JLPT n1 speed run sub 1 year

Japanese
#1

Started studying Japanese like a week before 2025. I’m at like N5 or something right now. My plan is to do 1 level of Bun-pro JLPT Grammar per month and learn the top 5k words used in doraemon because it has a lot of ep’s and the other option is one piece, which I want to understand while watching. Going to learn the words with JPDB while watching doraemon. After that im going to try and read one piece once I get comfortable read or something like that. Im going to start sentence mining light novels with anki am do this until i believe dec 7 is when it is so recap:

jan - may:
doraemon and Bun-pro grammar
jun - aug
Reading one piece and watch all doraemon movies
sep - dec
sentence mine light novels

Anyone have any ideas to improve my chances
Even though I will likely fail it will be fun to give it a try.

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#2

Give it your best and have fun! :slight_smile:

Your goal is very ambitious, but I don’t see a firm deadline for you. There is no JLPT test lined up for you and I don’t see that you plan to travel/study/work in japan next year. This is a good thing, if you realize mid-learning that your goals are changing or you want to switch up your routine you’re free to do so.

Keep in mind the only “failure” in learning japanese is to stop it completely. If you feel your motivation wane or you start getting into trouble (reviews piling up beyond the humanely possible) you have a nice and welcoming community here to help you out :slight_smile:

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#3

The other day in your slow & cozy thread homa make a comment about it only taking 30 years to do all vocab and grammar to N1 at a pace of 1 word per day and 1 grammar point per week. I made a quick spread sheet in excel, and graphed out the pace at different words/day rates. The diminishing returns curve was really interesting (to me), and it reminded me that the biggest “gain” in terms of rate of progress is going from 0-1 word per day. Infinite gains!

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#4

When I say fail I mean fail being at an N1 level in less than a year not fail Japanese and I don’t have any plans I just have like 15 hours free time a day and need some where for It to go

#5

:pray: :speaking_head:

#6

My suggestion is do all of this! :+1:
Then you can decide whether to have a try at the JLPT, and which level, by looking through some practice exam papers.
It might need some practice focused on the JLPT format of questions, which is hopefully no problem to fit in to your future schedule along the way.

N.B. For future reference, you can find practice exam papers if go to this thread and look at this post and the post above it:

#7

To be fair you can also take the N1 without ever studying japanese. speedrun challenge complete. :slight_smile:

But with only one year, sounds like you should almost exclusively study for the test, if you want a good chance to pass it. It’s just that doing that may be intensely dry. Best of luck in your studies!

#8

So according to what you have planned you expect to complete all grammar points of N1 in 4 months and then do the immersion ?
Wouldn’t it be better to immerse AND do the grammar at the same time ?

#9

You have to lock in and realize you’re built different (just like me) and can absolutely do it.
As soon as you start to feel like you can’t do it, just think of this:

It will fix your issues right away and you’ll be able to power through as if nothing happened.

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#10

You might like learning words not with jpdb srs but making your own anki deck with words you like, what, in context with anudio and image, basically sentence mining. I was doing that with listening (front of the card is image and sentence audio and I need to understand it fully too pass, including meaning of the words of course)

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When I completed n4 grammar I was able to add 80 words and this thing doesn’t bothers you with bad retention, you just have to guess meaning every time you see the card. Now I have 98% compression level of Friedan and can guess every word they say.

Also I suggest learning kanji alongside with vocab, this way you’ll be able to retain vocab. For me recalling reading and meaning at the same time is to much and retention is terrible, but if I do it separately efficiently grows hugely. Maybe you would like RTK2 for that as it has kanji sorted by groups with radicals readings.

Also, if you won’t be able to do your desired amount of words/day in isolation (if you use only word on the front) better use sentence cards. I recognised that a bit late I guess

Btw question to old members, were here on Bunpro people who already tried speedrunning and documenting the process before I found joined?

#11

Most people suggest not to learn kanji, but most people do not speedrun as well, so yes

#12

is this true? most people suggest to not learn kanji? would make it hard to progress onto reading then surely, which is (imo) one of the bets ways to improve…

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#13

By all means, study the kanji. It is a difference between being able to read and not being able to read. Even if you plateau at junior high school level (around N2), you’ll be able to read most light novels without a major issue, providing that you have a good grasp on the grammar.

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#14

It’s not so much people say don’t learn kanji at all, it’s more that kanji can be learned in context as you pick up vocabulary and that way you being to form associations with specific kanji & radicals and their implied potential meanings. It kind of makes it so even if you can’t say some words you kind of know what their flavour might be before you go looking them up

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#15

I mean “learn words instead” movement

#16

Once I asked “how many readings are there for all the joyo kanji “ on Reddit, and got like 20 out of 25 answers “learn words instead” it was so sad :disappointed:

So then I just calculated it myself

#17

I will learn kanji for words at the same time has the word so

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#18

I understand and yes tbf from my own experience I agree. its pointless sitting there trying to learn all the different readings of each kanji. much more beneficial to learn the words in context and remember the kanji that way.

I say this but i am also set on completeing wanikani as its helped me this far.

#19

Learning kanji by themselves helps you learn/guess new vocab. Learning vocab helps with remembering kanji. There is no reason to limit yourself to only one approach, it is best to tackle language learning from multiple angles. So definitely, stick with WK if you find it beneficial and fun.

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#20

Honestly, I love WaniKani for that. You can learn the kanji there while you immerse and learn common/important vocabulary elsewhere

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