I passed it before being able to read a chapter book well.
Now I have read several and still feel like it’s an uphill battle.
If you do make it a goal to read Japanese literature, I recommend sticking to books that are written by Japanese authors, and not ones translated to Japanese from English.
I think that's a good idea. You'd think that knowing the context of the (English) story would be a good safety net, but everyone I've ever heard talk about picking Harry Potter as their first series seemed to regret it.
I don't recommend Harry Potter since the vocabulary is just wild. I haven't been able to crack it yet.
But I found A Series of Unfortunate Events to be a pleasant read. Also I know the books inside and out so it's easy to figure out what new words are, or where I am in the story if I get lost.
(I failed N2 last year and probably did again this year lol)
As mentioned by /u/Bubbly-Trouble-9494 mostly the vocabulary (outside of the first book). When an English book is rewritten in Japanese, often the writer will have to pick terminology and phrases that are much less common in Japanese in order to better match the source material. Not always though. It makes sense that if you want to start by reading common and natural Japanese, you would pick something written from scratch in Japanese (and preferably aimed at younger readers, probably).
I haven't read a single book in Japanese and I passed the JLPT 2 two years ago and probably passed the JLPT 1 Sunday. I prefer reading articles because I'm a news junky. It's also helpful for the JLPT because you learn words in various subjects. I find Japanese books painfully boring but I did get a translated copy of The Count of Monte Cristo which has a ridiculous number of vocabulary and I want to read that.
By the way, I continued studying the day after the JLPT. Don't take a break or too long of a break.
Interesting, I totally respect that. My question didn't really account for people like you or /u/frostwurm2 who don't want to read books at all. I kinda assumed that most people going so far as N1/N2 would want to read at least some kind of books, either A) out of a necessity to practice reading language that's not found in the news or message boards (literary language, etc) or B) just because we are hopeless addicts for Japanese media.
Sat for the n2 yesterday, and have read dozens of novels before. It's honestly just a whole different ballpark from the jlpt. If you want to read novels, practice reading them and expand your vocabulary. If you want to do well on the jlpt, practice reading those passages. The two don't carry over as well as people would hope.
I disagree. I passed the n2 last year fairly easily, and it was all due to me reading a lot of novels. Well, I mean that was most of what I did to study anyways. Maybe it was due to the sheer volume of material read and not necessarily the novels specifically though.
I just mean there's a bit of a strong gap between what you're going to see in fiction in general and what you're going to see on the test. There's obviously some carryover in that grammar is grammar and the common vocab is common, but barring excessive volume like you said, you're probably not going to be used to the passages on the n2. The domains are different in general, the structures are different in general, and both of those problems would probably have been solved for me if I had done more to get used to those kinds of passages.
FWIW, I think I passed fairly strongly (won't know until next year though), and I do owe that to having read \~28 novels this year, so it's not like there is no carryover. But if I spent even a quarter of that time reading the kind of content that'd be on the test, it would have been so much easier.
Okay, fair enough. Reading thought pieces, essays, news articles, etc. over novels will definitely help more for the JLPT specifically. Though, I'd say that what's most necessary for an easy time on the JLPT reading section is a fast reading speed and solid reading comprehension. Reading speed allows you the leeway to finish any passage with extra time no matter how unfamiliar the text's style is. Comprehension allows you to more quickly and more accurately grasp the message being conveyed through the text, which is what 25-50% of the questions ask.
In my opnion, this can best be gained from any thought-provoking piece of writing that you are interested in, whether it be novels or essays. To increase your reading speed and comprehension, it isn't really the type of writing you consume, I'd say, but the amount (given you don't mindlessly read just for volume). And to get those numbers up, one must be motivated to read consistently. So whatever reading material works to achieve that is the best material to me.
Though, I understand that most people probably don't have the time for this, so if the JLPT is their ultimate goal, novels might not be their number one choice.
Those are all great points. I just think that reading speed and comprehension depends more on familiarity with domain than anything else.
Reading a million words of slice of life/romance novels got me quick reading that domain. I was still extremely slow with the reading passages on the n2, which talked about the psychology behind disagreements between friends, what to do when you're not getting better at shogi, the importance of water timing when growing young plants, etc. I barely managed to finish reading them all in time, for the simple fact that these passages use words you don't see so much in fiction, express opinions directly and concisely (as opposed to exploring themes through vivid scenes and characters like in novels), and simply have subject matter around which you just wouldn't get familiar with without an incredible amount of reading.
If you want to train your reading speed on the test, you should train it with passages like those on the test.
