The N5 level requires a basic understanding of Japanese.
As part of the ‘Reading’ section, applicants must read and comprehend sentences written in three writing systems: Hiragana, Katakana, and simple Kanji. Compared to its other two counterparts, Kanji is quite complex. The N5 test focuses on simple Kanji knowledge. Listening and comprehending conversations about everyday life situations are essential for the ‘Listening’ section of the test. As a starting point
Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters
The sixth edition of this popular textbook contains the 196 new kanji that the Japanese government approved in 2010 as “general-use” kanji. As a result, students are able to easily remember the meanings and writing of Japanese characters by correlating them in a simple manner. As well as beginner students, it is intended to help more advanced students who struggle with forgetting how to write kanji or who want to organize their existing knowledge.
It is actually simpler to write the kanji than to learn how to pronounce them, contrary to first impressions. To learn the various combinations of kanji, the student is led to harness the powers of “imaginative memory” by ordering them according to their component parts, and then assigning each of these parts a distinct meaning with its own distinct image. A key word represents the meaning, or one of the principal meanings, of each kanji. It is these key words that set the stage for the “story” of a particular kanji, whose protagonists are its primitive elements.
Thus, tasks that would normally take years can be completed in a few months. When one knows the meanings and writings of the kanji but not their Japanese pronunciations, one is more prepared to learn the readings (which are discussed in a separate book).
Tens of thousands of students have been helped by remembering the Kanji to advance towards literacy at their own pace, and to attain a facility that traditional methods have largely given up on.
