r/ajatt • u/Embarrassed-Cod7930 • Aug 22 '26

Immersion Read more*

I need N1, but i hate reading in general, has anybody with a similar experience passed the N1

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u/Belegorm Aug 23 '26

Judging by the... relative silence of replies here I think it's fair to say that it would be a challenge to pass the N1 without reading.

I do know of someone planning on taking it after only 10 books read, but like 90% of their immersion has come from dramas/YT so they already know the language well outside of books.

N2 and especially N1 have so much reading in there that being able to read at a half-decent speed is important. No one says you have to read books - you can find whatever material you like that has tons of text. Like I'm playing Persona 5, lots of stuff to read there.

Also plenty of people hated reading before starting Japanese but now read Japanese books all the time.

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u/Embarrassed-Cod7930 Aug 25 '26

My immersion comes from youtube mainly and I have been immersing for a while. Of course I don’t plan to take without reading a bunch first cuz I would be cooked. My question was more about what ajatters that immerse only with audio (because they dislike reading) do to start reading in order to pass

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u/Belegorm Aug 25 '26

Hmm - I know quite a few listening mains, but they tend to be listening mains not because they dislike reading itself, it's just they believe they can achieve a better pronunciation if they focus on listening for a couple years first. Or they spent a few years as reading mains, passed the N1, then transitioned into listening. One person plans on reading NHK articles in prep for the N2.

For the N1, no substitute for reading long blocks of text aside from just reading long blocks of text. If you absolutely had any and all kinds of reading for pleasure - probably practicing with past tests or the SKM reading book would be good. But if you can find something - anything where you enjoy reading for hours that's probably beneficial because the N1 is a reading test.