Sign-ups for July’s Japanese Language Proficiency Test open this Friday, which means the Internet has started its biannual barrage of misinformation about the exam.
It seems like whenever the JLPT is brought up, people online start parroting the bad takes that have circulated for years. I try to let most bad takes on the Internet just pass me by, but I think the JLPT takes are genuinely harmful to Japanese learners, so I want to talk about them. As someone who’s lived in Japan for six years—as someone who has both passed and failed the JLPT—here are my sassy, fiery hot takes.
First, the JLPT myths that drive me crazy:
1. N5 and N4 Don’t Matter
Who does this take help? It helps no one. It disservices everyone. Here’s why I don’t like it:
It’s Bad for Beginners
The “N5 and N4 are basically nothing” mindset encourages beginners to underestimate how much they need to learn to pass. When you’re actually preparing for the N4, you may be surprised by the quantity of knowledge you need to have under your belt.
N5 and N4 are not just “hello how are you” basic level stuff. You can’t cram for them in a night and pass. Quality-level crash course videos take 6 hours to cover the complete N5 and N4 grammar. All of N3 and N2 grammar combined do not take 6 hours to cover.
(To be clear, it takes a lot more than 6 hours to learn any of this grammar, let alone kanji and vocabulary. I’m just talking about how long it takes a teacher to explain the grammar in a video.)
It’s Bad for Upper Beginners and Intermediates
A lot of people overestimate their Japanese. I suspect there are many people who know they’re above N5 and so assume they could pass N4, but because they think it’s useless to take either of those tests, they don’t give themselves the shove they need to truly master the basics. So they stay in the “N4 1/2” range, largely because they don’t know what they don’t know, and maybe don’t want to admit—even to themselves—how much they don’t know. It’s a matter of pride, especially in communities where people belittle the N5/4 levels.
2. N3 Doesn’t Matter
The logic here is that only N2 and above will be taken seriously when job hunting, so why bother with any of the other levels?
This myth comes from people who don’t know what they’re talking about, plain and simple. Lots of jobs open up once you’re N3.
When WaniKani has company openings, they usually ask for people who are at least N5. They just want employees to have familiarity with the JLPT. Private English teachers who know some Japanese have a leg up in Japan, because those who can understand their students’ perspective are more effective teachers. Embassies, cars, tourism, programming, engineering, retail: All down my LinkedIn feed are jobs in different industries, both within Japan and outside it, that specifically list N3 in their hiring posts.
If you have lived in Japan for years and have nothing concrete to show for it language-wise, that gives employers pause. The N3, by contrast, gives you an advantage.
3. The JLPT Doesn’t Measure “Real” Japanese
Because there’s no speaking portion; because the grammar is so obscure even Japanese people don’t know it; because you met someone who passed N2 and they speak Japanese with a California accent. The justifications go on.
Listen. Listen to me.
Japanese people know JLPT grammar. Yes they do. Yes they do. This is not a super tricky exam made for geniuses, filled with content that not even native speakers have ever encountered. It might feel good to believe that, either as an excuse to avoid the JLPT or as a reason to pat yourself on the back for passing it. But it’s not accurate.
If you can’t read the content in the JLPT N2, you cannot read a Japanese newspaper article. Your favorite anime, unless it’s made for children, has lots of N1 grammar and vocab.
The JLPT contains real Japanese, and it really does evaluate your Japanese ability.
As for “it doesn’t help you with speaking”: Every time I speak, I’m using grammar I learned while studying for the JLPT. Grammar is what holds our sentences together; you cannot communicate or comprehend without it.
All levels of the JLPT have lots of stuff used daily in Japanese media and in life. That might feel reassuring or discouraging to you, but it’s true. Pinky promise.
Storytime
With those myths out of the way, I want to tell you a story. It’s a Tale of Two Japanese Learners. We’ll call them Thing 1 and Thing 2.
Thing 1 arrived in Japan in the summer of 2017. She had vague plans to take N5 in December, but everyone told her it was laughably basic, so she decided she’d be N5 by December whether she took the test or not.
She went to Japanese classes. She progressed, but not rapidly. She rarely studied outside of class; she didn’t do her homework. The Internet told her this was okay, because textbooks teach “fake” Japanese, homework is boring, and people should study Japanese through native immersion materials.
She tried studying the Internet-chic way, by watching anime and reading manga, but those materials were so far above her level that she always gave up, frustrated. She still felt like she was progressing, though; it was her general rule to learn at least one new bit of Japanese every day.
