SoundsGood2Me

Why I Decided to Take the JLPT

Reasons I decided to take the JLPT after over 10 years of studying Japanese

Written by: Porkchop

Published on: 2026-01-31

Guess what?! I recently passed the N5 exam! What do you mean "how have you never taken the JLPT when all you do is talk about drama CDs?" Well, let me explain…

On my about page, you can see that I have been "studying" Japanese on and off for over a decade. I started learning Japanese as a requirement for the gifted student program I was in during high school and then went on to get a minor in Japanese. I've been to Japan, experienced a bunch of cultural things, and participated in translation work for the National Atomic Bomb Museum. I did a lot with Japanese when I was actively learning (4-7 years), but had to stop as I progressed in my academics. Because my main expertise is in S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), I had to mostly give up on learning Japanese so I could focus on my more time-consuming courses. During this time I was also never encouraged to take the JLPT. It was introduced to me as a hobbyist activity when I was in high school. We had our own exam that I could take for college credit which was more relevant. Japanese is not a valued language in the states outside of international business or international political dealings. Even now I really don't have a use for it in my professional field. Because of its irrelevance in my professional life, I didn't even think about taking it…. Until now.

In the middle of all my moving between undergraduate and graduate degrees, I had become more involved with Japanese media. It was particularly the niche Japanese media that doesn't a chance of ever being localized (Touken Ranbu) that I was getting interested in. I could get by with what I already knew but suddenly the nuance is important. I actually need to be able to do more than just follow the story. The same could be said with the newer drama CDs that, in my opinion, have more convoluted storylines than older drama CDs. I also noticed a lot of fan-translators have straight up disappeared. I'm sure it's because of finances, but fan-translators are an important part of the fan ecosystem. That is why I had renewed interest in studying Japanese.

I started on again, off again practicing, but the problem was that I really can't place where my knowledge is. I'm horrible with kanji but I can follow a conversation well enough. There was some things I got easily and others I really struggled with. I was also not motivated enough. I just couldn't force myself to study everyday or whatever when I have other things that are tied to financial well being waiting for me. That's when I started playing with the idea of taking the JLPT.

I was following a lot of Japanese language creators/academics on social media and it came up a lot more than I thought. It seems to me like the natural progression for people who are self-taught or want to work in Japan. A few things made the JLPT perfect for me at this stage in my life:

My plan was just to take the N5 (easiest exam) this last. I probably could've taken the N4 and passed just as easily, BUT I needed a confidence boost. I would have chickened out and never paid for the N4 test. I'm not confident in my Japanese, which is why I rarely translate the summaries in my reviews. I read the summaries on my own (with the help of a dictionary), but I don't feel comfortable translating for others. My goal with taking the JLPT is only to get to N3. If by then I'm feeling like I have a reason to go further, then I will. You really only need to get to N3 to interact with most Japanese media and I have no intention of working in Japan.

There you have it. That's why I decided to take the easiest test in the JLPT after over a decade of studying Japanese. I wrote this to show you all that it's never to late, and that education isn't always linear.

Resources I used to study for N5

Textbooks

Kanji

Grammar

Reading

Listening

Other