About levels

	Pre-Starter	Starter	Beginner	Upper-Beginner	Lower-Intermediate	Intermediate	Upper-Intermediate or above
Summary	Designed for absolute beginners. No grammar worries, can be enjoyed through illustrations and audio.	Starter level. Printed from left to right for starting beginners instead of top to bottom. Look carefully at the pictures and illustrations and the story will become self evident.	Level 5 of Japanese Language Proficiency Test(JLPT). Same vocabulary and grammar as in Level 0 but stories are longer. The lines are perpendicular in levels 1 to 5.	Level 4 of JLPT. Grammar less controlled than Level 1.	Level 3 of JLPT. Grammar less controlled than Level 2. Contents are more varied with fewer picture.	Levels 3 and 2 of JLPT. Grammar even less controlled than Level 3. Katakana have no reading printed next to them. Stories are longer with even fewer pictures.	Levels 2 and 1 of JLPT. More abstract vocabulary and idiomatic expressions and longer stories than Level 4. No reading hints for Kanji that Year 2 Japanese children should have learned.
Sample
Vocabulary range	200	350	350	500	800	1,300	2,000
Word count／book	0～200	200～400	400～1,500	1,500～3,000	2,500～6,000	5,000～15,000	8,000～25,000
New grammer elements	present form, past form, interrogative, ～たい,　etc. ※です and ます endings in the main.	present form, past form, interrogative, ～たい,　etc. ※です and ます endings in the main.	present form, past form, interrogative, ～たい,　etc. ※です and ます endings.	dictionary form, て-form, ない-form, nominal modification, ～と(conditional), ～から(cause), ～なる, ～のだ,　etc.	potential form, imperative form, ～とき, ～たら・ば・なら, ～そう(appearance), ～よう(conjecture, metaphor), compound verb, etc.	causative form, causative passive form, ～そう(information), ～らしい, ～はず, ～もの, ～ようにする/なる, ～ことにする/なる,　etc.	Function words, compound words, idiomatic expressions, honorific expressions such as ～わけにはいかない/～につれて/切り開く/召し上がる/伺う。

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※語彙は、『日本語能力試験出題基準【改訂版】』（国際交流基金・財団法人日本国際教育協会編、凡人社、2002年）の級別語彙表を参考に、文法項目は、市販されている主な初級テキストの文法シラバスを参考にレベル分けしています。