That’s kinda how I feel about the time limit too. On the other hand, I understand why the test has to be that way. They are meant for people who want to work in Japan, so they require people to be able to have native level comprehension skills, which matter if you’re in a field like Medicine were messing up could be deadly (though that might be an extreme example).
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As JLPT doesn’t test any output I think it isn’t particularly useful for working in Japan either. I use it as a means of motivation to keep studying slightly more advanced words and grammar, but really the best thing for anyone who wants to work in Japan is to drop the JLPT study and work on output. If you can express your ideas clearly and use keigo and so on, that would demonstrate a considerably higher level of skill than N1.
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Agree with this so much.
The JLPT definitely has its place and may be used to gauge someone’s overall ability roughly/quickly, but being able to output Japanese consistently on a high-level is something that is not being tested and arguably drastically more difficult than just passive understanding, since you would need to be able to use grammar patterns, vocab, 敬語 and so on with the correct nuances for the respective situation either spontaneously in conversation or more methodically and deliberately in writing.
Not trying to throw any shade whatsoever, but I’ve met people who passed the N1 but their speaking ability was, considering their JLPT level at least, severely lacking e.g., weird/stiff Japanese, wrong pitch-accent, and I’ve met people with N4 - N2 who were able to naturally and fluently communicate their thoughts and feelings while sounding great in regard to pitch-accent.
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Sure, but you guys can’t deny that having the JLPT N1 certification on your resume will give you a serious advantage over other foreigners who don’t have it, especially when a company has to sift through hundreds, if not thousands, of applications. And even more so when you also have to compete against Japanese people. Anything that makes you stand out in a good way, is worth pursuing.
I’m not completely disagreeing with you guys. Just saying that there’s merit to completing at least N2 level (though N1 is really what people should aim for) if you plan to work in Japan in any industry that calls for it. At least initially you’ll gain an advantage. After that, it’s up to your communication and writing skills (at least in terms of the language itself), of course.
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Precisely. The problem with having actual meaningful certificates is, that the jlpt isnt one. Like most japanese certificates. Thats why I find it amusing that they value the papersheets so much, when they can`t even evaluate them properly in the first place.
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Same, took N4 and the listening part destroyed me. They speak natural fluent to each other, so i guess the only difference between n4 and higher level is the pool of vocabulary they can pull from.
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To add on this, when I took the test in Norway last year it was both in English and Japanese. Now, in Japan, it was only in Japanese.
I am obviously pretty used to stuff being only told in Japanese by now, but the partly annoying part was that they did not at all try to explain it in a semi-simple N3 way, but used many specific and advanced words and grammar. Moreover, they spoke very fast (and the mic turned on and off) and long, so in order to understand anything at all I had to really focus. However, I did not want to waste energy on understanding pretty useless instructions when I was already exhausted from the test, so I basically just did not pay attention most of the time.
Judging by the majority of people who used their phones in the breaks, despite the instructor repeating tens of times that the phone needed to be shut of outside the lecture hall, most of the other N3-takers also did not pay attention to this.
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Ah, I want to add something I found pretty annoying.
Before the grammar and reading section started, there was a silence for about three to five minutes while waiting for the exact start-time to be reached, which was suddenly abrupted by the instructor semi-shouting "始めてください！！"This was so loud that I got socked, and this also happened at the end of each section when the silence was abrupted by a loud “時間です！！”, without any prior verbal or physical sign or warning. Very unnecessary to startle the test-takers with these instructions when they could have just said it calmly.
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We had the explanation of the routine for the day all in native language, and since its not part of the test itshelf, i find it fairplay to be that way. Imagine the taxidriver who drives you there starts speaking japanese with you, if you get my point. We had to put our handys at the frontdesk, and if the handy of an participant would go on or vibrate, you would be exterminated from the test.
