There are about 296 Kanji in scope for JLPT Level N4 test. This includes Level N5 Kanji as well.
The Kanji lists are provided in a table that contains Kanji and its OnYomi, KunYomi and Meaning. OnYomi and KunYomi represents reading of a Kanji. In most of the cases, if a Kanji is used alone, then the KunYomi reading is used and if that Kanji is combined with another Kanji then OnYomi reading is used.
I have divided these Kanji into different groups.
This helped me learn faster and repeated revision in intervals helped retain the knowledge.
Note: If your computer/device cannot show Japanese fonts, you can browse the Kanji list as Images from posters.harushi.com
Logical Grouping of Kanji:
We have formed the below link to 19 pages with each page having a small set of N4 Japanese Kanji that have something in common. Master the JLPT N4 Kanjis by learning and memorizing each small groups.
Please note that, this list includes Level N5 Kanji as well. You are supposed to know N5 Kanji by now. I recommend to use the N4 Kanji list that contains N5 as well. In case if you are interested only in
N4 Kanji, please mail me.
| Logical grouping of Kanji | Total Kanji |
|---|---|
| Numbers | 15 |
| Family | 21 |
| Body Parts | 11 |
| Prefix-Suffix | 17 |
| Calendar/Week | 10 |
| Nature | 35 |
| Food | 9 |
| Doctor | 4 |
| Time | 13 |
| Directions | 15 |
| Travel | 22 |
| City/Country | 14 |
| Place | 16 |
| Color/Picture | 11 |
| School | 43 |
| Verbs | 70 |
| Opposites | 60 |
| Work | 20 |
| All N4 Kanji | 296 |
Note that some Kanji are presented in more than one group just to show their presence in a common grouping.
Check out different groupings here.
For Kanji learning, I have seen people are comfortable learning the Kanji by the Japanese school grade syllabus. By default we are drawn to JLPT when we start learning Japanese. However, once you check out the school syllabus you will find this is kind of easy to complete. Go to kanji.harushi.com to learn more.
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A note on the list of JLPT Vocabs and Kanji:
As of 2010, there is no official vocabulary list or kanji publised by JLPT organizers. This list is an approximate guide based on past exams.
In old test, there were 4 levels. Find below the number of words and kanji you are expected to know as per the old test pattern.
Level 4: 800 words and 100 Kanji
Level 3: 1,500 words and 300 Kanji
Level 2: 6,000 words and 1,000 Kanji
Level 1: 10,000 words and 2,000 Kanji
Since there is a huge gap between Level 3 and Level 2, the new N1 to N5 level is introduced.