and some more and not caring about anything that is not of use for passing the test (no speaking, no writing, no getting to know the culture, focusing on test strategies etc etc).
Personnaly I would not be able to endure it because it removes all the fun of language learning.
Was the person from the PRC or Taiwan?
It’s best to count it in the number of hours. A guy passed in 1.5 years and logged exactly how many hours he spent on everything — [here’s the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEAcSXGxXgQ). In total it took him just shy of 4k hours which means >10 hours per day if you wanted to do it in one year. It’s physically possible but it’s probably not worth risking burn-out from having to put 8+ hours per day into studying consistently.
(I’m just over 3k hours (after 2 years of study) and am about to attempt the N1 so we’ll see how I go…)
It’s possible, but I wouldn’t advise it. It’s important to maintain your intrinsic motivation and drilling all day every day to maximize results will effect that.
The guy who did that video had several advantages. For example, he mentioned that he grew up in Taiwan. This means he was already very familiar with Chinese characters. This is a HUGE advantage when learning Japanese, especially if you want to pass the N1. Secondly, he mentions that he moved to Japan and lived with Japanese host family for 6 months or so, while also taking Japanese classes. With this total immersion, you will of course learn very quickly.
Outside of a few savants/language geniuses it’s near impossible to do this. 2 years even seems highly unlikely unless you’re living in Japan and studying/speaking hours and hours a day. JLPT is more about your own ego though IMO. A lot of Japanese people that I’ve had encounters with don’t really know what the test is.
But if you can accomplish it in one year, more power to you.
If you speak korean or chinese, yes.
I speak Chinese and know most of the Kanji and I barely scratched N2 in 3 years. If your aim is just to pass the JLPT test, the test itself is not that bad honestly. But if you want to have a fair level of fluency in language and grammar usage and be able to apply what you have learned with ease in real life speaking and writing, then Japanese can be a very difficult language
Yes, takes a lot of dedication and efficient study, and it’ll be the only thing you do outside of work 99.9% of the time, but possible. Even more so if you study specifically for the JLPT (which I wouldn’t recommend since learning words out of context is demotivating and not as easy). You’ll be stuck at the hip with Anki or your SRS of choice, you’ll be watching and reading massive amounts of things meant for native speakers, and you’ll probably be pulling your hair out in the beginning, but it’s possible. I didn’t take the N1 but I hit 10k words at like 8 months in so it’s doable.
Not to downplay the achievements of others, because passing N1 is a huge feat for any learner, especially in a year, but also remember that a lot of people are studying to pass the test.
JLPT says nothing of the communication abilities of said person.
It’s possible. But far from everyone can do it, since you generally need to put in a lot more effort and usually be good at retaining your knowledge. Personally I can’t do it, because of several reasons, one is that I don’t have the time, and one is I don’t really enjoy studying at such high pace.
It also doesn’t say anything about speaking abilities etc.
Most people claiming 1 year, usually had some form of Japanese knowledge or have at least been in touch with the language before in some form.
Anyone selling courses claiming “learn Japanese in X months”, “Become fluent in 1 year” etc I would not trust.
Yes, a handful of people have done that. Just be ready to sacrifice a good 6~8 hours of your day, every day. You’ll need to study a lot. Be sure to ready a battery of resources (e.g. Tae Kim, IMABI, Sou Matome books, the Dictionaries of Japanese Grammar, Shin Kanzen Master books, etc.).
Note: I don’t know whether the people who passed the JLPT N1 in 1 year learned (1) handwriting, and (2) active skills (speaking, writing).
Physically possible, BUT it takes an insane amount of time daily. Also, I would keep in mind that while JLPT N1 is not an easy test to pass, it is a TEST, so there is a limited amount of vocabulary, kanji and grammar required and the contents of the test are quite specific. Getting a JLPT N1 does not equal being fluent, at all.
No. It is not possible for a 1-year-old person to pass the test since it uses too complex of ideas.
Yes it’s possible. No, you’re almost certainly not gonna be the one to do it.
yes but you have to study like a maniac