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Yet another useless point: The listening section was accidentally started three minutes early, which made the instructor decide to rewind it and wait a minute to start it again. It was a bit unclear what happened at this time and if we had to close our tests again, but suddenly the other instructors kind of aggressively gestured everyone to close it. Somehow the test finished 4 minutes late…
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Aren’t you glad though? Imagine how much harder the JLPT test would be if they also included a writing and speaking section when it appears that a lot of us are already having trouble with the listening section 
. I don’t know what the percentage of people passing N1 is, but I’m sure that number would be significantly lower if they included those two skills as well. Personally I wouldn’t mind the speaking part as much as the writing part since I don’t plan to live in Japan, so that’s a useless skill for me.
Anyway, I’m sure part of the reason why Japanese companies value the N1 certification is because it shows dedication, and that you’re serious about working there. That’s besides the reasons I mentioned earlier (them having to sift through hundreds of resumes and picking the ones that stand out from the crowd).
EDIT: I did a quick search for the JLPT pass rate and it’s pretty low lol. People overseas seem to have a slightly higher passing rate than people in Japan, which is interesting:
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For me personally, it wouldnt benefit me much, since you would need besides a good jlpt certificate, also work in the right workfield to have a realistic chance.(As me for example, who works as waiter, I wouldnt be appreciated at most workplaces there.)The Jlpt N1 as you descibed, is so hard and get failed so often, because you get even very unusual things teached aswell, which even japanese people often don t know, and that on a very ornate language. Its just that you dont get half the language not tested.I find it a little sad to see people who go to language school courses in japan for 2 straight years, specialise to aim only for the jlpt 1, pass it, get the certificate, and get hired by a japanese company with complete broken japanese. Its not like I want to say their japanese is bad, its more that i want to say that its a complete joke in what state u can pass, if you keep in mind that it should be the highest level you can absolve. Yes, you need to require atleast jlpt 2 to get anywhere in japan if you plan something there, but thats the reason why i think, the test should improve in terms of quality in the first place.
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Just want to add a story in regarding the star questions before I forget to tell it:
I showed N2 star question example from the JLPT website to my friend’s kid and a few of their friends who happened to be over playing their Switch. There were about 3 of them and all 3 came out with different answers and I suspect the one kid that got it right really only got it right because he just guessed and chose an answer his friend didn’t.
I also showed the same question to my girlfriend, a native speaker. She got it right and I asked her to explain why and she just laughed and said “no!”
I kind of feel like that section may be just kind of weird in general.
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Just out of curiosity, how old were the kids? And was the star question about the player’s injury or is there a pool of questions in the sample test?
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They were about 中学校2年生 age and that was the exact question because the ones on that website never change.
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That sounds reasonable. I was able to figure most N3 star-questions out by myself, but I showed the most difficult ones to Japanese persons and they usually really struggled.
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Really? Almost every day, I do Zoom meetings with a Japanese friend (she helps me with my Japanese and I help her with her Spanish/English). She has no trouble with the N3 Shinkanzen Master questions, including the star ones. Personally, at least compared to the JLPT N3 test we just had, the Shinkanzen Master N3 book has much harder questions. There was only one of the star problems in the N3 test that was similar in difficulty to the Shinkanzen Master star problems. The rest were easy.
Also, there’s a YouTube video were college level Japanese people are asked N2 questions and they all got them right, except a couple guys who missed one question each. Here’s the video if anyone wants to check it out:
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I mean, I’m from America and I remember being terrible at English in JHS and high school as well. I wouldn’t doubt that kids here are probably in the same situation.
The Switch is more fun than studying the minute details of Japanese.
Or, in my case, Diablo 2 was more fun than studying the minute details of English.
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Exactly my thought on that.
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Some times I really wonder if the Shinkanzen Master publishers have some kind of deal with the JLPT people haha. Their questions always seem to be far more on point with what to expect from the JLPT than other resources. Many Youtube videos of people passing N1 highly recommend Shinkanzen too.
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