purplenekoinabox

[purplenekoinabox]

Wondered why they wrote " instead of 「」 here

Apparently there aren't really any official rules and it means the same thing. But it depends on industry and usage.

I could have sworn I saw 「」 in FF7 previously so I'll need to pay closer attention.

Source:

[purplenekoinabox]

In Remake Barrett says, 「 案外ずぶてえな、おまえら」

I was trying to find out what ずぶてえ meant almost all day yesterday, dictionaries were giving results for ずぶ、 used deepl and google translate, asked a couple of people but didn't really get a satisfying or consistent answer with any explanation. Asked on r/learnjapanese, turns out it's just ずぶとい。lol

What threw me off was that I didn't know what ずぶとい meant. I never had this issue with すごい and すげえ〜 for example.

[purplenekoinabox]

しかたがない

A very important warning to those studying for the JLPT. Don't bother working on past tests older than the last 2-3 years. The format has changed! The test books on the market are much easier than the recent years so don't waste your money. Find the real tests online.

(This is if you just want/need to pass for the sake of passing, not talking about the language journey or anything)

[purplenekoinabox]

Many different ways to say you messed up

ヘマする vs ミスする

どちらもほとんど同じ意味ですが、ミスの方が間違い全般を言い表すので一般的に使われます。

ヘマという言葉は友人など親しい人の間で「うっかりしてミスをしてしまった」時によく使われる言葉です。

ドジする vs 天然

天然は、大抵自分で気付くことはあまりなく、人に言われるまで自分のやらかしたことにも気付きません。

ドジは、自分で理解しているが何事にもミスをしてしまう。ので、自分で気付く。

やらかす

大きなことをしてしまったというニュアンス。

sources:

https://ja.hinative.com/questions/13402048

https://ja.hinative.com/questions/20314671

[purplenekoinabox]

I was curious about the etymology of 'chocobo' and I have to say this is not what I was expecting

[purplenekoinabox]

差し替える

In FF7 Remake Jessie says 「爆弾の火薬ユニットを差し替える」

I thought for sure it just meant 替える but as usual, it turns out it's not as straightforward as that or they would just say 替える。-_- The meaning is close enough, but the usage definitely varies.

Source: https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/thsrs/16444/meaning/m0u/

[purplenekoinabox]

10/1/2025

A month after taking the N1 has passed. I don't plan on taking lessons this year and I won't retake the N1 this year. I know vocabulary is a huge issue for me, and I don't really think just cramming is that useful personally as I don't need a job or visa and don't live in Japan.

I continued to work through 中級を学ぼう once a week since I already have the book, it's good for easy reading and listening practice. I do ocassionally also see words that I've not seen before so it's good for learning vocabulary in context. I'll probably get the next 中級を学ぼう after I finish. I just read out loud to myself though, it's too expensive to pay for convo practice which I'm not likely to use much lol. Ironically it doesn't feel much different but it would be nice to get corrected on the free response type questions.

I beat FF7 Rebirth! But still playing to get the platinum trophy. And I know Hard mode will be a good revision of the words I learnt and forgot. I'm continuing to read The Kids Are Alright.

Something new I started doing is rewatching FF7 Remake cutscenes on youtube and looking up all the words I don't know or know the meaning and forgot the pronunciation - basically trying to read it as though it's a reading/listening JLPT question. It's going slowly but I think if I rewatch this a few times I'll have learnt all the words. I like FF7 so it's not painful :D

Getting to "fluent" really is a bloody long journey.

[purplenekoinabox]

3/12/2024

Trying to get over the fact that its highly likely I probably failed N1 despite spending the last 6 months studying for it and passing every single practice test. Saw some answers floating around online and it's not looking good esp with the scaled score thing. -_-

It's not like suddenly my Japanese abilities changed just because of the result, but I just don't do very well with failing tests lol.. and yes it IS just a test

Trying to move on, from a language learning perspective I know I need to focus on reading more actual books with no pictures vs mangas (cuz I read too much slice of life and shonen mangas) as that's where the gap in my vocabulary lies. I've finished a few light novels without trouble but I know I rely too much on inference still. -_-

Here's my book backlog for the next few months:

Final Fantasy 7 The Kids Are Alright

とんでもスキルで異世界放浪メシ (love the anime)

キノの旅 (also love the anime)

吾輩は猫である (I got some collection of 夏目漱石 works on booklive for really cheap lol)

I also made a ton of gains from reading and listening to non fiction for the N1. But it's a bit hard to find good sources for these.

[purplenekoinabox]

2/12/2024 JLPT N1 retrospective

So we've got a few months to wait until the result comes out. Before I forget I wanted to write down what I learnt over the past 6 months. Some people say it's a waste of time but actually it was not the case for me personally.

- Being lazy with kanji

I'm chinese lol, my mother tongue is chinese and I studied it for 10 years up to high school although I'm pretty awful at it. If I didn't know the pronunciation I'd just move on and not look it up. I tended to also guess meanings of words from the kanji cuz I already knew it. Studying made me look it up and although most of the time my guess was right, it wasn't always. >_> I got to keep this one up.

- Improved listening

I studied listening with N3 level textbooks with a tutor. Surprisingly getting to be comfortable with N1 content was not that difficult because I just needed to learn the pronuncuation. Forcing myself to do the audios and questions helped a lot and it's helped with playing video games.

- Improved vocabulary from reading more formal content

I didn't know a lot of these words used in formal situations as I mostly play video games lol. Sometimes I don't understand stuff 100% and just keep reading until I worked it out from context. Can't cheat as easily with the JLPT questions. The answers tend to be quite close too.

