Post #3849865

@substandard@chaosfem.tw My view on JLPT is that there's no point in sitting the test until around N3 or N2 level unless it's something that motivates you. The big advantage of the system, though, is that it's graded by difficulty so you can use whatever resources you find out there and use them to structure your study. Being at the level you are (still a beginner, but having a lot of basics), you have the luxury of picking and choosing from all sorts of methods. Like, I recommended Remembering the Kanji, but that may not appeal to you at all right now. You can just do some self-contained stuff that's focused on N5-N3 and learn the most important kanji first. You can learn the full set later when it's right for you. I don't really have any recommendations for anyone at your level. There's tons of resources out there, and I'm sure most of them are equally good. I'd say to just do a variety of things. Start basic courses on any site that has them and decide for yourself what you like/dislike about each one. Or make a list of reasons why you like or are interested in Japanese or Japan and just do some searches related to them. It could be anything at all. I think you can benefit more from this sort of thing than following any specific course or method, which can get very boring or even 面倒くさい after a while. There's one thing that comes to mind, which is the idea of "extensive reading." Basically, the idea is of graded readers and that by exposure to common grammar and vocab at each level, it's easier to absorb them and become more skilled at producing them. It's difficult to find good resources like that, but someone on here recently recommended "Satori Reader" so I'd say check that out. There's a free version as well as a "pro" one: https://www.satorireader.com/ One of the things about "extensive reading," I just remembered, is that you're encouraged to discard any material that you're not finding interesting. It's kind of like the Marie Kondo thing... if it doesn't "spark joy" in some way, you probably don't need it. So that would be my advice ... just look at a wide variety of stuff and don't feel that you need to stick with anything if you lose interest in it. You should probably get to N4 or maybe N3 level without needing any particular techniques or resources. One thing you might want to do, though, is bookmark stuff you find interesting but that's beyond your current ability. Then you can come back and revisit them from time to time to see if/how your skills are improving. Feel free to DM me later if you want to ask about something. I passed N2 but it's been a while since doing any proper study. I might be able to help. Anyway, good luck and enjoy.