Hi all — I’m not sure if this belongs here or somewhere else like /r/AmITheAsshole, but advice is appreciated.
I did Japanese in high school and uni (liked anime and video games in high school but kinda drifted away from them in adulthood), didn’t do anything with Japanese after graduating uni, but picked up Japanese study again about six or seven years ago.
I passed N3 about six years ago, N2 just before covid, failed N1 about 2 years ago and then passed N1 (130ish/180) earlier this year (edit – this is all through self-study — I got a lot more serious about it at the beginning of this year and started watching a lot more anime/TV shows, plus cramming vocab via Anki)
Having said that, I still feel like my Japanese is closer to N2 level — there’s a lot of N2 (and even some N3) grammar points that I don’t know, vocab is probably N2ish level.
My listening skills in particular are weak, and I often miss stuff when watching dramas or anime. (If I have Japanese subtitles on I can get most things). My conversation skills are also not great but not terrible. I can definitely read a lot more than I can speak/listen to.
I’ve come to Japan for a few months and I’ve enrolled in a Japanese school full-time (20ish hours a week), with a view to improving my Japanese before sitting JLPT again in December.
Initially they didn’t actually have a class at my level — they only had an intermediate class operating — but ended up creating an advanced “class” (which is just me), plus I have about 5 hours of one-on-one tutoring a week.
To be honest, the textbook we’re using is okay but not super challenging (it’s probably N2ish, maybe low N1 towards the end).
It’s good practicing conversation, however I’m really wanting to cover a lot of grammar/vocab points that I don’t know, and by the time I’m done with class each day plus the homework, plus my Anki deck reviews (which is about 2 horus per day at this stage, from recent vocab/grammar I’ve been adding), plus other life activities (getting food/getting to and from school), it’s usually quite late (6-8pm), and I’ve been trying to do JLPT study on the side, but I’ve basically got no time.
I’d honestly almost prefer to just learn on my own time (using Nihongo no Mori or JLPT prep books like Shin Kanzen Master etc, plus consuming media).
I do feel I need to work on my output (conversation skills etc), but I’d rather prioritise things for JLPT (grammar points/vocab/kanji) than focus on communication.
Signed up for 7 weeks, 3 weeks in so far. Dropped USD ~3k on this, no refunds.
I’m also worried that if I cancel classes, the teachers (who seem lovely) will be out of pocket financially — both the class and tutoring are all one-on-one and the teachers are paid by the hour, as far as I can tell.
I don’t *have* to improve my JLPT score — I’m not trying to get permanent residency or a job using it etc — but that’s what my priority is at this time.
I do want to improve my communication skills etc eventually but I kind of feel a lot of that would come along as I fill in the gaps in my vocab/grammar and I consume more Japanese media (honestly I’ve been treating learning Japanese almost like a ‘task’ that I can ‘complete’, rather than a means to consuming Japanese media), and I’d rather have strong comprehension abilities and weak communication abilities, instead of average comprehension+communication abilities.
I realise there’s probably no right answers here, and this is maybe more of a “sack up and tell the school you’re unhappy” problem than a Japanese language problem, but I figure this is probably a good place to ask.
Thoughts?
8 comments
Your learning frustrations sound pretty normal to me. Sometimes I look up a grammar point that slipped past me, see it listed by some random website as ‘N3’ and smack my head lol. (disclaimer I’m probably about where you were at two years ago).
If your goal is to focus on the JLPT, specifically grammar, then you should definitely tell your teachers to focus on that. They’re not used to teaching your level so you may need to provide them with some N1 textbooks and reading materials to go through together with. If you’ve passed N1 already there’s zero reason for you to be doing N2 level lessons. All that N2 and N3 stuff comes up again in the harder material anyway.
There’s no reason for you to pay 3k, basically have private tutors, but to be spending time reviewing stuff that is easy for you or stuff that won’t help you reach your immediate goal. The school might not be a good fit for you after all, but a private tutor could help you (and may actually be cheaper).
Also if you’re studying grammar you may want to consider pausing new vocabulary Anki cards. You can always study vocab by yourself later but you don’t need to burn yourself out trying to study everything at once.
