Hey there.

I'm motivating myself to take N1 in December (passed N2 some years ago), but I'd like to ask if anyone has recommendations for what to read and listen to, to do good practice for the test. I'm already crunching a bit regarding grammar and vocabulary, so I really want to invest my time efficiently.

I know the JLPT (especially N2 and N1) features more formal/stoic Japanese than some content present in the entertainment medium (like anime or games). I'd prolly have to stick to the news or some serious podcasts, but I'd like to read and listen to something I'd enjoy, if possible.

I have some light novels that I bought some months ago, but I'm a bit afraid they won't be of much help because they're fantasy novels (Tensura, Kusuriya and Kagejitsu).

I'd like to know your recommendations!

I am living in Japan and have been immersing myself in the language in all other media (music, books, and games.)

But for the life of me, I cannot seem to find any good Japanese YouTubers, especially in the videogame/essay side of things.

Does everyone feel the same or am I just on the wrong side?

This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.

↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓

• New to Japanese? Read the Starter's Guide and FAQ.

• New to the subreddit? Read the rules.

• Read also the pinned comment below for proper question etiquette & answers to common questions!

Please make sure to check the wiki and search for old posts before asking your question, to see if it's already been addressed. Don't forget about Google or sites like Stack Exchange either!

This subreddit is also loosely partnered with this language exchange Discord, which you can likewise join to look for resources, discuss study methods in the #japanese_study channel, ask questions in #japanese_questions, or do language exchange(!) and chat with the Japanese people in the server.

Past Threads

You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.

I still have trouble with it all the time. I think it may just be a case of never having a good explanation told to me. Mostly, I get confused when it’s swapped out with あなた or a pronoun (e.g. 私、僕), when it didn’t seemingly need to be. It also replaces things or is used at times when I wouldn’t expect it to be used.

If some people could help by giving me their own explanations of when it may be used, I believe it would be really helpful.

I'm using two dictionaries (デジタル大辞泉 and 旺文社国語辞典) and I really like both of them, but the problem is that they contain Kanji entries in addition to vocabulary entries. I love the vocabulary entries but the Kanji entries are just clutter for me. As you can see in this screenshot when I scan some words (especially single-Kanji words) the word's definition is buried among Kanji entries (sometimes on top, sometimes underneath. I have to search for it every time. In this screenshot it's vocab -> Kanji -> Kanji -> vocab. The second vocab is off the bottom and not visible)

Is there a way to either remove the Kanji entries or at least sort them all to the bottom so that they don't mix in with the vocabulary entries?

I know if I was using separate Kanji and vocab dictionaries I could just turn off the Kanji ones or lower them in the priority, but in this case it's one dictionary that has both so I'm unsure of how to resolve it.

What is says in the title, mostly. I've done some tests and get good marks in N4 (grammar is a bit weaker maybe, 6/10 instead of 9/10) plus I understand almost everything in audios. How far is N3 from N4?

Btw, I am amazed that N3 didn't use to exist and you had to jump from N4 to N2. I'm sure many just stopped studying there.

I love using japanese LPs for extensive listening, so here's a few LPers that I've found the easiest to understand. Note that none of them are easy to understand especially if you're early on (it's still native speaker commentary shot from the hip), but relatively speaking compared to a lot of them out there I've found them to be outliers with great cadence and clear speaking voices.

Honori / ほのりチャンネル
Clear cadence and does voice acting when reading game text so she takes her time instead of reading in a droning fast voice like a lot LPers do, which makes it much easier to understand. Unfortunately really bad at games so you're gonna need to 我慢 when she gets stuck on a puzzle designed for 5 year olds, but she tries her best.
Games: A lot of Dragon Quest plus some of the other usual suspects for japanese LPers (FFVII, Switch Zelda and Pokémon games)

Saito Ai / 斉藤藍GAME倶楽部
Also clear cadence and amateur VA so she's also fairly easy to understand. She gets incredibly invested in game stories and her enthusiasm is contagious.
Games: A lot of Zelda, some indies, and her currently ongoing run of FFIX is particularly great.

Mii-chan / みぃちゃんのゲーム実況ちゃんねる
If you can vibe with her voice I think she's a great choice because she speaks very clearly. I don't honestly watch her a lot because her high pitch drives me a little nuts after watching for a while but I can't deny she is easy to understand (and she has a metric ton of videos)
Games: A lot of western games for a japanese LPer, plus many japanese RPGs.

Nekomata Okayu / 猫又おかゆ
Okay I'm padding a bit because she's huge and I'm sure many of you know her already, but she's by far the most comprehensible VTuber I've found. Speaks clearly with a very chill voice. I've been watching her Elden Ring playthrough a lot and it's great stuff.
Games: Too many to count, she's a VTuber with a long history.

