JLPT N2 Study plan. Please help.

[baioslaio]

Hello.
I would like some help on building a study plan to easily pass JLPT N2.

My current ability?
Vocabulary and Kanji is a little bit above N4 and my reading ability is probably around the same. My strong point is listening and i wont need to study listening so much ( I lived in Japan for some time ).

I have 2 years until i must be able to pass the N2 test without having a chance to fail.

How do you people recommend i make my study plan? And what study tools to you recommend me to buy?

How much should i study every day? One hour or two?

[kageri]

@baioslaio:

thats interesting, I'm also aiming for JLPT2 in about 2 years and my current level is propably around yours. Apart from listening, I haven't been in japan, but it's said that in the new jlpt the listening part got easier and the vocabulary and kanji part got harder.

however, I'm also trying to make a good study plan. I already own a lot of books but not all of them are as useful as I thought.

I think I found a good way for kanji. I'm not the Heisig type, so I had to found another way and after testing around I'm working with the
"Basic Kanji Books" right now. Its more repetition at the moment because I already know most kanji, but you have to work more actively with those kanji, so you won't forget them and the words they are used in. After this I go with the "Intermediate Kanji Books" with builds up most of the kanji needed for JLPT2. About half a year before the test I'll probably use "Kanzen Master" for JLPT2.

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Kanji-Book- ... 850&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Kanji-Book- ... pd_sim_b_1
http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-Kanj ... 824&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-Kanj ... 4893584898
http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Preparation ... 117&sr=1-6

it's much cheaper if you buy them in japan And I'd wait with Kanzen Master, because I heard they are bringing up a revised version next year.

for vocabulary:
I don't want to learn stupid jlpt vocabulary lists yet, maybe I'll do it before the test and learn what I missed.
I can recommend the Core 2000 and Core 6000 series on smart.fm. Apart from this I'm just learning whats coming up (in the Jpod101 lessons or other media). I have no masterplan here^^

for grammar:
thats pretty difficult.
I have the series "dictionary of basic/intermediate/advanced grammar" and it's pretty good, but I didn't find the right way to plan the grammar learning right now. At the moment I'm just looking up different phenomens. I'm thinking about going through those books from the beginning to the end, but I'm a bit sceptic, because it's in alphabetical order. maybe someone has a good way here. in a later phase I'll buy the Kanzen Master grammar book but it's not my level yet.

for reading:
well, the only thing you can do is read as much as possible, I guess there is no plan here^^

BTW: the jpod101 jlpt series here is pretty useful, there are a lot of good hints. I hope they'll continuing it.

all in all, I try not to stick to close to those jlpt lists and sites, because it's building up a passive knowledge in my opinion. although I want to pass the jlpt it's more important for me that I learn japanese

for the study time: I use as much as I can spend. Thats about 1 hour up to 4 hours a day, but I'm not only learning, I also do fun stuff like (trying to) read a manga or a website, watching drama or anime etc. this keeps me motivated.

[baioslaio]

Thanks for your reply, i really appreciate it I will check out thoose books and since i am in Japan right now i will be able to buy them cheap, yay!

I was thinking a little bit about kanji. How should i study them? How does this sound?
Study 10kanjis per day and then repeat ( This means i will repeat every 80 day - 9 times in 2 years ).


EDIT:
By the way
I like to just write out loads of kanji and words but i have one problem.
Im currently using my dictionary to look up words that uses the kanji i want to study but there are so many words that are not useful at all.
I would mainly like to buy a Kanji book for the purpose of getting a small list for every kanji of useful words that i should learn.
Do you understand?

[kageri]

I study 20 kanji/week at the moment, but thats because the kanji are not so hard and I already know a lot. when I get to "intermediate kanji book" I intend to study 10 kanji per week. 10 kanji per day would be too much for me, I probably would forget a lot of them after a month or so. but maybe you will be fine if you learn more, everyone is a different learner^^
Do you put your kanji in ANKI? this will probably do the repetition job for you. but I use flashcards because I dont want to sit in front of a computer so much.
When you use the Kanji books I recommended, they will repeat kanji you learned in former lessons during the exercises. The kanjiwords you learn get more and more useful, only the words in the beginning are not so useful (because you dont know enough kanji then).

I also like to write them out, I use Kakitori-kun on my Nintendo DS for this. And I write them on paper as well. Expecially if I forgot a kanji I write it quite a few times. I also have a kanji dictionary which has a small list of words for each kanji. But thats in german only. Maybe the The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary is like this, but I can't tell since I've never owned it. since you are in japan you can check it out easily.

if you find some other good methods, for kanji, grammar, vocab etc. let me know
hope we booth can go for jlpt2 in 2 years

[baioslaio]

It was just a theory, i really dont know what way is best for me yet
If you study 10 new kanjis you will definitly forget them easily in the beginning but since you will repeat that process 9 times i thought it was good. I think its better for the long term memory if you do it this way ( repeat the same 10 kanjis per every 80 days ) .
If you study like 35-40 Kanjis in a month you wont forget them that easily but i dont know if they stick into your long term memory?

