What is JLPTvocab ?

JLPTvocab is a program to review the Japanese vocabulary required to pass the JLPT level 3 and 4 exams (JLPT stands for Japanese Language Proficiency Test). It consists of a list of all the vocabulary (including kana and kanji writings), a learning mode and a quiz mode. It is possible to display and to be tested on certain types of words only (verbs, nouns, adjectives...). The number of choices in the quiz, as well as the mode (Japanese to English or English to Japanese) can be selected by the user.

How does it work ?

There are 3 modes: list, learn and quiz. On the right of the window, you can choose what type of vocabulary you want to study in all three modes. For instance, you can choose to work only with words from the JLPT level 4 or JLPT level 3 vocabulary lists, or both. You can also focus only on verbs, nouns, or adjectives (which actually also regroups adverbs etc..., basically everything that is not a verb or a noun). Finally, you can also decide to study only words starting with "ka", or from "ka" to "sa" etc...

The first mode - list - displays a list of all the words corresponding to the critera you chose. The kana for the word, its corresponding kanji writing, its type, as well as the English translation are displayed.

The second mode - learn - displays a word from the list. Then you have to remember what the meaning of that word was. You can go through the list word after word, or in random order, and you can also try to remember the English meaning of a Japanese word or the opposite. Before displaying another word, the program will show you what the meaning was, so you can check if you remembered it correctly.

Finally, the third mode is a quiz. Again you can and choose the direction you want (English -> Japanese or Japanese -> English). In this mode, the program simply displays a random word from the list along with a given number of possible translations, and you have to pick the correct one. JLPTvocab keeps track of your score. You can select the number of answers you want to choose from, and reset the quiz at any point.

Download

Click here to download JLPTvocab. You just need to unzip the file and the program is ready.

What is next ?

This is version 1.0 of JLPTvocab. I might add the words from the JLPT level 2 and JLPT level 1 vocabulary lists in the future, as I progress in Japanese :-). It will most likely stay focused on reviewing vocabulary. I'm planning on writing another program to review Kanjis.