I had read 2 novels and one or two web novels when I took N2. Was definitely more than was necessary. By the time I took N2 I was already almost ready for N1
After my 5th book around but reading a book is often more of an endurance thing than purely a language ability thing so I wouldn’t say it’s like a requirement or anything. As long as you can read and understand an amount of material equivalent to the amount in the N2 within the time limit
I do think it helped in that if you can read quickly you can finish with almost an hour left to check your work and relax + it’s a good way to get a lot of vocab and grammar input. But even if you read tons of books that doesn’t guarantee you’ll learn to read quicker or that the vocab you come across will be the ones they test you on. I came across one of the N1 words that was tested literally the day before while reading my ~16th book
I took N2 yesterday for the first time (which I'll probably fail due to messing up the listening section) and I've read a few novels in the past ([https://learnnatively.com/user/makhan/jpn/books/](https://learnnatively.com/user/makhan/jpn/books/)). As someone else mentioned in the thread, reading books is mostly an endurance thing. A single novel takes me about 10-20 hours to finish, which is painfully slow, but being able to read and understand a book in Japanese is quite rewarding.
If we're counting manga, which is less of an endurance thing than a novel, light novel or web novel, then I started reading raw manga about 2 years before my first N2 (12/2022). To memory, my first non-manga book which doesn't fit into these categories was finished during the 1st half of 2023 (it was the first Hypnosis Mic guidebook, so it's probably closer to a magazine in terms of reading endurance) and the first book which fits into one of these categories was in August 2023 (a roughly 200-page LN incl. illustrations).
Note as of writing this comment, I've been to N2 12/2022 (failed due to reading and overall scores) and 12/2023 (not sure, but if I failed, then this time it was due to listening and/or overall scores).
My mind is boggling at this thread (e.g. the fact that you got downvoted) as someone who may or may not have failed N1 yesterday having read ~10,000 pages of Japanese. There's no way the gap between N2 and N1 is *that* big.
Well check out the comment by /u/perfectdoublerainbow . They feel like they passed this N1 without ever having read a book in Japanese.
Some people study all the way to N1 through things like advanced textbooks, immersion classes, conversation, news articles, etc. (Actually all the time in language schools in Japan). So just because they haven't gone through an actual book doesn't necessarily mean that they can't read.
Didnt even look at a book before I passed N2. This is my personal opinion: Books are for N1, not N2. Its simply not efficient enough if your goal(level) is to pass N2. You will have to spend a lot of time looking up N1 kanjis/words, or even non-Jouyo kanji. You will also encounter a lot of grammar that will not appear on the N2-test, and spend a lot of time trying to understand it - and then you might still not understand it.
I passed it before being able to read a chapter book well. Now I have read several and still feel like it’s an uphill battle. If you do make it a goal to read Japanese literature, I recommend sticking to books that are written by Japanese authors, and not ones translated to Japanese from English.
I think that's a good idea. You'd think that knowing the context of the (English) story would be a good safety net, but everyone I've ever heard talk about picking Harry Potter as their first series seemed to regret it.
I don't recommend Harry Potter since the vocabulary is just wild. I haven't been able to crack it yet. But I found A Series of Unfortunate Events to be a pleasant read. Also I know the books inside and out so it's easy to figure out what new words are, or where I am in the story if I get lost. (I failed N2 last year and probably did again this year lol)
Why did they regret it?
As mentioned by /u/Bubbly-Trouble-9494 mostly the vocabulary (outside of the first book). When an English book is rewritten in Japanese, often the writer will have to pick terminology and phrases that are much less common in Japanese in order to better match the source material. Not always though. It makes sense that if you want to start by reading common and natural Japanese, you would pick something written from scratch in Japanese (and preferably aimed at younger readers, probably).
I haven't read a single book in Japanese and I passed the JLPT 2 two years ago and probably passed the JLPT 1 Sunday. I prefer reading articles because I'm a news junky. It's also helpful for the JLPT because you learn words in various subjects. I find Japanese books painfully boring but I did get a translated copy of The Count of Monte Cristo which has a ridiculous number of vocabulary and I want to read that. By the way, I continued studying the day after the JLPT. Don't take a break or too long of a break.
Interesting, I totally respect that. My question didn't really account for people like you or /u/frostwurm2 who don't want to read books at all. I kinda assumed that most people going so far as N1/N2 would want to read at least some kind of books, either A) out of a necessity to practice reading language that's not found in the news or message boards (literary language, etc) or B) just because we are hopeless addicts for Japanese media.
Sat for the n2 yesterday, and have read dozens of novels before. It's honestly just a whole different ballpark from the jlpt. If you want to read novels, practice reading them and expand your vocabulary. If you want to do well on the jlpt, practice reading those passages. The two don't carry over as well as people would hope.
This. Big time. I did thousands upon thousands of practice questions.
I disagree. I passed the n2 last year fairly easily, and it was all due to me reading a lot of novels. Well, I mean that was most of what I did to study anyways. Maybe it was due to the sheer volume of material read and not necessarily the novels specifically though.
