Today we're going to look at one of the sections that has historically given people the most difficulty: Kanji, and look at a few tricks on how to pass it more easily.
For all of its issues, the JLPT is considered the definitive scale for Japanese proficiency both in and out of Japan. It is what is used to screen applicants for jobs, and for foreign exchange studies. The test itself is now held twice a year, and is arranged into 3 sections (Vocabulary, Listening and Reading), each of which is broken up into various subsections.
Kanji
Ah yes, Kanji -- the bane of Japanese students everywhere.
So many kanji, so many pronunciations, so many strokes.
But all those kanji, like so much of Japanese, have a method to their madness. And for the JLPT -- knowing how kanji are built can help you guess at the correct kanji or pronunciation for a word, even if you've never seen the kanji (or the word) before!
The basic structure of Kanji
Kanji are usually made up of one or more radicals, and usually one main "tsukuri" (旁). The radicals are used for many things, but generally contain the meaning (or etymology) of the kanji, and are often used for categorizing the kanji in dictionaries.
For example the top part of 草 (草冠) means grass. So, even without knowing the meanings of the next few words, you can probably guess that they're grass related.
- 花 - Grass that blooms(changes 化)
- 薬 - Grass that makes you feel better (楽) i.e. medicinal herbs
- 芋 - potato
- 華 - another word for flower
- 獲 - to gather (crops, etc)
So the radical (in some, not all) cases can give you clues to the meaning of the word.
But what about the rest of the kanji -- the aforementioned Tsukuri? And how does that help us on the JLPT?
In the JLPT there are a number of questions where you are given a kanji, or word written in kanji, and you must choose the correct pronunciation.
This section makes up about half of the Vocabulary section of the test.
For example 花粉.
Let's say that we don't know either of these kanji, so we're going to try and make an educated guess about how we would pronounce this.
First, because it's a compound word, we have about a 70-80% chance of the reading being based on on-yomi (because most compound words came from china, or are Chinese-based, they use the on-yomi instead of the kun-yomi. There are of course exceptions.)
- if we remove the 草 from 花 we get 化
- if we remove the 米 from 粉 we get 分
- 化 is a fairly common Level 3 Kanji that means to change (we saw it above).
- it's pronounced か, such as in the word グローバル化 (ぐろーばるか -- globalization).
- 分 is a Level 4 Kanji that means "part" and is often used with time (i.e a minute). It is pronounced ふん.
So with this information, can you guess the pronunciation?
Yup, you're right: it's かふん (pollen)
So to sum up:
In most cases, Kanji who share a common right-side (or Tsukuri) will also have the same pronunciation.
Conclusion
The JLPT is not an easy test. Especially for beginners it can take a lot of time and effort to get to a point where you can get a good score. But in the end, it is still just a test, and there are strategies that you can use to get yourself a better score.
Hopefully we've given you some ideas on how to attack the JLPT, and how to prepare yourself to get a better score.
If you're looking for more study materials or wordlists, why not try Ippatsu's wide range of flashcards geared towards the JLPT? Or try practicing online with past test questions?
Good luck, and good studying!
