Monday, October 18, 2010

How To Prepare for JLPT Exam


Japanese language as we all know is a little difficult learn, understand speak and write. However, if you like the language then you will not face many problems memorizing it. There are some competitive exams for Japanese language held almost all over the world which checks the proficiency level of the students. The proficiency level is checked in all the fields like learning, reading, understanding, listening and writing. These exams are called as the Japanese language proficiency tests or in short the JLPT exams.

A person who is learning Japanese should appear for the JLPT exams as they help in further acquiring a career related to this language. There are five levels of this exam namely N5, N4, N3, N2 and N1. The basic level is N5 and the difficulty level starts increasing as the levels increase. The N1 level is the most difficult which needs lots of studies, concentration, hard work, efforts and sincerity. The person who wishes to appear for the N1 level needs to study for at least 12 hours every day.

The JLPT exams are held twice a year for N3, N2 and N1 levels whereas N4 and N5 levels they take place only once a year. The exams are conducted in the months of December and June every year. As the exams are round the corner one should know how to prepare for them appropriately without wasting any time. You should also decide upon the suitable method which helps you memorize the syllabus quickly and correctly.
The main sections of the exam are vocabulary, kanji, reading, grammar and listening. It is always a good habit to make a timetable and divide your studies in suitable hours. As far as vocabulary is concerned you should memorize it for 30 minutes every day. Many people follow the method of reading vocabulary before going to bed. Kanji is one of the basic and most important parts while you learn Japanese. As kanji is a pictorial script it has minute differences but is very important. This is because one minute change in a stroke changes the entire meaning of the given kanji. Therefore to remember each and every kanji thoroughly you should write them every day. Another important aspect about kanji is that you will observe many kanjis have similar or same readings but their meanings are completely different. Hence when you write the kanji you should also write its readings and meanings as many times as possible to get a good command on them.

People who learn Japanese as a foreign language should try and listen to the native Japanese conversations as frequent as possible. The Japanese people have a very different accent from what we hear from our teachers and seniors. Hence to get used to their accent and the speed you should always listen to the cassettes, CDs in which the conversations are spoken by the native Japanese people only. This practice in return will help you to understand the conversations correctly in the JLPT exams. Even if you have few tapes keep listening to them again and again. Also try and get the previous year’s JLPT exam paper and solve the chyokai section of them. This is the only way which is present to prepare for the listening section of the exams.



The last section which is the dokkai section checks the proficiency of both reading and grammar. Preparation for reading is necessary because you should be very fast and at the same time should understand the context correctly. Hence every day reading at least for 45 minutes is compulsory. You will realize that in the starting days you will take a long time to read and understand the given passage. However if you practice every day in a matter of few days you will be able to read a passage of the same length and difficulty in a very short span of time.
The best way of grammar preparation is to first understand the sentence pattern properly and then make as many examples of your own as possible. While writing the examples try using as much vocabulary you can. Also write the word in kanji wherever it should be written. Read the sentence patterns for at least an hour every day.
Get more guidelines which can help you prepare for the JLPT exam in a more organized and correct way. Best of luck to all of you for the preparation as well as for the exam.

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