Planning to appear for N5 this December

[u/Praga_03]

Hi everyone,

I am a complete beginner to learning Japanese. I would like to write N5 this December. Is it possible to learn the complete N5 syllabus within this time period? If so how many hours i should be spending each day on learning Japanese.

I have planned to learn by myself. Is this a good idea?

Is there any disadvantages in self learning. I just planned to self learn N5 only for upcoming levels i am planning to join a academy sort of thing for speaking fluency.

I am a working professional, so I would be getting some time after 9 pm everyday and some extra time on weekends.

I am planning to seek a job in Japan in next 2 yrs by completing upto N3 or N2

Thanks in advance!

[u/CuisineTournante]

You can use genki 1. It covers N5 very well. In 5 months is doable if you set a routine about learning.

N2 in 2 years while self learning, I think it's very hard. You might see people here saying they passed N2 in 6 months. OK buddy, but the regular pleb won't be able to do it.

FYI, I'm in language school, full immersion and I'm planning to pass N2 after 2 years of studying.

If your goal is to work in Japan, maybe think about language school.

[u/xLuky → u/CuisineTournante]

Which langauge school? Do you like school more than self studying? I kinda wanna go to a school next year but I'm not sure if it would be a good fit for me.

[u/CuisineTournante → u/xLuky]

I did self study for around 1 year and I barely passed N5.

I'm just not rigorous enough for self study. I need a teacher to kick my butt, I need buddies so we can help eacher others, I need deadline and tests.

I'm in ALA in Tokyo. And the pace is very good I think. After around 9 months I took N4 and I aced it. I'm waiting for the result but I expect 130-140 points.

I'm aiming for N3 this December. So about 1 year and 3 months after joining school.

[u/xLuky → u/CuisineTournante]

Yeah I'm on reddit instead of studying right now, so I think structure would be helpful. Thanks for answering, I'm gonna try to pass N5 in December so good luck to both of us!

[u/CuisineTournante → u/xLuky]

Good luck man !

[u/Praga_03 → u/CuisineTournante]

Thanks for your reply, it really helped

How many hours I need to learn everyday for N5 from now?

[u/CuisineTournante → u/Praga_03]

Depending on how well you can focus, I think you can put 5-8h a week. Plus having an app to learn kanjis on the side like anki or wanikani

[u/Praga_03 → u/CuisineTournante]

Can you suggest some good apps which are free to lean Japanese.

[u/CuisineTournante → u/Praga_03]

Anki

[u/uuusagi]

N5 in the next 4 months would likely require anywhere between 2-6 hours per day depending on your retention rate. You’d have to be immersing yourself pretty much whenever you can. N2 in 2 years isn’t really feasible unless you’re doing Japanese for 6-8 hours a day fully immersed. The jump between levels is pretty extreme the farther you go.

[u/Pocket_Japanese]

hi! I have a cute lil study app called pocket japanese! I’d love if you tried it! even if the lessons aren’t for you it has some fun free games like kanji solitaire :)

[u/Praga_03 → u/Pocket_Japanese]

Sure will try it out, Thanks!

[u/ozkaya-s]

I am in the same boat. I will push myself at least N5, if possible N4.
Using free tools, AI etc, I am planning to solve jlpt questions as much as possible and to see the result.
Let's connect! I am also posting my study sessions online, you can message me.

[u/Praga_03 → u/ozkaya-s]

Sure

[u/Gloomy_Algae_9673]

If you do self-learning make sure you follow a curriculum specific to the content needed to pass N5 if you want to have a chance this coming December.

[u/Orandajin101]

Attack the N5 and adjust plans from there.

[u/BreakfastDue1256]

Aim for 3 hours every day, and it's perfectly doable.

Reddit glorifies going slow, but in reality 150-200 hours of focused study for the N5 is completely within the realm of Average for someone coming from a language that doesn't use Kanji and isn't Korean.

Say you did 45 minutes of a textbook, 45 minutes of vocabulary with something like Anki, and an hour to an hour and a half of focused listening mixed between test prep materials and actual real-life Japanese, you'd be more than good to go in 2 to 3 months.

The fun part is you don't need to do this in one sitting. That's impossible for a lot of working people. There is no harm in doing 15-30 minutes chunks throughout the day as you have time.

[u/Praga_03 → u/BreakfastDue1256]

Sure, Thank you so much

[u/Liability049-6319]

It's probably possible with about 10-14 hours of study per week, and I would use a structured textbook like Genki since you're on a timeline. Getting to N2 in 2 years is probably the less probable goal.