JLPT Kanji Level 4

The Kanji and vocabulary section is the easiest section on the test. In level 4 you only have 100 kanji characters or so to master. This can be easily done with some good old study. If you know your Kanji you can pass this section easily. We will provide you with a list of the 100 Kanji you are expected to know for the test – just sign up for our newsletter. Also In the videos of our product Japanese Proficiency Power we show you how to approach the questions.

Let’s have a look at a question now. Try answering the example question below. Choose the correct hiragana readings for each of the Kanji characters as quickly as you can.

（れい）　　肉　より　魚を　よく　食べる – Note: I will refer to this as the the context setence

１　肉 １　にっく ２　にく ３　ぎゅう ４　ぎゅ
２　魚 １　さかな ２　ざかな ３　ぎょ ４　ぎょう
３　食べる １　のべる ２　しべる ３　くべる ４　たべる

Did you try reading the context sentence several times before looking at the Kanji readings. I am guessing you didn’t. The way the questions are written often make students focus only on the Kanji and neglect the whole question. Students all too often try to answer or guess the readings of the Kanji without spending enough time on reading the context setence. This is the wrong way to approach the Kanji and vocabulary questions. Two things are important for these questions, the content of the question and your first impression of the Kanji.

Read or try to read the context sentence first before looking at answering the hiragana readings. Do this several times. If you can read it then you know you will be spot on and then you just choose the correct readings. If you understand only half of the question you then have a good chance of working out the rest from context. For example、in the question above if you knew the Kanji 食べる（たべる ) meant “to eat” you then would have realized the other two Kanji 肉 and 魚to represent something that is eaten. If you allow your mind to work a little you have better chances of recalling Kanji readings.

If you have well and truley masterd the 100 kanji and can pick the answers immediately without actually reading the context sentence then you will be saving yourself a whole lot of time. However, you should make sure your answers make sense in the context of the test sentence.

The test is broken up into 4 sets of question. The first 2 sets of questions deal with Kanji and hiragana readings. You are being tested on your knowledge of Kanji and how to correctly read Kanji. The third set of questions tests your knowledge of vocabulary. The last set of questions deal with comprehension. We will look at these sets of questions in detail in later posts. For the time being, start learning your kanji.