Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz
It is my opinion that Doraemon and other kids' manga are harder to read for Japanese newbies than teenager-oriented manga because of the lack of kanji. Because there is a lack of kanji, you will find it pretty difficult, giving your miniscule Japanese vocabulary and knowledge of grammar and particles, to actually know where one word ends and another begins. You will, accordingly, find it very difficult to look up one word at a time.
I say this as someone who was given a Doraemon and a Blackjack manga (a pretty advanced manga) in high school. I could read the BJ much more easily than the Doraemon because, with kanji all over the place, it is easier to know what is a single word to look up in the dictionary. Ranma was easier than Doraemon, too, for the same reason.
Also, it is my opinion that buying a book just to learn kana is a waste. Even the laziest person (with adequate free time) should be able to learn all hiragana in a month using only this image: http://shoko8948.up.seesaa.net/image...na_no_hyou.gif. A dedicated person can do it in a week or less. |
Hmmm interesting experience, I find children books and manga a pretty easy way to follow, despite the lack of Kanji... though, the copy of Doraemon I have (i got it from japan in 2007) has quite a bit of Kanji... i also got a copy of GTO Shonan 14 days, which also has Kanji all over it.. the exception is that in Doraemon, most of the Kanji has small print beside them with Hiragana spelling out how its pronounced, with GTO, there were hardly any hiragana "help" at all
anyways, everyone's learning experieince is different, it was just easier for me to start from Children's book before... Though I love reading car magazines.... especially the Q&A section, which give me a good sense of how people actually talk... reading people's post on 2 channel also help a bit...