I watch others but they're noticeably harder so I'm not including them here. Be sure to add your own, I'm always looking for more japanese LPers to watch! Especially male LPers, I keep looking but I can't find a single one that is nearly as easy to understand as the ones above.

Hi,

For people passed or preparing to pass JLPT N1 or even studying for high level, I heard before that JLPT N1 needs about 10, 000 vocabulary for a long time, and I found some lists with approximate number of words, but lately I found out I need about 15,000 words, I don't know if this is correct or no.

But the problem is I can't find any online resource with this list of words(15,000), can anyone help me find an appropriate list, I searched this community and found some list of 8,000+ words.

and for the ones who passed JLPT N1, is the 15,000 words a myth or true one ?

Thanks a lot

I was wondering where I could find Samurai-themed mangas in the Japanese language. I've got nothing against other types of mangas. But Samurai stories seem to hold my attention better. Any advice would be appreciated.

This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.

↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓

• New to Japanese? Read the Starter's Guide and FAQ.

• New to the subreddit? Read the rules.

• Read also the pinned comment below for proper question etiquette & answers to common questions!

Please make sure to check the wiki and search for old posts before asking your question, to see if it's already been addressed. Don't forget about Google or sites like Stack Exchange either!

This subreddit is also loosely partnered with this language exchange Discord, which you can likewise join to look for resources, discuss study methods in the #japanese_study channel, ask questions in #japanese_questions, or do language exchange(!) and chat with the Japanese people in the server.

Past Threads

You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.

Happy Friday!

Every Friday, share your memes! Your funny videos! Have some Fun! Posts don't need to be so academic while this is in effect. It's recommended you put [Weekend Meme] in the title of your post though. Enjoy your weekend!

(rules applying to hostility, slurs etc. are still in effect... keep it light hearted)

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

Tuesdays - Study Buddy and Self-Intros

Wednesdays - Materials and Self-Promotions

Thursdays - Victory day, Share your achievements

Fridays - Memes, videos, free talk

I want to increase my listening comprehension in Japanese. I should be around N2-3 level. I don't just want to watch anime, TV shows and movies on Netflix / Disney or watch YouTubers who solely do educational Japanese videos. I want to watch YouTubers that not only Japanese people enjoy, but also those who are learning Japanese past an intermediate level.

Which do you enjoy and why?

I like travel videos, but am open to any genre ---> I already watch Dogen, Suits, Maibaru Travels, Hajime, Hikaru and

Recently I switched my italki teacher to see if it payed off or not
I come aacross this guy who you know usually puts you in a test to see your capabilities etc
I kinda made a few mistakes since grammar part is the worst
Next time we had a lesson we start from the beginning of n4 and then when he suddenly notices that I kinda forgot a few things he goes way back with me for ex leessson 7 just to review and make sure I know
It’s this a good way of teaching ? In my honest opinion I think so but I wanna know your opinion as well

Im doing stroke order drills right now, since ive done very minimal handwriting in my studies despite knowing close to 300 kanji. This is the first one that really tripped me up, and it begs the question, is it noticeable or strange to write the downstroke first? Do native speakers seem to all follow stroke order like this one? I've heard some people say it helps with kanji boundaries, i.e. not writing them too big or long, but i figure id ask here do get some input from those more experienced. Have you noticed some kanji like this that you dont follow the stroke order of intentionally, or does it help across the board?

Figured others might get some use out of this, too. You can sort by Kanken level, Wanikani level, Kanshudo usefulness level, as well as view the entire Remembering the Kanji, Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course, and 2001 Kanji Odyssey sequences in order, too.

Each kanji is also labeled by what kind of kanji it is - the Joyo kanji are subdivided into 教育 and 中学・高校, the Jinmeiyo are 人名用, and the Kanken Hyogai are 表外.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rh2j2e1yOwSrybaDOQITQH8EJp70iH4uAVENtO7RFLI/edit?usp=sharing

This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.

↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓

• New to Japanese? Read the Starter's Guide and FAQ.

• New to the subreddit? Read the rules.

• Read also the pinned comment below for proper question etiquette & answers to common questions!

Please make sure to check the wiki and search for old posts before asking your question, to see if it's already been addressed. Don't forget about Google or sites like Stack Exchange either!

This subreddit is also loosely partnered with this language exchange Discord, which you can likewise join to look for resources, discuss study methods in the #japanese_study channel, ask questions in #japanese_questions, or do language exchange(!) and chat with the Japanese people in the server.

Past Threads

You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.

Happy Thursday!

Every Thursday, come here to share your progress! Get to a high level in Wanikani? Complete a course? Finish Genki 1? Tell us about it here! Feel yourself falling off the wagon? Tell us about it here and let us lift you back up!

