The July 2012 JLPT is coming up soon on July 1st. This test is a little different than the December test in that not all institutions put the test on. But, if it is available in your area, it is great practice to take the test, even if you think you are going to fail it.
Of course that’s easy for me to say because all I have to do is take a 30 minute train ride to Kyoto University to take the test where I am. I know a lot of people that have to travel a fairly long distance to take it where they are. So, it might be best to simply save the cash and get a practice test instead.
It is important to take the test on a regular basis though so that you can get a feel for what it is like. For example, I’m taking the N1 this July even though I know I’m probably going to fail it. The main reason I’m taking it is to get more experience with the timing and the ability to actual endure the (2+ hour) test. Is it a waste money? Not really in my mind. I’ll probably learn a lot about what I need to do in order to pass in December.
Availability of the July 2012 JLPT
The July JLPT is only available in a few countries. For the full list of up to date details, please check the jlpt.jp website for a complete list of institutions that are putting on the test. This list is sometimes not completely up-to-date, but it is a good place to start.
Some interesting things to note, the only place in North America to take the July test is in Edmonton at the University of Alberta. There aren’t very many testing sites in Western Europe either, you just have the UK with London and Edinburgh and Germany with Dusseldorf and Hamburg. Eastern Europe has a few testing sites in Moscow, Poland, and Kazakhstan.
Most of Asia will administer the July 2012 test including major capitals in Southeast Asia as well as most of India. Australians will miss out, but New Zealand seems to administer the July 2012 test.
The JEES Enters the 21st Century
The day that I thought would never come, came. They are finally changing over the registration and reporting of results to an online system here in Japan. It even comes with a website that looks like it was designed and implemented in the late 90s.
It's like Web 2.0 never happened.
If you are interested in registering for the July 2012 JLPT in Japan, you can head on over to the JEES website. Click on the well-translated button labeled Acquisition of MyJLPT to start the process. You’ll then be asked whether you want to proceed in Japanese or English. I would recommend English, unless you are pretty confident of your Japanese skills because I couldn’t find a way to reverse this decision later.
After you go through the usual registration mambo jumbo, including typing your name in as ALL CAPS, they will send you an email that you must confirm with. After you confirm, they will send you an easy-to-remember random string of letters and numbers as your login ID. Currently, I couldn’t find a way to change this ID and make it usable. Maybe they’ll implement something a little better in the future.
Although, we can’t register for the July test until April 2nd here in Japan, you can still check out the awesome features that MyJLPT has to offer. One great feature is the ability to shoot off an official email with your (future) test results to an employer. This should make the verification process of an interview a lot slicker. You can also presumably check out your test results online before they come in the mail like most other folks around the world.
This new site is definitely a step forward for JEES. It is lacking a few usability features and is a bit awkward to work with, but hey, now I don’t have to buy that packet at the bookstore and then try to figure out how to pay with the Post Office ATM. It looks like you can just register with a credit card, so I can get some points, too!
Another cool thing to note is that since you can use credit card and the voucher can be printed from the online website. This is one way that you can apply for the test if you live outside of Japan, but plan on visiting around July 1st. You can apply online, print the voucher, fly in and take the test, and then enjoy Japan for a week or so.
Are you taking the July 2012 JLPT?
Are you planning on taking the test? Have you signed up with MyJLPT? Let me know in the comments below.
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The University of Alberta is my old university. I earned my East Asian Studies degree there. I remember posters for the December test when I was a student there, but I think this is the first time their offering the JLPT in July. I think it’s great: they must have had have a lot more interest in the exam over the past few years.
Yeah, I saw on the official JLPT site that this is the first time they are offering it. It’ll good for those living in North America to be able to take the test somewhere. Probably a bit far for a lot of people, but it is at least an option.
Isn’t it only possible to register with MyJLPT for people who live in Japan?
According to the instructions, overseas applicants are welcome. You can register to take the test in Japan even if you don’t live there. That’s what I understood from the instructions. You just have to use a credit card.
Registration for MyJLPT requires an address in Japan.
