Learn Japanese As a Second Language: 

Japanese (Nihongo, 日本語) belongs to the Japonic language family. It is spoken as a first language by 122 million and as a second language by over 1 million people in Japan. It is also spoken in American Samoa, Argentina, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Germany, Guam, Mexico, Micronesia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and USA. The number of Japanese speakers worldwide is estimated at close to 123 million people.

 

Japanese is the official language of Japan. All education, media, business, and government are conducted in Japanese.

The basic vocabulary of Japanese is a mixture of native Japanese words and words borrowed from Chinese and other languages. Japanese vocabulary abounds in borrowings from other languages. Japanese borrowed extensively from Chinese when they adopted the Chinese orthography. 

The Japanese writing system can be traced back to the 4th century AD, when Chinese writing was introduced to Japan through the medium of Buddhism, as Japan adopted Chinese cultural practices and reorganized its government in accordance with the Chinese administrative structure.

Because the Chinese characters (called kanji in Japanese) could not represent all the elements of the Japanese language, two syllabaries of approximately 50 syllables each, called hiragana and katakana, were created in the 12th century. Today, Japanese is written with a mixture of kanji, hiragana, and katakana. In addition, rōmaji (Roman script) is also used.

Kanji are used to write nouns, including proper names, and stems of adjectives and verbs;

Hiragana is used to write inflectional endings for adjectives and verbs, various grammatical particles, words for which there are no kanji, and some high frequency words;

Katakana is mostly used to write loanwords;

Rōmaji is used to write Arabic numerals, international units of measurement, and acronyms. The Internet has accelerated its spread.

Different Proficiency Test for Japanese Language

NAT TEST

The Japanese Language NAT-TEST is an examination that measures the Japanese language ability of students who are not native Japanese speakers. The tests are separated by difficulty (five levels) and general ability is measured in three categories: Grammar/Vocabulary, Listening and Reading Comprehension. The format of the exam and the types of questions are equivalent to those that appear on the Japanese Language Ability Test (JLPT).

There are five levels of the Japanese Language NAT-TEST. Level 5 is the easiest followed by levels 4, 3, 2, and then level 1, which is the most difficult. The difficulty of each level corresponds to its respective level (from N5 to N1) on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT).

Levels 1 and 2 have a Language Knowledge section, which includes reading, grammar and vocabulary, a Reading Comprehension section and a Listening section. Levels 3, 4 and 5 have a Language Knowledge section, which includes kanji and vocabulary, a second Language Knowledge section with grammar and reading, and then a Listening section. On the day of the exam, it will take several hours for test takers to complete the test.

JLPT

The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) under joint organization of the Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services (previously Association of International Education, Japan) started in 1984 as a test to measure and certify the Japanese-language proficiency of those whose native language is not Japanese. In the first year the JLPT was conducted in 15 countries, and approximately 7,000 examinees took the test. Since then, the JLPT has become the largest Japanese-language test in the world, with approximately 610,000 examinees in 62 countries and areas worldwide in 2011. This success is entirely due to the support and cooperation of all involved.

A quarter century since its inception, the JLPT has been undergoing various changes in recent years. In 2009, the JLPT started to be offered twice a year in July and December, as opposed to only once a year in December previously. The year 2010 saw the introduction of the “new” JLPT, which focuses on communication abilities to meet more diverse student needs and is designed based on analysis of data collected over the years.

Today the JLPT is actively used in every corner of the world. We continue to strive for further penetration and improvement of the JLPT in order to provide a wide range of Japanese-language students in all sorts of learning environments with more and equal opportunities to take the test in coming years.

The JLPT has five levels: N1, N2, N3, N4 and N5. The easiest level is N5 and the most difficult level is N1.

N4 and N5 measure the level of understanding of basic Japanese mainly learned in class. N1and N2 measure the level of understanding of Japanese used in a broad range of scenes in actual everyday life. N3 is a bridging level between N1/N2 and N4/N5.

Linguistic competence required for the JLPT is expressed in terms of language activities, such as Reading and Listening, as shown in the table below. While not noted in the table, Language Knowledge, such as Vocabulary and Grammar, is also required for successful execution of these activities.

Level	A summary of linguistic competence required for each level
N1	The ability to understand Japanese used in a variety of circumstances. Reading One is able to read writings with logical complexity and/or abstract writings on a variety of topics, such as newspaper editorials and critiques, and comprehend both their structures and contents. One is also able to read written materials with profound contents on various topics and follow their narratives as well as understand the intent of the writers comprehensively. Listening One is able to comprehend orally presented materials such as coherent conversations, news reports, and lectures, spoken at natural speed in a broad variety of settings, and is able to follow their ideas and comprehend their contents comprehensively. One is also able to understand the details of the presented materials such as the relationships among the people involved, the logical structures, and the essential points.
N2	The ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations, and in a variety of circumstances to a certain degree. Reading One is able to read materials written clearly on a variety of topics, such as articles and commentaries in newspapers and magazines as well as simple critiques, and comprehend their contents. One is also able to read written materials on general topics and follow their narratives as well as understand the intent of the writers. Listening One is able to comprehend orally presented materials such as coherent conversations and news reports, spoken at nearly natural speed in everyday situations as well as in a variety of settings, and is able to follow their ideas and comprehend their contents. One is also able to understand the relationships among the people involved and the essential points of the presented materials.
N3	The ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations to a certain degree. Reading One is able to read and understand written materials with specific contents concerning everyday topics. One is also able to grasp summary information such as newspaper headlines. In addition, one is also able to read slightly difficult writings encountered in everyday situations and understand the main points of the content if some alternative phrases are available to aid one’s understanding. Listening One is able to listen and comprehend coherent conversations in everyday situations, spoken at near-natural speed, and is generally able to follow their contents as well as grasp the relationships among the people involved.
N4	The ability to understand basic Japanese. Reading One is able to read and understand passages on familiar daily topics written in basic vocabulary and kanji. Listening One is able to listen and comprehend conversations encountered in daily life and generally follow their contents, provided that they are spoken slowly.
N5	The ability to understand some basic Japanese. Reading One is able to read and understand typical expressions and sentences written in hiragana, katakana, and basic kanji. Listening One is able to listen and comprehend conversations about topics regularly encountered in daily life and classroom situations, and is able to pick up necessary information from short conversations spoken slowly.