I passed the N1 this summer (54/60 Grammar, 51/60 Reading, 42/60 Listening, 147/180 TOTAL, so it wasn’t even ギリギリ or anything, I passed it alright). But guess what, I’m still nowhere close to native level. Ok, I can read books without too much problem, but not with the speed a native speaker could. I can hold a conversation, but still stutter and stop to think about what I want to say next every other sentence. Everyday I still come across new words or just entire phrases whose meanings I just don’t get and have to machine translate. Also I scored 2/3 points in the listening section but can barely watch even the simplest of anime without subtitles for 1 or 2 minutes before pausing and rewinding to take another listen for a sentence I didn’t understand; and during a conversation I have to ask the other party to repeat themselves quite often.
JLPT does an awful job at grading one’s japanese ability. I know even before people were saying that N1 ≠ fluent, but like, it’s more than that, it’s not even CLOSE to fluency… How can this be the hardest test and why can you pass it with only 100 out of 180 points…
Been studying for 2 years by the way, so still a long journey ahead of me
2 comments
There’s what the JLPT says you can do and what you can actually do. If you had perfect knowledge of N1 material and got a 180/180 – plus your other skills were just as high, I’d say you’d be advanced-high level or higher.
If you have a lower score because of a shaky grasp on kanji or whatever, and you didn’t keep up with other skills, yeah you wouldn’t be advanced-high. Maybe an intermediate-high to advanced-low, although it would depend on the kind of test. If you had 0 speaking ability but had N1 knowledge for an oral exam, you’d be placed appropriately.
It’s not the hardest test. It’s the hardest JLPT level. Big difference. Production is a separate skill, one the JLPT doesn’t cover at all. It covers a specific subset of the language only.
I consider it (I have N1), or N2 really, as marking the point at which you can move to Japanese only sources and things meant for native speakers. e.g., 漢検 for testing out your kanji knowledge. Keigo courses meant for native speakers. etcetc.
Why are you machine translating anything, though? Set this as your motto: English as a last resort only. Use a decent dictionary (again, one intended for native speakers). Google the thing plus “とは” and read a Japanese explanation of what it is. Use google image search. Use the JP version of wikipedia. Use anything but machine translation.