My biggest question is
35-40 kanjis a month ( no repetition ) VS 10 kanjis per dag ( around 9 repetitions )
Do you understand me?

I dont really like Anki ;/ I really hate to use the computer as a study tool.
I prefer using pen and paper.


I will



EDIT:
How does the books order the Kanji?
By stroke orders or how often they are used? or how?

[Javizy]

I'm tempted to recommend Heisig, but that would go beyond your aim of simply learning the required amount for N2. That doesn't mean settling for such an unproductive approach though.

I'd recommend posting on this forum http://forum.koohii.com/ It's a great community for studying Japanese, and people experiment with all sorts of study methods and share their advice and resources. There's talk about RTK Lite - Heisig's method, but only with the 1000 most common kanji (same as N2). You could get through that in a matter of weeks, and then move on to Core 6000 or Kanji Odyssey 2001 or something. These are premade flashcards using an SRS review system that contain native speaker audio.

Since you're setting out a plan for the next two years, I'd really recommend reading around a bit before you jump into anything. You seem motivated, so your goal is very achievable with the right approach. You might even be a to go one step beyond. Anyway, I'm sure you'll get some much more detailed responses at Koohii. Give it a try

[kageri]

here is a free sample of Heisigs RTK with the first 200 kanji, this should be enough to find out if this method fits for you:

http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications ... sample.pdf

I guess it's 50:50 between Heisig lovers and Heisig haters. For me it just doesn't work... I tested it and it didn't convince me.

baioslaio, in my opinion, if you repeat the kanji every 80 days the period is too long. The kanji will be completely forgotten and you have to learn it anew. At least I made this experience. I repeat them more often.

so you'll have to repeat, even if you learn 35-40 kanjis a month.

but just test it out how much you can learn and keep

the kanji books order the kanji by how often they are used and a bit by the radicals - at least for the first volume I'm working with right now.

[baioslaio]

I dont really like Heisig and the RTK I like to learn both the ON and KUN and some words with it.

Kageri, how do you recommend me to plan my Kanji studying? It takes a very long time to repeat all the N2 kanji :/

[Javizy]

80 days is definitely too long. I think you should be aiming to review a new piece of information within a few days. Your memories only last a set period, and need "renewing" before they expire so that they can strengthen and last longer.

It's also important to keep your reviews as simple as possible to make memorisation efficient. Like when you learn 6 x 6 = 36, you want to learn that みず or スイ泳 = 水. You remember or you forget, you're right or you're wrong, and you decide when to review next accordingly. It also takes next to no time, and allows you to push on and learn much more than 2-3 kanji per day.

If you're reviewing something like 'water = 水、みず、スイ、洪水、水準、水っぽい', you're actually trying to remember six things at once (more if you consider 洪, 準, and the meanings/uses/accent of the words), and this is just a simple kanji. This is probably why Heisig saw no problem in isolating the writing aspect of kanji in his book, and why people finish it so fast. Personally, I'd omit the readings, since they're included in the words, and review the words separately as vocabulary, not kanji.

As for Anki, it just takes care of arranging and sequencing your reviews for you. It doesn't dictate how to learn or review, just when. I'd always recommend having a pen and paper handy when reviewing kanji writing. I just have my iPod touch by the side telling me which ones need doing. You could even include some of your example words, mnemonics, animated stroke order diagrams etc as part of the process.

[baioslaio]

I see.
Thanks for your reply, its really helpful.

What do you think of going by the Japanese school grade kanjis? If you ask why, its because i really love the school textbooks you can buy hear in Japan.
What school grade equals JLPT2?

[baioslaio]

Ok, so after some thinking i decided to drop my 小学校 books since i spent so much time looking up the words.
Ive now ordered Basic Kanji Book 1 part one and two. Im going to go through them from the start even if i know the kanjis.

How much time to you think i should spend on repeating?
Repeating new kanjis every day for a week and then having a repeat day once a week when i repeat everything from the start. How does that sound?

Also one thing id like to recommend for grammer is "Taekim's guide to learning japanese" i think it has some really good explanation and its free. There is also an ipod touch/iphone app if you have one

[baioslaio]

Ok. So i did some research and i got really convinced to use Anki. Ive now bought the app "iAnki" for my ipod touch

[David123456]

Re. Heisig. I love it and I would hazard a guess that the reason some people don't is because some
of his imaginary tools are a bit lame, having been designed in the 1970s not to offend anyone.

There's no reason to be limited by that. Print out a list of the general educational kanji, and the radicals,
and make your own associations. Make them horrific, obscene, or based on football teams or rare aquatic
animals if that's what you're into!

There's no way I would have ever tried to read Japanese if not for Heisig's book one (and I did live in Japan). Book two
personally I found less helpful. But I do think that most people are in fact using this method when they learn to read
Japanese, (or any another language!), and' Remembering the Kanji' just shows how to make that process more systematic
for Japanese.