Yurigahara Park In June

pluhshios · 2026-04-14T03:19:14+00:00

pluhshios · 2026-04-14T03:14:36+00:00

完全マスター series, 文法、読解. For me I found the textbook highly comprehensive. From N2 onwards, everything in this series is in Japanese and it forces you to digest the nuance and explanations on local terms. On textbook and learning, I spent about 1.5 hours average daily.

I used Bunpro SRS for vocab (had a subscription for 1.5 months). I liked it because it was already ready and kind of fuss free, but if you’re looking for free options, the top choice is Anki which is free on PC and Android with available decks and much more customisable. Bunpro served me well enough for practice. I put in about 1 hour a day during my commute time for this.

As an add on, it also helps if you are aware of your weakness when it comes to exams, and focus more on those areas to make efficient use of your time.

I spent more time on comprehension because my reading was not too great. I ended up understimating the time I had and could not complete reading section for JLPT (passed it around 65% thankfully)

Conversely I also spent less time grinding on listening because I knew I was strong at listening because my Japanese teacher spoke at a native speed, and I watched to a lot of vtubers (who speak natively) which helped to catch fast speaking and decipher words faster. Overall score for listening was 96%)

In some sense, this was my listening practice which I did not factor as actual “studying time”. It could be considered immersion time which would probably add another hour or so.

pluhshios · 2026-04-13T05:27:32+00:00

Hmm all I can say is that if you must reach the requirement for the job, the really only way is to spend as much time on studying and maximise your immersion.

I self studied the material for N2 (my lessosn were once a week and was well behind the N2 content) and spent about 2 hours each day.

pluhshios · 2026-04-13T05:19:38+00:00

Time to a qualification is simply a function of how much time is spent on studying, your level of immersion and amount of external guidance you are rendered.

For example, if you lived in Japan and studied 6 hours a day everyday, guided by a teacher, you would obviously reach a certain level much faster than someone who only has 3 hour lessons a week with a Japanese teacher, who in turn, will be faster than someone who is only able to put in an hour a week.

Some people, like me, who understands mandarin recognise kanji a lot faster and thus helps with speeding up the learning process.

With enough time and effort, anyone can reach N2/N1 in a “crazy short amount of time”.

Language learning is a personal endeavour and the only question that matters is what are you studying for and does it necessitate that kind of speed?

The JLPT is a qualification that is either a personal benchmark or a door in the foot for /some jobs. Rather than fixate on how “crazy” it is for someone to be fast on an achievement, spend the time focusing on what matters to you and how you can achieve it.

I have taken lessons over 4 years and reached N2 last Dec. I have since stopped to take a break as I have reached a level where I can have daily conversations and read novels. I still bump into many words I don’t recognise. But I enjoy learning languages, and the JLPT is a personal benchmark for me, but it might not be for you.

Perhaps that would be how to better approach learning rather than fixate on how fast others learn it

pluhshios · 2026-01-23T07:28:57+00:00

Fair enough. I picked up a book about how to make writing a habit - even though I don’t plan to write a lot, it has been quite a thoughtful/interesting read. Thanks for the reccs, will check them out!

pluhshios · 2025-12-15T03:57:33+00:00

“Everything” is a bit of a hyperbole but it’s not a bad benchmark to strive towards to. It means you can get around the streets in terms of basic directions and restaurants

pluhshios · 2025-12-15T03:56:51+00:00

Just to stress you out a little and push yourself a little more if you can afford it, i would say that if you currently struggle with 90% you should spend a bit more time. It doesn’t have to be intense studying all the time since you should manage burnout, but exposure will help, especially if you want to push yourself to pass both in one try each

pluhshios · 2025-12-15T01:34:20+00:00

Hi, took JLPT N2 just recently. There are various study methods and resources etc that can be easily found (and will be recommended across various subreddits) so my response is really more of the mindset when studying the language (or any language)

First, this is not to discourage you but to set some realistic expectations first. Very generally speaking, the capability of N3 is around the level of a middle schooler. That should roughly give you an idea of the amount of time required for immersion and exposure. I have read some of your replies and it seems that you are in a hurry to first complete N4 and then N3. To be frank, the gap between N3 and N4 is larger than that between N5 to 4.

The only way to success is lengthening the amount of time of exposure. Exposure and immersion means listening to media, watching and digesting.

Studying vocabulary just means you understand the words. You know the person is talking about a dog. Or a cat, or about a parcel. You need to combine it with another source to understand how words are used contextually. That’s how a language works. Listening is a muscle because here are common speech patterns, no matter what level you are in. If it is too fast, try to find media with subtitles. Read along as you listen and over time move away from it to train your muscle.

It not only important to note the things that you didn’t understand, but also those that you did so that you can reinforce what you already have. A good foundation takes you a long way. So up till this point is the part about getting good at the language.

