Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz
4 years is doable for anyone of average intelligence with a desire to do so. Period. Hands down. Full stop. End of story. I had 1200 under my belt within three years of starting Japanese, and I was barely trying.
But agreed on the "learning Japanese" part. You can get very good if you study for a couple years and then move there for two straight years and speak Japanese at every opportunity. I pulled JLPT2 after doing that, but only living in Japan for one year. If I'd have been there another year, I would have likely hit 2000 kanji. Not sure about fluency, but my profs in the US told me that I could approach fluency (not native, obviously) if I stayed for two years, but not for one.
Of course, MMM's and Nyororin's statements call that into question.
The point remains: Japanese is not a four-years-and-out endeavor.
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I agree. I would say the average person, properly motivated, could pass JLPT level 1 in 4 years, especially if they are living in Japan for a lot of that time.
But let's make no mistake, just living in Japan is not a magic ticket to being able to pass that test. I know of people that have lived here 10 years plus and hardly speak much of the language (how on earth they are enjoying their life here is beyond me, but that is a different topic I guess). So what I am saying is you have to hit the books, and find supplements for your reading comprehension, simply existing here for a certain amount of time will not get you passed that test.
In reality, I think your average person who ends up seeing it through probably takes between 5-7 years before they get passed level one, its not that they could not do it in 4 or maybe even 3, it is just that they have a life, and a high level of language acquisition was not an immediate priority for them.
And yeah, passing a 4 year uni program in my opinion is not going to get you anywhere near fluent. In fact know a guy with a 4 year degree in Japanese and I doubt he could pass level two. Come to think of it I would say 70% of all degrees are crap, as far as actual knowledge value goes anyway, everybody just ends up forgetting everything.