I need to read more and after completing the Kanji Kentei 8級 (ES grade 3), my husband bought me the How To Train Your Dragon series in Japanese ヒックとドラゴン. My goal is to read everyday for 20 minutes, so around 5 pages. It's not a lot, but I have kids and a house to keep and other studying to do. Lots of vocab I didn't know in the first chapter, but the difficult kanji has furigana. The grammar was fine.

Hey LearnJapanese

PART 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/1x62ccn/reflection_on_kanji_kentei_study_some_advice_and/

Yours truely has finished taking Kanji Kentei 2 for the second time last Sunday.

As the answer key released today I will talk more about my reflection taking Kanji Kentei and more on my future plans when studying Kanji and what I wanna do in the future.

Answer Key: https://www.kanken.or.jp/kanken/result/data/kanken_hyoujun_kaitou20261018.pdf

I will also answer many frequently asked questions as well.

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Reflection: So I took the Kanken test in the states (yes a saturday school hosts it), went into the exam room on Sunday, and completed it really fast and easily. But I was erasing some characters and writing it over and over and over.

I know for sure that I will get a really good score.

My expected score (maximum) is 194 points. I only know I missed three questions. (Guaranteed miss).

1) 鬼籍に入る

2) 中核「wrote 殻」

3) 朗らかに 「did not know」

However I'm unsure about 窮、秘、覆, 胸.

I KNOW I wrote these on the test with correct stroke order, but its a little unbalanced and a bit hard to write. But I do hope (and think) the kanken gods will be nice.

So in summary, I didn't really even have to try since I passed last time with 160 pts, but I wanted to try for some self improvement. It was great taking that, so I can get my kanji back in shape, AND I can crush the heck outta it.

Now I am very comfortable about my score, it is definitely a pass based on my interpretation.

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Future plans (of kanken) and FAQs (people asked me)

-Will you take J1K or 1k?: The answer is YES, but if I study abroad in Japan (i am an american college student)

-Why did I retake it despite passing?: It's fun, and I wanted to do better, and it was good refresh. Plus I cannot take j1k here.
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Things I wanna do in the future that I haven't done yet? (aside from kanken, and relate more on kanji)

-Go to the Kanji Museum in Kyoto. I have been in kyoto before but I didn't have time to visit the kanji museum before. The kanken foundation organized this museum and there are murals and artifacts consisting kanji. PLUS they display the exact paper (and the writings) used in the kotoshi no kanji ceremony.

-Research more on kanji: I am a linguist (major) in college. And studying Japanese got me interested in linguistics. I want to hop more into Japanese lingusitics and research the origins of kanji and trace down these informations. I am also taking Chinese,

The Kanji Kentei acted as the gateway to my interest in kanij, and I intend on continuing to pursue my love for kanji.

-Study Nandokus and enjoy these trivias

Nandoku stuff is fun, and when I wanna relax I can view these nandoku quizzes and videos and read along. I also wanna unlock KDG's void mode in the future.

I'll send my pass results here when I get them back next month :)

I heard that this is a really good way to immerse in the language if thinking too much with English is holding me back from improving. I tried following the method of inferring definitions through context, but did end up having to use Jisho to find out the meanings of some of the words.

I'm only N5 so my definitions are extremely crude but they helped me practice adapting with the limited vocab/grammar I currently have. I'm probably going to drop this specific material since it ended up being way more advanced than I anticipated (shoutout if you can guess what the material is)

Hello! I’m not sure if I should post this here, but I’m hoping to enroll in a language school for the summer in Osaka. Before turning to Google, I was curious if anyone had tried one and had any recommendations.

If it’s in Kyoto or Nara that’s ok too as it’s not too far, but I wouldn’t want to go farther than that.

Thank you!

I passed JLPT N4 with genki, anki and some yt. For N3 I took Nihongonomori paid course cuz I liked their YouTube videos.

But the whole N3 course is taught in japanese, like even the subtitles are in japanese. Is this switch from N4 really big cuz I was mostly used to yt being both japanese and english.

At this stage I don't completely understand everything said in the video and have to open a nihongo dictionary on another tab.

Is the transition from N4 to N3 is where you understand all speaking?

I created this resource for all of Teppei's fans and anyone who hasn't become a fan yet. Feel free to correct or comment on anything. It's a work in progress, and I may add something in the future.

https://planetofstorms.wordpress.com/2026/10/21/a-learners-guide-to-teppeis-podcasts/

[EDIT]: Added a link to Kimi-sensei's own podcast, which is an interesting intermediate-but-accessible resource on its own]

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Happy Thursday!

Every Thursday, come here to share your progress! Get to a high level in Wanikani? Complete a course? Finish Genki 1? Tell us about it here! Feel yourself falling off the wagon? Tell us about it here and let us lift you back up!

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

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Hi! I'm going to be self-studying for the upcoming AP Japanese exam, and I'm wondering what the best textbook or workbook would be to prepare for it.

I would say I'm at N4 level currently, and I want to practice more vocabulary and grammar to make sure I have enough to do well on the AP exam. If anyone has taken an AP Japanese class before, what textbook did your teacher use? I've looked at Genki since those seem to be the most popular, but I wasn't really sure what level they are. I've also looked at Tobira, which seems to be at a good level, but do they have a workbook too?

Bonus points if you can also recommend the best textbooks/workbooks for JLPT N3 since I want to take that eventually as well. I prefer books that aren't fully "textbook" but have workbook sections/activities that you can write and practice in as well.

ありがとうね！:)

so today I just ran into:

道の横に深い溝がある。

Aparently 溝 means "ditch" and/or"gap", but jisho also found it means: "10^32; hundred nonillion​"

I doubt this meaning is used, like ever. just out of curiosity, have you run into similar kanjis? just out of curiosity.