Four years passed. When people asked her what her Japanese level was, she guessed she was about N3. After all, four years had passed. How could she only be N4 after four years?
Storytime, Part II
Thing 2 arrived in Japan in the summer of 2018, a full year after Thing 1. He took the same kinds of Japanese classes as Thing 1, but he signed up to take N5 in the December after his arrival. With that as his goal, he studied diligently almost as soon as he got over his jetlag. He passed N5 after just four months in Japan, and signed up for N4 the next July.
There was no stopping him. Classes made up the minority of his Japanese study time; he spent hours and hours studying independently in cafes, studying at work, cramming as much Japanese as he could. He was doing exactly what the Internet deems uncool, “fake” Japanese: Grammar and vocab from a textbook. He went through the Minna no Nihongo series and passed N4 in July, after just 11 months of study.
He kept working hard, setting N3 as his July 2020 goal post. He sailed right past it.
He took the N2 twice and passed July 2022. In just under four years in Japan, he was N2. All of his studying paid off. He started to pivot out of teaching English, which wasn’t his passion. His Japanese was good enough for him to attend career fairs targeted toward Japanese people. He had job interviews entirely in Japanese. He emerged with a job in the city of his choice in the industry of his choice, a programmer at a Japanese company.
Back to Thing 1
Fortunately for her, Thing 1 worked in the same office as Thing 2 and saw, after a couple of years, that whatever he was doing was panning out a lot better than her haphazard approach to studying Japanese. When she asked for advice, he encouraged her to sign up for the JLPT.
She was surprised and embarrassed to take an N3 practice test and fail—after four years in Japan!
So she signed up for N4. With an impending deadline, she studied independently. She mastered those basics. And she passed. Phew.
That was just the beginning for her.
She signed up to take the N3 seven months later.
She kept studying hard, not taking any breaks. She crammed 20-50 vocabulary words a day. For eight weeks before the test, she took Japanese classes 3 times a week. She flew through the So-matome textbook series, the Try! book, the Shin Kanzen Master series. She drilled flashcards and JLPT prep questions.
As her Japanese improved, opportunities opened up: To translate recipes and brochures, to teach Japanese foodies how to cook her favorite Italian foods, to go on dates where she spoke only Japanese. She made friends and got translation opportunities by doing the exact thing that the Internet decries as a waste of time: Cramming hard with textbooks.
She passed N3. Kept studying.
Now she was reading chapter books, magazines, and newspapers, reinforcing the grammar and vocab she was studying. She could speak in keigo to her boss for the first time.
The next December, she failed N2 by one point—her listening wasn’t quite there—but passed the grammar and reading sections easily.
She went from beginner Japanese to upper intermediate in one year, because she signed up for the JLPT. Regardless of how much time she’d lived in Japan, taking the N4 was the true start of her Japanese journey.
In Conclusion
Thing 1? Me. Thing 2 is my coworker, who’s living his dreams of true assimilation in Japan.
Both of us? Made progress thanks to the JLPT. To the impending deadline of a big and serious exam, one valued by employers but also invaluable to Japanese learners for reasons far more varied than mere job hunting.
Reasons to Take the Test
I get tired of the regurgitated myths, misinformation, and pessimism. I let them hold me back for too long. I don’t want other Japanese learners to do the same.
A lot of learning Japanese is about admitting what you don’t know and learning it. For beginners: Do you mix up だんだん and どんどん? ウ and ワ, ツ and シ? The JLPT will check.
For higher level folks: All of those conjunctions, those double negatives, those little bits at the end of verbs that you ignore because you feel like you “get the gist” of Japanese? The many synonyms that you don’t know the minute differences between? The lookalike kanji and irregular readings? The JLPT tests to see if you actually know, and once you’re studying for it, you will become more mindful of how much Japanese you mentally skip over every day.
It is humbling to realize you don’t know the exact meaning of a word you encounter every day, one you’ve told yourself for months—or years—that you do know, without actually checking. Until you get good at acknowledging your weak spots, you will not master Japanese. With the JLPT looming over you, you’ll get good.
Who Doesn’t Need the JLPT?
Are there unicorns out there who can learn Japanese just by reading novels and watching TV, every moment of “study” a wonderful party of fascinating immersion? Probably. It’s a big world out there. Lots of folks.
But most of us aren’t them. And if you’re not, don’t pose as someone like that. If you really, truly want proficiency in this language, sign up for the test. Show yourself what you’re made of. You’ll be so thankful you did.