JLPT N2 Listening Practice With Answers (07/2024) | Dec 2026 Preparation

Overview

This JLPT N2 listening practice set covers five question formats: workplace and everyday conversations, longer interviews, short talks, appropriate conversational responses, and a two-part listening passage. Questions test details such as what someone will do first, a speaker’s reasons or opinions, and the main point of a talk.

Mondai 1: Conversations and Next Actions

Five short conversations ask what someone will do next or first.

• University symposium: A male student is asked to prepare a staff schedule and copies of the handouts. Because the presenters have not sent all their materials, he says he will contact them first to request them.
• Supermarket: A female employee is asked to count the coffee-bean stock after finishing her product-labeling work. The conversation also mentions helping at the register and arranging discounted products.
• Magazine photos: A man is asked to photograph a soba restaurant. The restaurant has supplied a photo of its popular dish, and an exterior photo has already been taken. He should photograph the interior without customers in the frame.
• Graduation party: A female staff member is asked to put attendees’ names on the chairs while they wait for the commemorative gifts. Moving a vase is postponed until they can do it together.
• Bicycle removal: A student’s bicycle has been taken from a no-parking area. She is advised to check the city hall website to find out where it was moved and what she needs to retrieve it.

Mondai 2: Reasons, Decisions, and Opinions

Six longer conversations or interviews focus on why people acted or what they decided.

• Starting a bakery: The manager began the bakery to fulfill her mother’s dream after her mother became ill and could no longer open it herself.
• Reducing moving costs: A couple considers several options and decides to find someone who can take some of their large, unused furniture, rather than moving everything themselves or replacing the refrigerator.
• Workplace survey: The woman says she would like the company to make applying for paid leave easier.
• Choosing clothes: A student is unsure what to wear. The conversation considers clothing subscriptions, a simple “uniform” style with accessories, and second-hand shops. The advice centers on finding a practical approach that suits her.
• Changing jobs: A woman says she moved to her current company not because she disliked her previous job, but because she wanted to experience a new field and a different world.
• Children’s soccer club: The coach particularly wants to develop players’ judgment and decision-making, in addition to technical skill, physical ability, and mental strength.

Mondai 3: Identifying the Main Point of Short Talks

Listeners must identify the central subject or message rather than focus on incidental details.

• Dentist: Explains the roles of teeth in eating, digestion, speech, posture, balance, and facial expression.
• Railway photographer: Says photographers should consider what they want a picture to express; technique is not the only consideration.
• Industrial designer: Describes how an elegantly shaped glass helped spark an interest in design after the speaker struggled to find glasses they liked.
• Celebrity: Discusses managing limited time by setting priorities, doing what can be done, and accepting that some things must be left undone.
• Actor: Offers a broad definition of travel: even getting off one stop early and taking a different route home can count, because travel is about the experience, not just the distance.

Mondai 4: Choosing a Suitable Conversational Response

This section presents short statements and asks listeners to select the most natural reply. It tests understanding of conversational intent, including how to:

• Encourage someone who thinks a task is impossible.
• Respond to a request to review meeting materials.
• Confirm that prior experience is not required for a job application.
• Acknowledge an instruction to water plants while someone is away.
• Respond to someone who nearly missed a deadline but submitted on time.
• Confirm that a product should be explained using a pamphlet.
• Reassure someone who is nervous about a presentation.
• Respond sympathetically when someone had to present unexpectedly.
• Agree that a lunch portion was filling.
• Respond to someone saying they would try a task if asked.
• Acknowledge that someone took time to decide where to study abroad.

Mondai 5: Group Discussion and a Two-Part Question

• Reducing litter in a park: Volunteers discuss possible measures, including repainting benches, adding signs, asking people directly to take their rubbish home, and installing a platform in a problem area. They decide to propose the platform idea to city hall, focusing on places where litter is particularly noticeable.
• Harbor festival: A woman and a man discuss the festival’s different areas: one offers freshly grilled fish, another has beginner fishing lessons, and another allows visitors to observe marine life. They plan to visit the grilled-fish area first and the marine-life observation area second.

Speakers and Sources Featured

The subtitles feature test instructions and dialogue or talks from:

• A female and male university student
• A male supermarket manager and a female employee
• A female and male publishing-company employee
• A female staff member and a male section chief at a Japanese-language school
• A female and male university student discussing a removed bicycle
• A female TV announcer and a bakery manager
• A woman and a man discussing moving costs
• A woman and a man discussing a workplace survey
• A female and male student discussing clothing
• A male announcer and a woman who has changed jobs
• A children’s soccer-club coach
• A dentist speaking on the radio
• A railway photographer giving a talk
• An industrial designer speaking on television
• A celebrity speaking on the radio
• An actor speaking on the radio
• A leader and members of a local volunteer group
• A female and male festival visitor, following an event announcement
• A narrator or test voice introducing sections and questions