- N1 grammar IS actually used in the wild

I've had tutors who are Japanese natives, who live in and outside Japan tell me that N1 grammar is useless. For me it isn't. I actually see a lot of N1 grammar in video games and light novels. I didn't 100% know the nuances but now I do :D They focus a lot on conversation in classes but because I don't live in Japan I actually use conversation skills the least lol. It's still good practice though so not a waste of time.

[purplenekoinabox]

1/12/2024 JLPT N1 test day experience

So today was the day I took the N1! It's my first JLPT and hopefully last. I live 1h away from the JLPT test centre by car, so my husband dropped me off. Got there early and got some bubble tea from the university.

When it was time, they checked our test voucher and photo id and let us into the lecture theatre. The examiners were all only speaking in Japanese. It was a surprise since I don't live in Japan. They were giving out pencils and erasers if you didn't have one and there was a large clock on a projector screen. I was thrown off slightly because when I've been doing practice tests I use a countdown timer. Well a real clock doesn't have a countdown timer..

The other stupid thing that threw me off was that the answer sheet had 2 pages which were given out before the language knowledge and reading. It really shows how long I haven't been in the school system, cuz I thought the pencil marks would transfer to the second sheet and when it didn't, I freaked out. Then I read it closer, it was for listening.... -_- The lecture theatre which it was held in had those tiny little fold out tables that couldn't even comfortably hold the test paper opened up for reading comprehension. I had to hold my eraser the whole time lol I was terrified I would drop it.

Anyway for the test itself, I was really distracted for the language knowledge and reading section and nothing made sense. People were sooo damn loud and flipping pages and coughing and sneezing and in the last 10 minutes the examiners were talking wtf???

Vocabulary was very hard as expected with the more recent tests. Grammar was kinda hard too and as a result I ran out of time for reading comprehension and had to skim and guess 2-3 questions worth. Frankly I started to get a headache from the bright lights and stress and was running on autopilot so that's not good. -_- Listening was really quite easy, which makes sense given they seem to balance the test difficulty like this.

Overall I don't expect to get my best scores. I'd say maybe 90-110 at best, at most language knowledge 30-35, reading 30-35, listening 40.

In terms of practice test materials, it was closest to the Best Practice Tests N1 book. The other practice test materials and the real tests before 2020 are a lot easier especially for vocabulary but still worth doing to get used to the format.

I will update with the result no matter how it goes!

[purplenekoinabox]

26/11/2024 Week 19/19 (!!!)

5 days left to the N1. がんばります

Just been keeping up my daily schedule of reviewing my grammar flash cards and 1-2 reading comprehension pieces and a couple listening questions.

I finally finished shin kanzen master reading comprehension!

Spending way too much time playing FF7 Rebirth which is just how it should be :D (Actually don't think a lot of it falls specifically into N1 territory which is why I have to keep up the study routine lol.)

[purplenekoinabox]

18/11/2024 Week 18/19

Worked on the last practice test I have in stock, ゼッタイ合格 第3回。 It was a bit hard and I was feeling tired and stressed from work. -_- The listening got me a bit confused honestly

Finally, slightly over a week left. I'm still feeling kinda over it and ready to get back to just reading light novels instead of doing anki and reading comprehension questions when I wake up in the middle of the night.

Language knowledge: 41 (Vocabulary: 19/25, Grammar: 13/20)

Reading: 39

Listening: 45

Total: 124

[purplenekoinabox]

11/11/2024 Week 17/19

This week's mock test is 完全模試SUCCESS N1 第４回 which was downloaded for free online with the password from the book. The reading and language knowledge was suspiciously easier than the others, maybe it's why it was the free one lol. 5 mins to spare.

One more practice test left and 2 weeks to go! がんばります

Language knowledge: 41 (Vocabulary 17/25 Grammar 14/20)

Reading: 52 (??????!!! O.o)

Listening: 38 (felt hard this time and I was tired)

Total: 131

[purplenekoinabox]

8/11/2024

I received the test voucher yesterday. Wonder if I can actually pull this off lol. Still feeling very uneducated.

I've been playing too much FF7 Rebirth and reading The Kids Are Alright light novel which has helped me feel a lot less frustrated but I don't count it as studying because I'm not really pushing myself. I know I should study more but afraid I get more frustrated and burnt out. -_-

[purplenekoinabox]

5/11/2024 Week 16 / 19

This week's practice test is 完全模試SUCCESS N1 第三回。Some confusing questions in grammar I couldn't really figure out what it was trying to say. Like I didn't know ダイエット is not actually the same meaning in english, it actually has a second meaning of "losing weight" lol O.o I don't know how this usage hasn't come up till now.

Language knowledge: 40 (Vocabulary 19/25 Grammar 12/20 :()

Reading: 43

Listening: 43

Total: 126

3 weeks left!!! 2 more practice tests left.

Btw the kindle store sells them cheaply if anyone is reading this.

This week I also worked on the grammar and vocabulary from a past exam as well as continued with 1 reading and listening question per day from shin kanzen / speed master. Speed Master Reading is now completed!

[purplenekoinabox]

クェー！！！

[purplenekoinabox]

28/10/2024 Week 15 / 19

Did the 完全模試 SUCCESS 第二回。Found this book kinda hard cuz the answers are a bit tricky.. Didn't complete it in time with 3 questions to spare in reading.. because I suck at calculating things manually without a calculator. -_-

Still feeling burnt out from the lack of improvement and consistency despite grinding away everyday. To try to get out of this rut I've just been doing around 1-2 listening and reading questions from shin kanzen master listening/reading as well as my flashcards.

On the bright side the word ひんやり which I learnt from playing Zelda came up lol. And re-flashcarding the keigo has helped.

Language knowledge: 39 (Vocabulary 18 Grammar 12 sigh keep getting tripped over by slight differences in Grammar)

Reading: 43 (would have been 46 if I completed it in time)

Listening: 42

Total: 124