Hello, i hope you are all doing well.
I am self-studying the japanese language, i memorized half of the Hiraganas. And so far, i’ve been loving it, i can see myself committing further and become fluent(or good) in 4 years. I’ve been using Tofugu website and the famous “learn Hiragana in 1 hour” YouTube video. So it’s pretty casual and self indulging learning approach.
But my question is, should i direct my systematic learning within JLPT standards? As far as I saw posts on this subreddit, JLPT wouldn’t necessarily make someone fluent and able to read mangas. But i am perceiving it as a measurable scale for how far I’ve learned. JLPT isn’t available in my country so i have to travel to a sister country to take the exam, so it’s gonna be on the expensive side. It’s a far stretch for now, but i can make it happen.
The most thing i enjoy about Japanese is the meaning behind different Kanjis that predict/describe the manga character’s personality/fate. I’ve been engaging with the japanese fandoms for through translators, but i feel confident now as a 25 year old to commit efficiently.
I know immersion is a non negotiable requirement for any language ( this is how i learned English), however it’s been boring a bit since i am listening to podcasts with title (N3/N5/N4 etc) conversations. So i am starting slow my reading and pointing out the characters in tweets, and pronounce them.
Also i recently learned that JLPT is similar to TOEFL exams. However i did the latter as a requirement for university to test my English knowledge. It’d be nice to have if i ever had an opportunity in Japan.
tldr: Should JLPT be my success measurable scale?
by doner_shawerma