About the JLPT

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)is held the first Sunday of December in several locations throughout the world. the Japanese foundation of LA’s site explains how to apply (which they simply say “contact the host institution”). If you apply in Japan there is an application that needs to be sent in with a passport photo. The cost is around $50-$60(US).

There are 4 levels of the JLPT test. Level 4 being the easiest and Level 1 being the most difficult. In Japan to be considered for a business job, you usually have to have level 2 or higher. Though, occasionally there are some Level 3 jobs. For Teaching English, you don’t usually need any Japanese language Skills.

The breakdown of the test goes like this:

To pass the tests you need a score of 60% or better on Level 2-4, and a score of 70% or better on Level 1.

How Many Kanji is that again?

Level 1 2,000 kanji
Level 2 1,000 kanji
Level 3 300 kanji
Level 4 100 kanji

Yes, that is a lot……. but a lot of the Kanji are combinations of 2 or more core Kanji so you can guess a few you struggle with.

Credits

Thanks to Rob and Ted for creating and maintaining such a great site, simple but very effective

1st is “tanabatta” which is japanese for start festival. It happens on the 7th July every year, old story about lovers meeting once a year etc etc…

In japanese it looks like this 七夕 or 　たなばた。　七 is kanji for the number 7 and 夕 is kanji for evening, so roughly translates to 7th evening.

2nd is momi, which is japanese for fir wood.

In Japanese it looks like this, モミ or おみ. you can add two of them together to get momimomi, もみもみ　which can ask you best japanese friend what it means as homework.

Happy Learning, and dont forget to drop by http://www.japanesepod101.com/

cheers

Paul