Hello! I was wondering for how long you guys studied Japanese before you passed the various JLPT-levels? Obviously it will differ a lot from person to person, since some people study intensively, and other people go at a slower pace, but I was just trying to get a mental image of some averages.
In my case I haven never taken the N5, but I passed the N4 after 7 - 8 months of studying, and the N3 after 1 year and 1 - 2 months. Now I am debating how much time I need before I sign up for the N2, I haven't decided if I should try to go for it next summer, or wait a little over a year.
Pretty much the same for me, though I haven't taken N5 or N4, did N3 second year of uni (classes starting in October) so a year and 2 months. Going for N2 this winter ... I'd feel more comfortable with the summer, but we don't get the summer exams here.
It's probably worth a shot. I passed the N2 on my second try about 2.5 years after starting to study. I always find that if I sign up, I study harder and have more incentive since I just spent like 8,000 yen to do it, hah.
I didn't take any of the JLPTs until I moved to Japan - I got challenged to take the old 2級 by my neighbor, who said he'd do better than I (we were study rivals... and I did "beat" him haha)... so I guess I'd been taking Japanese 7 years at that point? Took and passed the old 1級 a year and a half after that, and the new one 2 years after that ^.^V
On and off for a while as a hobby, maybe 4 months of hardcore studying for the old 3kyuu. Another year of hardcore studying for the old 2kyuu (got the exact amount of points to pass!) If I take N1 this summer, it'll be 2.5 years. I haven't been as diligent as I should have been about studying for the past few months though.
I studied a couple of weeks for N4. N3 I studied a lot more, about a month and a bit. I live in Japan and work using Japanese, it is the kanji, reading comprehension that's hard.
This thread makes me feel so dumb. I've been learning Japanese for four years now (if I count the one semester's paper I took - and failed - before moving to Japan), and when I took N5 at the end of 2010, it was almost three years. People saying they've done N4-N2 after less than three years study... well, it doesn't instill confidence in those who simply can't push forward that fast. :(
It's true that we all move at our own pace. I'd like to think that I can get N4 at the point I'm at right now, but comparing myself to others, I always find that everyone else learns Japanese a lot faster than I could ever imagine doing myself. Four years of beating my head against a brick wall, but I refuse to give up, no matter how many headaches I have by the end of the day. :)
Self-study isn't the most exciting method of gaining Japanese skills, but when you have no other choice, you grab at what you can take and force yourself to overcome the lack of enjoyment. The JLPTs are a good aim. But the road to each one is fraught with many tears of frustration. ;)
I have never really formally studied Japanese beyond being able to do a simple self-introduction, but with that basic knowledge I was able to mix enough Japanese together to be understood by my Japanese friends who then gave me new words that I could use and I just passed N2 easily, going for N1 this year. Most of the kanji I know I learned from my friends' texts and at karaoke :)
Sure, everyone has a different way and pace of learning but as long as you're motivated and intereseted in what you're studying, you'll get there.