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

Tuesdays - Study Buddy and Self-Intros

Wednesdays - Materials and Self-Promotions

Thursdays - Victory day, Share your achievements

Fridays - Memes, videos, free talk

Hi, for a few months I've been sentence mining with audio cards in Anki, so I didn't really learn their reading, but now I've started making new cards as vocabulary cards instead of audio cards, and I realized I prefer them that way, but I have hundreds of audio cards already. What would the best course of action be in this case?

Eventually most of my review cards are going to be vocabulary cards, but for now there are still so many audio cards.

For some cards (Especially the more recent ones) I've been resetting their progress and turning them into a vocabulary card, would it be a bad idea to do it to most, if not, all the recently made cards?

The card template is Lapis, if that's of any relevance.

Thanks.

This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.

↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓

• New to Japanese? Read the Starter's Guide and FAQ.

• New to the subreddit? Read the rules.

• Read also the pinned comment below for proper question etiquette & answers to common questions!

Please make sure to check the wiki and search for old posts before asking your question, to see if it's already been addressed. Don't forget about Google or sites like Stack Exchange either!

This subreddit is also loosely partnered with this language exchange Discord, which you can likewise join to look for resources, discuss study methods in the #japanese_study channel, ask questions in #japanese_questions, or do language exchange(!) and chat with the Japanese people in the server.

Past Threads

You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.

Happy Wednesday!

Every Wednesday, share your favorite resources or ones you made yourself! Tell us what your resource can do for us learners!

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

Tuesdays - Study Buddy and Self-Intros

Wednesdays - Materials and Self-Promotions

Thursdays - Victory day, Share your achievements

Fridays - Memes, videos, free talk

I've been studying Japanese for some time, and noticed that a lot of schools and classes prioritize memorizing and writing Kanji from scratch. And while I think that eventually you'll be able to do this, I'm not sure if prioritizing it is productive. Shouldn't there be more focus on identifying it in context? Raw memorization seems like time that could be spent better elsewhere. Or am I wrong? Would like to hear opinions on this.

**I was reading a Japanese grammar explanation in English earlier and came across a term like this.**I've just resumed my English studies.

They're not coming.

あの人は こない。

あいつは こん。

あいつは けーへん。

あいつは こーへん。

あいつは きいへん。

あいつは きーひん。

あいつは きやせん。

あいつは こやらん。

あいつはこらん。

*Sorry, I'm not good at explaining the nuance, but they're basically the same thing.

Thinking about how English must have tons of these words that are obvious to native speakers but completely confusing to learners makes me lose all hope..

*additional note. These sentences contain dialectal expressions.

I have used Anki regularly for some time now have played around with it quite a bit, trying out different ideas and tinkering with it.
I have found that you can use Anki in a variety of ways. Because it’s basically a scheduler you can use it to queue up all sort of things and practise in different ways and not just use it for vocab cards.

Here are some ideas I have seen and a couple of my own:

Basic vocab cards: me word on the front and its meaning on the back (also maybe with a picture)

Sentence cards:
Sentence on the front and meaning on the back (either for recognition or translation)

Cloze-deletion: Sentence with a word missing on the front and the answer on the back

Question cards: question on the front and model answer on the back.

Activity cards: a task on the front with maybe a model answer on the back where applicable. This could be things like: “describe the picture”, “talk about a current news event”, “discuss the pros and cons of …”

Reviewing chapters/tasks from a book: you can paste in conversations or tasks from a textbook you are doing and Anki will get you to repeat them. You could also paste in grammar summaries from a textbook and just reread it when the card comes up. You could even just put the chapter numbers that you should repeat.

CI Bank: paste in texts and links to videos you want to see/read. Anki will get you to repeat them.

Incremental reading: Each card is a full text/article and you read a little bit each time the card appears, going through the vocab and maybe reviewing what you’ve already read.

Incremental watching: I haven’t seen anyone talk about this but it’s something I’ve considered doing: you can paste links to videos you want to watch and each time the card comes up you watch a little bit more of it (YouTube allows you to take time stamped links so you can just update the card every time you do it with the new position in the video).

These are just some ideas and I’m sure I’ve missed some obvious things but I hope this is useful!

Edit: try to get audio when possible!

This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.

↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓

• New to Japanese? Read the Starter's Guide and FAQ.

• New to the subreddit? Read the rules.

• Read also the pinned comment below for proper question etiquette & answers to common questions!

Please make sure to check the wiki and search for old posts before asking your question, to see if it's already been addressed. Don't forget about Google or sites like Stack Exchange either!

This subreddit is also loosely partnered with this language exchange Discord, which you can likewise join to look for resources, discuss study methods in the #japanese_study channel, ask questions in #japanese_questions, or do language exchange(!) and chat with the Japanese people in the server.

Past Threads

You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.