Alright, I get it. I wasn't trying to translate from English to Japanese, just wondering how to mention the pronouns in that form of sentences.

Hi people...I'm planning to take JLPT next year, I learned Japanese back in uni (degree time) for two years but only hiragana and katakana. Haven't touched kanji yet. After about 2 years of not touching japanese, I'm aiming to continue now. My reading is still quite slow but I'll push myself within the next few months to recognize faster. I watch a lot of dramas, anime and so basic everyday japanese should be fine for me.

May I know when is the exam usually held each year? I saw at the official site, July and December? So only twice a year?

I'm planning to skip N5 actually, and straight to N4. Anyone knows if the kanji in N4 is a lot? I kinda regretted not being chinese ed now lol...but it's okay, I'll just have to start from scratch.

thank you for the info and advice!

As for me, I was exposed to J-pop/drama about more than 10 yrs ago (primary school). But drg secondary school, I didn't follow much, kinda stopped and then end of form 5 I discovered my fav j-band and so I began listening to Jpop, watch anime and dramas till now. I love their culture, like...a lot. It's just something that draws me towards them, I can't explain what. 

I'm planning to go kinokuniya this weekend to get some books for practice/study. However, when I surveyed last week, I saw quite a few choices so I didn't know which to choose. Any recommendations for the books that you guys used? especially for N5/N4 level?

Saw your thread and so you worked in Japan before? This will be bit out of topic so I'll spoiler it.

I actually like the whole separating garbage system, saw that a lot in dramas. Thought it'd be nice to have it implemented here but realized it's just not possible for our country yet.  That's nice if your company paid everything. I'm currently still studying, probably another 2 years maximum to finish post-grad. And since I'm in research field, it's prob tough for me to find job there, even if I wanted to, unless, if I can find a company that has collaboration perhaps with Japan research centers.

That aside, may i know if there's writing required in the tests? I saw at the website that oral/conversation and composition are not included...so does that mean, the reading and listening is for us to choose the answers from multiple answers and select the right one? Sorta like our ABCD? Are we required to write sentences?

Haha lots of options there but still tough    I know one of the most common job for gaijins is to teach English in japanese schools/institutions. I guess for me, I'll just graduate uni first and take a graduation trip to Japan, hopefully 2014 or 2015. Then from there, I'll find a job here, preferably a research company with some ties there. I'll see how it goes.

i was drawn to IDOLS.

Heres the first video which really got me into it:-



and then I watched this:-



and followed by this:-



and lastly i got to know about this group, Morning Musume

*this was the generation I started with, now much graduations has passed and only one person from that picture is left*



and their hit song was:-



and that was late 2009.. in 2010 I joined this forum called Hello!Online which centers on idols especially MM.

http://www.hello-online.org/

and my fandom grew larger. I began mixing with foreigners, talking about idols, videos, official member blogs etc.

Early 2010, my interest in nihongo grew larger, due to the drive of one day, I would speak to my favorite member. so i googled much resources, started with random youtube videos and grammar wise improved thru this website:-

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete

I had no one to practice my nihongo with, so i often watch a lot of videos to get a hang of their accent, their style, etc. (well, when nobodys around, I find myself talking alone in japanese like an idiot.)

mid 2010, i decided that with the nihongo i have, I would start translating my favorite members blog.

heres one of her original entries:-

http://ameblo.jp/takahashiai-blog/archive67-201109.html#main

and my translated version:-

http://ameblo.jp/kaitodoraemon/archive1-201109.html

and it goes on and on. Yeah, the first time i started it it was way back when i was still a noob. many people said my trans work was shit. but i didnt care. i just kept translating.

around end of 3rd quarter 2010, i joined a japanese club of my uni, with the hopes to receive some japanese transfer students, and we did. during puasa for 3 weeks. there were about 15 beautiful and cute japanese girls, and i polished my japanese there and then.

following them, many other came as well for a field trip so from there i got the opportunity. heh, even one of them told me directly that my japanese sounded weird, my face turned red, but in the end i just brushed it off. cudnt care much.

So one day it was announced that she was to host this radio show. and i decided id send her a letter nearing the end of the year. and guess what, she picked my letter and read it on the radio show:-



and that was the peak of my fandom. closest ever contact i could ever reach for with an idol.

however, come january next year, a painful news, she announced her graduation from the group and i was heartbroken. but her graduation was on september, so i saved up for that trip and actually flew to japan to watch her graduation concert,



so, trip ended, made lots of japanese and foreign fans, connected together by the same interest. it was a wholesome experience.

so at that point of time, I was pretty much comfortable with my japanese. i could hold a decent conversation with japanese. Often my topic would always be if they knew about the group Morning Musume and if they knew my favorite member. most of them would say yes and from there on we could talk about it.

well.. its a long story.. but i think would suffice how i got into the nihongo thing and how i improved.

damnn sonn, japanese speech contest! u must be a master oh well, those female-only expression thing, had a japanese girl to tell me that i use too many of those I really wanted to bury myself when i heard that lol. but now im a bit more careful.

thanks for the heads up 

to me, JLPT benefits only when ur looking for a job in japan. Or to become a translator etc.

if we just have japanese frens that we wanna talk to, i think any form of japanese learning would suffice.

Got many colleagues taking JLPT, but still cant speak 

4. playing visual novels.

Me, I'm a weird case.  On a hand I've just finished Minna no Nihongo Book 1, which is roughly the standard of JLPT N5. But my kanji goes far beyond that, I can recognise, write and speak most kanji up to N3 level, probly due to the fact I'm chinese, and I'm a hardcore enough otaku to find song lyrics of animes and study them real hard lol. But then I realise that JLPT doesn't really make you that good in Japanese, at least not in the early stages since I'm having weird questions pop up here and then when I'm studying, hence I realised I need more reading if I seriously want to be good in Japanese. There's this newspapers articles published for kids in Japan, and what I do is to get hold of them and read them through word by word, trying to understand the grammar and looking up words I don't know. This is quite effective and less tiring compared to reading LNs (although I do read LN at the same time). I want to be up to a level where and I can converse naturally in Japanese, not just passing a damn test which doesn't really proof anything. Long way to go yet, but I won't give up.

Babbling and muttering stuff in Japanese could help you a bit. I guess...
Or try to find someone who is Japanese or a Malaysian who can speak the language naturally.
Also, mixing yourself with people at Japanese clubs and societies here could help, maybe...

Man...I'm jealous of you Chinese-educated people, much easier in learning kanji. This is probably the only time and moment I regretted not learning some Chinese back in my school days (even my sis went for tuition for a bit). So I gotta study Kanji from scratch now. So far, I can only write up to 80 kanji. Still tonnes more to cover.
T__T

And I find my listening better because I've been watching dramas/anime for the past 10 yrs, but reading is still slow  So I'm training now.

n1 is the most powerful level.
the least powerful is n5.

Can someone tell me about JLPT levels? Is that level 1 the highest or level 10 the highest? And what is the lowest level?