You’re paying enough money and the school seems willing to work with your needs, since they created a class for you and all. I think it’s better to communicate clearly what your goals are to the teacher and ask that they update the materials to align with what you wanna learn more.
Why are you focusing on N1 studies if you’ve already passed it? Are you gunning to get a better score?
So what exactly is your goal? I don’t mean to be rude, but it sounds like you want to just continue doing the things that got you to the point where your comprehension and conversation skills are weaker than they should be.
Studying for the JLPT is great if your goal is to pass the JLPT, but cramming all that vocab and grammar will only result in all that vocab and grammar floating around in your head, not being utilized.
There are people here in Japan with only N3 and N2 knowledge who are fantastic at conversing and get by perfectly fine in daily life. If you want to speak, you gotta speak more.
Going hard on input will lead to you knowing how Japanese sounds and how it’s used so it’s absolutely fantastic to do, but if you specifically want to use it, you actually have to use it.
I’m assuming you came to Japan to do your schooling, but regardless my advice is to utilize your tutors by just talking a lot, and about various topics. Feel free to ask them questions relating to Japanese. Also, go out and make Japanese friends. Go to an Izakaya or a bar and just talk with whoever is willing to talk.
Also, read a lot! You already passed the N1. You don’t need to cram for it. Read, read, and read some more. When you’re tired of reading, watch Japanese media. Listen to podcasts whenever you’re on the move.
Input and output is the main focus now.
It’s kinda hard to tell what the actually issue is, the only thing I know is you hate the school. It’s your money in the end, no refunds and if you stopped going to the school it’s unlikely to impact the teachers. That being said, if you’re spent the money and it’s only 5 hours a week for 7 weeks then maybe you should try the make the most of it. Ask questions, speak, ask for recommendations on books and TV shows, and find some conversational topic to talk about with others and the teachers too. In other words, try to make the most of it and enjoy being there on top of getting to level up your Japanese.
I’m a bit confused as to why you’re prioritizing the JLPT so much when you’ve already passed it. Things like grammar and vocab are some of the easiest to do on your own time in your home country. Imo you should use this time to work on your communication skills. That’s something where you’ll gain a lot from actually being in Japan.
> I do want to improve my communication skills etc eventually but I kind of feel a lot of that would come along as I fill in the gaps in my vocab/grammar
Yeah, I really disagree with this, fam. Ultimately language use is a skill. The way you improve skills is by practicing them. You can’t learn to swim by reading a book. The way you get better at communication is by communicating. Grammar and vocab study are useful supplements, but they’re not your meat and potatoes when it comes to communication. I mean, look at the Japanese education system. They test the kids over extremely complex English grammar, yet no one is able to have a basic conversation. If you want to be able to talk, you have to practice talking
Edit: To give you some context for the possibilities, I passed the N1 with a 125 this summer, so a *lower* score than you. Yet, I’m perfectly comfortable having a conversation on political and social issues. I can attend meetings and trainings in Japanese. I can lead a classroom using only Japanese. I can watch movies and the news fine. I can comfortablely write a multi-page narrative or argumentative essay. My current goals are improving my use of descriptive language in writing and learning to speak in a more polished, academic manner. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be setting your bar for communication higher at your level
Tldr; I think you should set grammar and vocab to the side for a bit and focus on communication
Great job! We natives learn Japanese at least for 9 years (1st to 9th grader) in the first place. Though it’s a long journey, I’m really happy to hear that learners like you enjoy learning Japanese.
I think you’ve already built a great foundaton, so maybe you can have as many conversations with natives as possible. One of my friends had the same situation, but once she stopped JLPT studying and started online lessons with natives regularly, textbook grammars turned “normal” and she mastered them. One day she took N1 as a trial, and she said she exceeded the passing score without any preparation. She also said that what helped her a lot is chatting with many people in different generation.
Keep up the good work!!
People I know who have passed N1 usually move on to kanji kentei or a licensing exam. The latter would be super helpful if you would like to live in Japan. I think if you have already passed N1 you should move on to some subject specific content (unless you want to do translation for which kanji kentei might be a better choice). Either way both of those things are still exams and studying for exams is a way of life here, so that’s the type of goal a teacher at your school could understand.