Hello August again. Exactly a year ago, I started learning N2. 365 days have already flown by since then, so I wanted to talk a little bit more about my experience learning N2. Hopefully it might be helpful to those starting out.
When I started N2, I still wasn’t super confident in my N3 ability, but I had reviewed all the material again and again. Looking back, I think moving forward definitely helped to solidify what I knew in N3. Do I remember every N3 word now? Of course NOT. I’m still constantly looking up kanji I can’t remember. But I think being realistic about that aspect will keep you from feeling bad about it.
Here are a list of books I used to study N2 so far.
(in order of how I started studying them, but not necessarily finished in that same order)
Textbooks
*TRY! N2
*N2単語2500
*新完全マスターN2 文法
*新完全マスターN2 読解
*一回で合格N2読解
Review Books
*にほんご500問
*日本語パワードルN2文法
*日本語パワードルN2語彙
*日本語能力試験 N2 Official Practice Test
*ゼッタイ合格日本語能力試験完全模試
Now
*新完全マスターN2読解
Online Resources
*日本語と旅
*Riki Nihongo Dayo
*日本語の森
*Koto Academy
*jlptsensei.com
*jisho.com
I think 6 months to one year is definitely enough to get you from N3 to N2 as long as you are consistently studying (meaning studying at least every couple days).
So the elephant in the room now…
I moved to Japan pretty early on in my N2 study (like about 2.5 months in). But it also meant I stopped studying regularly from Oct – Dec. It wasn’t until January that I was able to get back to a consistent study routine.
So does living in Japan help with N2?
Yes of course it does. That can’t be denied. BUT it doesn’t help as much as you would want it to IF you do not have a job that requires it or you are not a language student studying Japanese. My job doesn’t require much beyond basic Japanese, so I’m not really getting in much N2 practice at work beyond listening.
When I first came to Japan at N5 level, everything was new and I prob improved up to N4 in that short period. Plus I was taking Japanese classes at the time too. But since N2 is so heavily written material focused, I feel like daily life in Japan doesn’t use it as much as you would think it would be used.
All that said, I still think a year should be good enough to cover all the N2 material even outside of Japan.
framed in beige 