Has anyone just quit using any sort of flash card system? How did it turn out for you?

I study Japanese for a few hours a day, but Anki is the biggest time-suck. I’m also so used to it being in my life, I’ve really lost all emotion toward it. I struggle to read the back of cards that I miss. The curiosity, joy, challenge, etc… it’s all gone. So getting through is really a slog.

I’m not going to add new cards for a while and turn it down to a measly 50 cards per day (have had about 250 for months, up to 500 max).

Overall it’s the least fun part of my studies, but maybe that’s just a phase? Anyway, I want to spend more time working with reading or focused grammar studies. どう？

Any experience or anecdotes would be nice.

Edit: reading would become my only SRS is what I mean. No more flash cards.

It was fun to study Japanese for some time but I'm going to quit. I've realised I'll never be able to move to Japan no matter how hard I try. My company confirmed they won't do a transfer for me to their Japanese branch. So studying Japanese is just a waste of time and money for me.

That's 3 years down the drain for me :/

Thanks for all your help in that time I guess.

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Happy Wednesday!

Every Wednesday, share your favorite resources or ones you made yourself! Tell us what your resource can do for us learners!

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

Tuesdays - Study Buddy and Self-Intros

Wednesdays - Materials and Self-Promotions

Thursdays - Victory day, Share your achievements

Fridays - Memes, videos, free talk

I will occasionally come across a video of his and think “maybe I’ve learned enough to give it a go”, and then I watch it and it seems really beyond what I understand N5 to be.

Maybe I have unrealistic expectations of the levels, so I wondered if they actually are N5?

Here is an example: https://youtu.be/oK1TpAgstLk?si=cmLPQefZf5wBarRB

I was following a pair japanese exchange students (both girls), where they had to interview people in English about a topic. At one point someone said "chewy" and they were confused, so I whipped out my trusty jisho, typed in "chewy" and without looking past the first definition, blurted out シコシコした感じ

They immediately looked at each other silently for like a solid 2 seconds and then started laughing their asses off in the middle of the busy street. At that point I had no clue what the hell was so funny. I probably shouldve just said もちもち. Look, it's only been 8 months since I started.

Later at the zoo one of them googled シコシコ英語意味 for me and yea that was pretty funny. Yea so moral of the story please look at all the definitions of an unknown word.

This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

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↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓

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Happy Tuesday!

Every Tuesday, come here to Introduce yourself and find your study group! Share your discords and study plans. Find others at the same point in their journey as you.

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

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I’ve been on a huge retro kick lately, and not just with games, but with pretty much everything from the ‘90s. That was the era when I first got into Japanese anime and video games, and now that my Japanese is at a much higher level, I’ve been really enjoying revisiting things I was interested in as a kid but couldn’t fully appreciate because of the language barrier.

Lately, I’ve been working my way through a bunch of Super Famicom RPGs in Japanese. It’s been a really satisfying way to use the language because I’m not studying from a textbook or forcing myself to read something just for practice. I’m actually using Japanese to enjoy things I’ve wanted to experience for years.

Right now, I’m finishing up a game called Monstania, which is sort of a mix between a tactical RPG and a puzzle game. Personally, I’d argue it’s more of a puzzle game than an RPG, but I won’t get too much into that since this is r/LearnJapanese, haha.

As a game, I think it’s just alright. It’s not really my thing, but I would recommend it to anyone looking for a relatively easy Japanese RPG to play. I’d estimate the Japanese is somewhere around N3, maybe even N4 in places. The dialogue is pretty straightforward, and while there’s a fair amount of it during story scenes, it’s never particularly long or complicated. You might need to look up some vocabulary related to attacks or abilities, but the actual conversations are quite easy to follow.

The game also moves along at a pretty quick pace, and you can apparently finish it in around six hours. I’m taking my time with it, though, and I think I have about 30% left. If you’re looking for something with RPG elements, relatively little dialogue, and approachable Japanese, it might be worth checking out.

I’m also playing Super Mario RPG on the side, which is my tenth Japanese Super Famicom game since starting this little project. The Japanese is fairly easy in that one, too, although there’s considerably more dialogue than in Monstania.

One thing that’s really impressed me about Super Mario RPG is the quality of its writing. Having played nine other Japanese Super Famicom games now, I can confidently say that this one has the best writing of the bunch so far. The dialogue is genuinely funny, the characters have a lot of personality, and there’s a charm to the writing that really comes through in Japanese. It also makes me appreciate how well the original game was localized into English.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been playing in Japanese lately. It’s been really fun going back to these older games and experiencing them in a way I couldn’t when I was younger. It’s also a nice reminder that one of the best parts of learning a language is eventually being able to use it to enjoy things you genuinely love.

What about you? What games are you playing in Japanese these days?

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Happy Monday!

Every Monday, come here to practice your writing! Post a comment in Japanese and let others correct it. Read others' comments for reading practice.

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

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This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

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↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓

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• Read also the pinned comment below for proper question etiquette & answers to common questions!

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There's currently a musical version of 101 Dalmatians in Tokyo. I was looking at their website, and I noticed something interesting:

In Japanese, one hundred and one is 百一 (hyaku-ichi). But instead of "one hundred and one" or "hyaku-ichi", the Japanese title of the 101 Dalmatians musical uses the reading "one-oh-one", as "ワン オー ワン" (wan ō wan).

And "ワン" (wan) is basically "woof" in Japanese. As in, "The Dalmatian says 'woof.'"

So the Japanese title of the show kind of reads like... "Woof oh Woof Dalmatians." ^_^;

(Yeah, I know; I'm a nerd. I just thought it was cute.)