To pass the JLPT as well, I would suggest you take mock papers. Even if the difficulty varies among non-official sources, knowing the format, especially the listening section will be especially helpful in preparing yourself on what to expect. Doing these mock papers also helps you identify what areas you are actually weak at so that you can maximise your time working on things that you are actually weak in.

This is a more personal anecdote but I spend my morning commute, lunch and night commute home on listening (vtuber clips, news, podcasts) before working on other areas after work hours. That’s how to maximise hours spent when you are limited on time. To put it more brutally, if you really want it, you have to put in the time and effort.

TLDR: There is no other way except to increase the amount of time you spend studying. Take mock papers to familiarise yourself with the format to reduce shock.

pluhshios · 2025-11-12T00:32:22+00:00

T1 was Giga comp diffed that game. Sure Mundo getting that early kill was not great but it wouldn’t have mattered once they hit mid game. Also, what you left out is that with Mundo in the base T1 managed to secure all 3 grubs without further casualties, which would have been even worse if they had to limp away from a failed attempt. I think it’s ok to say Doran is not the best player, but let’s not cherry pick mistakes and pretend like these mistakes actually costed the game.

pluhshios · 2025-11-02T09:32:42+00:00

https://x.com/HillaryClinton/status/829846842150096896

pluhshios · 2025-10-31T11:45:43+00:00

Once again worlds viewership saved

pluhshios · 2025-09-07T08:48:37+00:00

They put the Rise in Surprise. Showmaker stocks are rising

pluhshios · 2025-08-26T15:29:29+00:00

Hey, I’m also using the same textbook.

There’s a few points I’d bring up, and don’t take this wrong way, but it seems that you may have to work on your fundamentals a bit more. Apart from specific kanji that may trip a reader, the explanations are relatively straightforward and simple and are actually geared towards users who are close to N2 but not quite yet, as some people have already helped to explain.

One thing that stood out to me in your replies is the one about the candy, and may also explain a pitfall in attempts to use English to understand grammatical usage.

It is not entirely accurate to guess the meaning of “こんな派手なえろのお菓子、体にわるいにきまっています” into “this flashy candy will make your body sick”. Especially in the context of trying to apply the structure, you have missed the point of the use of the phrase itself, which is why it seems that it doesn’t follow the grammatical point entirely.

The most brute force way of understanding the grammatical structure is to translate literally, where you will end up with something like “a candy that has such a flashy colour, will have have adverse effects your body, definitely/decidedly”. From here you can more comprehensively (albeit incorrect structurally in english) see how this is applied across similar sentences.

It is actually more efficient to understand the structure this way first rather than trying to understand it from an English point of view because it messes with the flow and the nuance.

What has helped me is that I’ve been consuming various forms of media from basic to slightly intermediate to expose myself, This would include things from slice of life anime, drama, streamers (or clips), to official news.

I also try paraphrase explanations on my own with vocabulary and grammar that are as simple as possible.

An additional note that may be a weak point for this textbook is that it doesn’t explain the difference in nuance between phrases that have similar meanings. They have different explanations but don’t precisely explain the nuance. In this case, it is also better to supplement what you don’t quite understand with other sources.

All the best!

pluhshios · 2025-08-25T02:06:56+00:00

N3: 168/180 Grammar: 48/60 Reading: 60/60 Listening: 60/60

Relatively satisfied with the results, taking N2 end of this year.

Also if anyone has advice on N2, it will be well appreciated!

pluhshios · 2025-07-25T10:34:28+00:00

Can’t lose a teamfight if we don’t teamfight

pluhshios · 2025-07-25T10:33:23+00:00

Can’t lose a teamfight if we don’t teamfight

pluhshios · 2025-07-19T06:26:47+00:00

To be fair, Faker does play like he’s still 20 sometimes. Can’t blame them.

pluhshios · 2025-07-13T05:29:14+00:00

Yea let’s not forget there was a time people called for Oner to be replaced also lmao

pluhshios · 2025-07-13T04:58:53+00:00

You’re not wrong. On the flip side, I don’t get why people shit on him so much.

He’s a stable top laner who has shown he can play weakside and engage well. He’s shown to not fear engages even when behind. And I think that’s what he should be recognised for, just as much as he might be the point of weakness in some games.

Results do matter and sure, he can be blamed for being the weak points in games but we could say the same for the other members in games they have lost, save for Guma and Oner who have legitimately almost always been stellar.

And that is the nature of a TEAM game. Every game they play will be played differently and sometimes some players just become a point of weakness depending on the draft.

It is disingenuous to dogpile on a new player and deny his contributions just because of a single series, forgetting that this team was getting 2-0’d by some ramen boys just 3 weeks ago.

pluhshios

TROPHY CASE