JLPT 2

[RobGillon]

I am planning on taking the JLPT 2 in London this December. I feel like I have so much to do for it, but I've actually worked my way through most of the grammar and kanji you need for it... it's just the vocabulary which gets me. Does anyone have any good ways to remember vocabulary? I studying by trying to think in Japanese, trying to name all the objects around me, and to describe what I can see people doing, etc. but this doesn't help with really obscure / very situation specific words which seem to be all over the place on the JLPT 2 vocab list.

What are people's thoughts?

[Bueller_007]

I am planning on taking the JLPT 2 in London this December. I feel like I have so much to do for it, but I've actually worked my way through most of the grammar and kanji you need for it... it's just the vocabulary which gets me. Does anyone have any good ways to remember vocabulary? I studying by trying to think in Japanese, trying to name all the objects around me, and to describe what I can see people doing, etc. but this doesn't help with really obscure / very situation specific words which seem to be all over the place on the JLPT 2 vocab list.

What are people's thoughts?

I recommended it in one of the threads on the old board (which likely could have slipped past you).

The book "Kanji In Context" is the easiest way to remember kanji & vocab. EVER.
Absolutely amazing. Pick up a copy of the reference book and Workbook 1 (which covers the first 1200 kanji and the most common vocab based on each of these kanji (all that you need for the JLPT2, and a little more, "just in case")) When you go on to JLPT1, you just pick up a copy of Workbook 2, which covers the rest of the 常用漢字.

I recommended it to one of my friends and he agreed that it was simply amazing. The examples in the workbook keep reusing the kanji compounds that you've already learned, so there's no reason to go back and study them over and over--you simply won't have a chance to forget them. I think the examples that are used were actually taken from Japanese newspapers and magazines from the 90s, so they are all "real Japanese".

It's not for beginners though. You need to know all of the JLPT3 kanji to get started on it. (Which I guess would be another reason to recommend it to you: you won't have to start again at square 1 like in most kanji books.)

I can't recommend these books enough. I'm backpacking across Asia, and other than Lonely Planet, they're the only books I took with me. The workbook is perfect for reviewing the kanji compounds you already know.

One more thing you can do:
Read Hiragana Times (boring but easy) & Japanese Wikipedia (interesting but challenging). Sadly, they've stopped publishing 日本語ジャーナル, but if you can find a copy, hold on to it for dear life.

[RobGillon]

Thanks for that book, I think I shall get that one. Lucky my library has backissues of all the 日本語ジャーナル so, while I've given them a quick flick through before, I think I will give them a more serious look next time I'm in there. Thanks for the help!

[Satsujin]

Sounds like some good suggestions. I have been meaning to take JLPT2 for several years (I passed level 3 a LONG time ago) but have never felt like I was prepared especially for the Kanji. It is hard (impossible) to answer the grammar questions correctly if you can't read the kanji. Maybe buying some new text books will give me the motivation I need to actually study and get my butt in gear.

[PeteS]

I posted this in the other thread, but in case you didn't see it. You can read new issues of the Nihongo Journal for free at http://www.alc.co.jp/nj

[quixotequest]

The book "Kanji In Context" is the easiest way to remember kanji & vocab. EVER.
Absolutely amazing. Pick up a copy of the reference book and Workbook 1 (which covers the first 1200 kanji and the most common vocab based on each of these kanji (all that you need for the JLPT2, and a little more, "just in case")) When you go on to JLPT1, you just pick up a copy of Workbook 2, which covers the rest of the 常用漢字.

Can you expand on the "Kanji in Context" books? In terms of kanji I am mostly self-taught thru experience living in Japan for a couple of years and using the book "Kanji and Kana" by Wolfgang Hadamitsky (sp?). (I couple that with simple reading exercise.) I was trained in speaking--grammar and vocab--but outside of the kana we weren't well taught any of it via reading/writing kanji. In taking the example/practice JLPT tests level 3 was mostly a breeze. Level 2 was maybe 70-80% do-able and level 1 was harder--maybe 40-50%. So your recommendation sounds intriguing. I'm thinking it could turn my kanji study in a more productive direction--all contextual instead of Hadamitsky's book which is more of a reference about On-/Kun-yomis with a few vocabulary examples under each ji than a study guide.

Preparing specifically in terms of the JLPT has become important to me as a way of quantifying what I know--and learning where I can apply more effort rather than just open-ended study as I have done.

I found the books at Japan Times and also at Kinokuniya in Seattle. Wow they are expensive at Kinokuniya. They seem better priced from Japan Times but then there is the shipping that they don't provide estimates for at their website.

[tiroth2]

I always check yes-asia and amazon.co.jp. The former has a poor selection but free shipping. The latter has expensive shipping, but I've often found it is cheaper to order the big grammar texts from Japan despite the higher shipping cost.

[Bueller_007]

KiC shouldn't be so expensive. I paid about 3000 yen for the reference book, 2000 yen for workbook 1 and 1500 yen for workbook 2. I forget the exact prices, but in that range. Considering how incredibly long it will take you to work through the texts (probably talking about *years* here unless you've got an excellent memory or already know most of the kanji & vocab), it's an excellent price.

It's not so good for learning the kanji themselves. You're better off with a set of flash cards for that. But the book gives the most commonly used words for each kanji, built up systematically upon each other. It's a very effective system of reinforcement and vocab acquisition. I believe the workbook uses real phrases from newspapers, etc.

The only problem is that it's a kanji-vocab book, which means it doesn't include onomatopoeic/mimetic words. So if it's your only source of study, you'll end up being kind of crappy in that area.