At what level should we be able to understand Yojijukugo?

Question

In my experience, Chinese language learners are introduced to these 4-character phrases at an early stage (around Chinese 3 in my high school); what I want to know is there a certain aptitude level when I will have to recognize and translate yojijukugo? Will it be on the certain levels of the JPLT?

Answer 1

Well, the extended question I wanted to ask was more along the lines of "At what age does the Japanese population comprehend and utilize Yojijukugo?"

In a broad sense, keep in mind that "Yojijukugo" can refer to any 4 letter compound word. For example, [天気予報]{てんきよほう} and [高速道路]{こうそくどうろ} are "Yojijukugo". However, I'm assuming that you mean "Yojijukugo" in the narrower sense. 4 letter compound words that are used idiomatically that can't be understood from just looking at the 漢字. If this is the case, many children start picking them up in elementary school, and if the parent is eager enough, they might buy a book or flash cards and start teaching their children even earlier. However, the amount of "Yojijukugo" a person knows can vary greatly and there overuse can be awkward especially in daily conversation. Although for reading comprehension, a certain level of aptitude is definitely necessary. As a way to judge your level, I would recommend finding a book or flash cards intended for elementary school students, as anything of any higher level would probably not be well known by the general public (a simple search brought up this site: 小学生のうちに覚えたい四字熟語の一覧表, I think this list would be sufficient for the JLPT).

My particular favorite is [唯我独尊]{ゆいがどくそん}, which comes from Buddhism.