Reading material for different "levels"?

robhol · (#1 (**permalink**))

So, many - me included - would say that reading practice is hugely important. Unfortunately, it can be a bit difficult to find reading materials suited to one's "level."

I was wondering if there were any websites with articles, etc. that would be good as "reading practice".

Currently, I'd rate myself a beginner-intermediate. (Although most likely.. lower.) While I do master the kana by now, I don't read very many kanji - around a couple hundred discounting the inevitable forgotten ones.

It would be grand with a list or something, with some articles for complete beginners (no kana), some for the slightly more advanced (like yours truly. Significantly limited kanji usage), some for the more advanced still, and then something for the really, really, REALLY advanced, I guess.

If no such list exists, perhaps we could start one?

KyleGoetz · (#2 (**permalink**))

Hiragana Times.

Once you know 1000-1200 kanji, then just read newspaper articles.

I don't know if there's anything in between. By my third year of Japanese at university, the professors had us reading newspaper articles, and we couldn't have known but about 1000-1200 kanji. Before that, we read maybe one article or short story every few weeks, but mainly just studied grammar and vocabulary and made/spoke short sentences using the new techniques we learned.

tl;dr The only thing a professor ever had me read was newspaper articles (and one short story).

chryuop · (#3 (**permalink**))

If you wait till you know kanji to start reading you are wrong

Buy a book get a good dictionary and a good Kanji dictionary. Translate the kanji, but my suggestion is not to write the meanings on the book, on the contrary write the furigana. That will teach you to appreciate particularly (NOT) how small they write books in Japan LOL not much room to write furigana.

Reading soon is very important trust me. Learning Japanese is not just a matter of learning rules, but a mentality. The way of writing is very different and reading Japanese will require by your side a different way of thinking. They all say Japanese starts with a subject and ends with a verb...but there is much more to it. Even a simple phrase such as "all fathers love their kids" will surely appear in a different shape. I bet you would find something like "fathers, all own kids love" or something in that color, while we would immediately try to write something like all fathers kids love.

I might be wrong, but trust me, reading their books will teach you much more than grammar (and even if you don't understand everything, it is ok).

robhol · (#4 (**permalink**))

Thanks for the tips. Yes, I know that reading is immensely useful. However, you need to crawl before walking. If I were just to jump into the middle of "advanced" (well, more like normal, but you get my point) Japanese texts, I would have to look up every third word and every other kanji, and after all of that, immersing myself in what I was reading would be pretty damn hard.

Do you happen to know of any good and reasonably "light" texts I could try? I think I'd prefer some fiction now. Something "funny" would be a huge plus.

KyleGoetz · (#5 (**permalink**))

Doraemon and the Hiragana Times.