JLPT N2 in 15 MonthsTwo Students from Batch 10

Success Interview

JLPT N2 in 15 Months
Two Students from Batch 10

JLPT N2 passed · EJU passed　|　FujiOK Batch 10

The two paths at a glance

Mina Tamang — “Drama and anime trained my ear”

—— Congratulations. N2 in fifteen months is fast.

Thank you. But I didn’t do anything special.

—— How much did you study at home?

Honestly, I didn’t study at home. The only time I studied was the time I spent at the language school. What I did do was never miss a day. Not one.

—— Can classes alone get you to N2?

I don’t think classes alone are enough. For me, television was a second school. Every day I watched Japanese drama and anime.

—— What were you watching?

The drama was “Gokusen.” For anime, “One Piece” and “Crayon Shin-chan.” I watched those three almost every single day.

—— Did you understand them at the beginning?

Not at all. But I kept watching anyway. After a while, the sound starts arriving before the meaning does. You can hear that this person is angry, that this one is joking. My ear got used to Japanese.

—— Did that help in the exam?

In the listening section I knew the answer before I had time to think. And in class, when your ear is ready, the teacher’s Japanese lands differently.

—— What material did you use?

The N2 book that Ms. Etsuko gave me as a present. That book really helped.

—— What comes next?

I passed the EJU as well, so university is next. This is not the finish line.

Asok Gurung — “Whatever I don’t understand, I use it the same day”

—— How many hours did you study at home?

Almost none. My studying was the school classes, and I attended every one of them.

—— Then what got you to N2?

Speaking Japanese with Japanese people as much as possible. That’s all.

—— Who were you speaking with?

My teachers at school, the president of the company where I work, and the people I meet while delivering. I didn’t make time for it. I used the people in front of me.

—— What do you do when you can’t say what you mean?

I don’t let it slide. I always look it up on ChatGPT — how do you say this in Japanese, is this phrasing correct. And I don’t stop at looking it up. I make sure I use the phrase myself.

—— Every day?

Yes. Look it up, use it, keep it. The words I learned out on the delivery round are the ones I never forget.

—— What material did you use?

The N2 book from Ms. Etsuko. It was interesting, and it let me actually learn the grammar. Speaking alone doesn’t fix your grammar, so I needed both.

What they had in common

Mina used television; Asok used conversation. The methods look opposite, but they are saying the same thing.

1. Never miss a class. Both had perfect attendance. They didn’t add study hours — they refused to lose the hours they already had.
2. Touch Japanese every day outside class. A TV screen, or one sentence at a customer’s door. What matters is that neither of them stopped.
3. Lock the grammar down with a book. Both named the same N2 book from Ms. Etsuko. Japanese picked up by ear and by mouth was finally organised on the page.