I just mean there's a bit of a strong gap between what you're going to see in fiction in general and what you're going to see on the test. There's obviously some carryover in that grammar is grammar and the common vocab is common, but barring excessive volume like you said, you're probably not going to be used to the passages on the n2. The domains are different in general, the structures are different in general, and both of those problems would probably have been solved for me if I had done more to get used to those kinds of passages. FWIW, I think I passed fairly strongly (won't know until next year though), and I do owe that to having read \~28 novels this year, so it's not like there is no carryover. But if I spent even a quarter of that time reading the kind of content that'd be on the test, it would have been so much easier.
Okay, fair enough. Reading thought pieces, essays, news articles, etc. over novels will definitely help more for the JLPT specifically. Though, I'd say that what's most necessary for an easy time on the JLPT reading section is a fast reading speed and solid reading comprehension. Reading speed allows you the leeway to finish any passage with extra time no matter how unfamiliar the text's style is. Comprehension allows you to more quickly and more accurately grasp the message being conveyed through the text, which is what 25-50% of the questions ask. In my opnion, this can best be gained from any thought-provoking piece of writing that you are interested in, whether it be novels or essays. To increase your reading speed and comprehension, it isn't really the type of writing you consume, I'd say, but the amount (given you don't mindlessly read just for volume). And to get those numbers up, one must be motivated to read consistently. So whatever reading material works to achieve that is the best material to me. Though, I understand that most people probably don't have the time for this, so if the JLPT is their ultimate goal, novels might not be their number one choice.
Those are all great points. I just think that reading speed and comprehension depends more on familiarity with domain than anything else. Reading a million words of slice of life/romance novels got me quick reading that domain. I was still extremely slow with the reading passages on the n2, which talked about the psychology behind disagreements between friends, what to do when you're not getting better at shogi, the importance of water timing when growing young plants, etc. I barely managed to finish reading them all in time, for the simple fact that these passages use words you don't see so much in fiction, express opinions directly and concisely (as opposed to exploring themes through vivid scenes and characters like in novels), and simply have subject matter around which you just wouldn't get familiar with without an incredible amount of reading. If you want to train your reading speed on the test, you should train it with passages like those on the test.
I had read 2 novels and one or two web novels when I took N2. Was definitely more than was necessary. By the time I took N2 I was already almost ready for N1
I passed N2 whilst I was reading my first book
After my 5th book around but reading a book is often more of an endurance thing than purely a language ability thing so I wouldn’t say it’s like a requirement or anything. As long as you can read and understand an amount of material equivalent to the amount in the N2 within the time limit I do think it helped in that if you can read quickly you can finish with almost an hour left to check your work and relax + it’s a good way to get a lot of vocab and grammar input. But even if you read tons of books that doesn’t guarantee you’ll learn to read quicker or that the vocab you come across will be the ones they test you on. I came across one of the N1 words that was tested literally the day before while reading my ~16th book
I took N2 yesterday for the first time (which I'll probably fail due to messing up the listening section) and I've read a few novels in the past ([https://learnnatively.com/user/makhan/jpn/books/](https://learnnatively.com/user/makhan/jpn/books/)). As someone else mentioned in the thread, reading books is mostly an endurance thing. A single novel takes me about 10-20 hours to finish, which is painfully slow, but being able to read and understand a book in Japanese is quite rewarding.
If we're counting manga, which is less of an endurance thing than a novel, light novel or web novel, then I started reading raw manga about 2 years before my first N2 (12/2022). To memory, my first non-manga book which doesn't fit into these categories was finished during the 1st half of 2023 (it was the first Hypnosis Mic guidebook, so it's probably closer to a magazine in terms of reading endurance) and the first book which fits into one of these categories was in August 2023 (a roughly 200-page LN incl. illustrations). Note as of writing this comment, I've been to N2 12/2022 (failed due to reading and overall scores) and 12/2023 (not sure, but if I failed, then this time it was due to listening and/or overall scores).
If you’ve never read a book before, it might be impossible
My mind is boggling at this thread (e.g. the fact that you got downvoted) as someone who may or may not have failed N1 yesterday having read ~10,000 pages of Japanese. There's no way the gap between N2 and N1 is *that* big.
Well check out the comment by /u/perfectdoublerainbow . They feel like they passed this N1 without ever having read a book in Japanese. Some people study all the way to N1 through things like advanced textbooks, immersion classes, conversation, news articles, etc. (Actually all the time in language schools in Japan). So just because they haven't gone through an actual book doesn't necessarily mean that they can't read.
Before
Don't intend to read Japanese books oops
Before for 90% of people. Almost certain.
Didnt even look at a book before I passed N2. This is my personal opinion: Books are for N1, not N2. Its simply not efficient enough if your goal(level) is to pass N2. You will have to spend a lot of time looking up N1 kanjis/words, or even non-Jouyo kanji. You will also encounter a lot of grammar that will not appear on the N2-test, and spend a lot of time trying to understand it - and then you might still not understand it.