RTK for JLPT exams

RTK for JLPT exams

I’ve been seriously studying the Japanese language for around two years now, with different techniques.

In December 2021, I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) at the lowest level, the N5. In July 2022, the JLPT N4. For the vocabulary, I worked with Anki decks, which worked fine. For kanji (Chinese characters), well, not quite as much.

So after getting my JLPT N4 grade, I started the Remembering The Kanji (RTK) method with the Kanji Koohii website. It works really great! Only, well, there’s 2200 to learn, and it takes quite some time and life always gets in the way.

A person I know worked recently towards the JLPT N4 with the RTK method, but only for the kanji needed for this level (around 250). Which gave me the idea for this tool: remember-the-JLPT.

With it, you can output the kanji for the corresponding JLPT level. I also included the French version of the book, Les Kanjis dans la tête (KDLT).

Kanjis are made up of other kanji learned before, so you will still need to search for previous occurrences in the indices of the original book. But remember-the-JLPT makes it definitely easier to have a kick-start.

The tool can output both to a file (by default a CSV file that you can open in a spreadsheet program), or on the terminal. You can also directly use the formatted database included, if you work with both an English and French book for example.

Example

python3 .\remember-the-JLPT.py -jlpt 5 4 3 -ref RTK -type number kanji name
-output display

Sample output:

[...]
126, 太, plump
134, 川, stream
137, 水, water
142, 原, meadow
143, 願, petition
144, 泳, swim
154, 活, lively
155, 消, extinguish
[...]

Configuration

  • -jlpt {0,1,2,3,4,5}
    • Choose the JLPT levels you want to output. You can select multiple ones. [Mandatory]
  • -ref {KDLT,RTK}
    • Choose whether you want the English (RTK) or French (KDLT) index. [Mandatory]
  • -type {name,kanji,number}
    • Choose the output data you want. You can select multiple ones and the order you want. [Mandatory]
  • -output {display,file}
    • Output on the standard output or in a file. You can select both option. File will be saved to the `build` folder. [Mandatory]
  • -separator
    • The default separator is “, ” for a CSV file. You can change it with this parameter. [Optional]

Be sure to check the repository for up-to-date information and more details. Hopefully this will be useful for more people!

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Tags: japanese language