I stand corrected. So, no, you can’t unless you have a domestic address, but according to their FAQ a family or friend abroad would do:
https://info.jees-jlpt.jp/faq/application_procedure.html
You could also be a bit cheeky and use a Tenso address:
https://www.tenso.com/en/
hey MAC
i had some misc ques…
i barely cleared n4 in dec
i m giving n3 this july..i am studying using soumatome n3 for vocab,grammar and kanji…and also a bit of mimi kara oboeru (for grammar and listening) and chyu kara manabu(for reading and listening) in class
is this enough?
i think my reading skills are really lacking..can u recommend some resources for reading preferably free or any manga recomendations
how much vocab do u approximately need to pass n3? how much for n2?
can u consider someone who has cleared n2 to be fluent? can he understand anime and movies?
what can be considered as fluent?
btw i really love ur blog
Wow, okay these are a lot of questions, let me see if I can get to all of them.
I think you should be okay for N3 if you really study the vocabulary and be sure that you are pretty familiar with the grammar. The N3 doesn’t include a lot of inference and is still relatively ‘easy’ in the sense that you can study the grammar/vocabulary really hard and should be able to pass it.
With N2, I feel like, you really need to be good at skills. You have to have good reading and listening skills in particular. It’s mostly about speed. You need to be able to quickly comprehend what is in the reading or what is in the listening.
As for reading resources at the N3 level, I started reading a lot of native materials to help me increase my overall speed of reading. It also helps to pick up the So-Matome book as well.
Manga is usually pretty good for practicing spoken Japanese, but at the N3 level, spoken and written Japanese starts to split. You’ll need to do a lot more reading of books at this level. Unfortunately you are kind of stuck between two worlds – native materials and Japanese-learning materials. If you are up for the challenge, I would recommend picking up a self-help book of some kind meant for natives. These tend to have easier language in them and some have pictures to follow along with. If you choose to go the Japanese-learning material route, the So-matome book is okay, still a little too easy, but it will give you an idea of what to expect.
Sorry, I can’t recommend any free materials, although JapanesePod101’s advanced audio blog series is pretty good reading material. You can read the blogs without a paid subscription to the site.
There is a huge difference in what people will define as ‘fluent’. Some people say they are fluent when in reality they are probably simply ‘conversational’. The truth is that at the N2 level you will be able to read and understand the general idea of pretty much anything but technical/jargon-filled material. In order to fully understand movies, you have to study movies, and the language that is used in them – slang, shortened speech, etc… same with anime.
The idea behind the JLPT is to give you a solid base to understand the language with. You are going to have to specialize though in order to be fluent with a particular area of the language (like movies, medical documents, IT jargon), but the JLPT will at least give you the frame. All you have to do from there is plug in the few pieces that are missing.
The other day I was translating a technical document describing a piece of IT software, it was essentially for inventory control. I could understand the general idea of the document and with a few quick look ups of a few jargon words, I was able to translate it without any major issues. Is that fluent? Well, maybe, but I wouldn’t say so.
Yep, I registered to take the N4 test in India this July. The best part is I’m learning Japanese for the lulz and not for any job/degree purpose. This way I can study at my own pace and to my limits and not be worried about passing or failing. It’s a fun and non-stressed way of learning where one needn’t be worrying about the end results! But even then, I’m doing my best to put in an hour or so everyday and learn as best as I can. The registration fee is incredibly cheap in India and so even if I flunk, I needn’t worry about wasting a ton of money.
I’m halfway through the kanji list, most of the vocab done pat and a quarter way through the verbs list. Struggling with grammar, so I bought a book that summarises grammar points (in English) with a few examples in Japanese/romaji.
does anyone know about declaration of online results 4 july2012 n5
They should be available sometime in the first week of September in Japan, but they are different for each country.
july 2012 exam results was already released.. our sensei already had a copy.. i am afrraid to know the result from him that is i am looking for any site available…. please give me link…
Here in Japan you can go to:
https://info.jees-jlpt.jp/
But I think you have to have registered there before the test to use it.