ルリドラゴン ・ Ruri Dragon 🐲 Week 1

Japanese Language Book Clubs
2

Welcome to Week 1 of ルリドラゴン ・ Ruri Dragon!

So, it’s finally time to start. I’ve been eagerly waiting for this, and I know a lot of you have been too!

Below I’ve written a few words that might be particularly interesting for those that have never been in a book club before. I hope it’ll help you.

I’m looking forward to reading this manga with all of you!

Ask questions!

I know that some of you might be feeling shy, or don’t want to bother others with their questions, but you don’t have to worry: People love answering questions. You’re making the thread more lively, and you’re also helping everyone who has the same questions. Please, ask a lot of them!

Here’s what to you need to know:

  • Please include the page number: [details="Page 54"]Your question goes here[/details] (See “How should I post my questions?” in the FAQ below for more.)
  • Check if your question has already been asked. (See “How can I quickly find out if my questions have already been asked by someone?” in the FAQ below.)
  • Please mark any spoilers for the current/future chapters like this: [spoiler]text here[/spoiler])

Also, it’s fine to only read the thread, but consider participating at least a little, even if it’s just short posts like “This is really hard, but I’m giving my best!” or a “Wow, reading this chapter was fun.”. It’ll help you feel more part of the club which makes it easier to stay motivated, and it’ll make it easier to ask questions later if you have some.

Some general advice

  • Don’t give up just because you have to look up so much that it “doesn’t feel like reading”. That’s how we all started, and if you keep at it, you’ll get better. (There’s more on this in the FAQ below under “Is it too early for me if I have to look up a lot of grammar/vocab and often don’t understand sentences?”)
  • If we’re too fast for you, you can go at your own pace. Post your questions in the appropriate thread for the pages (see the schedule) then. You’ll get answers surprisingly quickly!

Useful resources for reading

  • Vocab
  • Grammar/structure
    • Google: Great for finding more about grammar/expressions if you can identify them. (Example)
    • ichi.moe: Tries its best to identify parts of a sentence for you. (Example)
    • DeepL: Tries it’s best to translate a sentence for you. Sometimes helps to point you in the right direction.

You can find out more about using these tools in the FAQ below under “How can I approach a sentence I don’t understand?”

FAQ

About questions and answers

I have a lot of questions, but I don't want to be a nuisance.

Questions being annoying is a really common misconception. Luckily, the opposite is the case. Asking questions helps everyone:

  • The people who answer usually enjoy helping others and answering questions. Many people say that they are even learning a lot when they answer questions! And those who can’t or don’t want to answer them simply ignore them. So, literally the worst thing that could happen is that your question doesn’t get answered, and even that is highly unlikely.
  • All the people who have the same question will be really happy to see them already asked by you. It’s not uncommon to see people thank others for asking a question they had.
  • The thread gets more lively.
  • You get your questions answered - and on top of that, when you participate in the threads, you are probably more motivated to continue and keep up with reading!

So not only are you not a nuisance if you ask a lot of questions, you make the club better for everyone. Please ask a lot of them!

My questions feel really basic, and I'm kinda reluctant to ask them.

This is a club for first-time readers. No question is too simple or silly - we are expecting first-time reader questions. Please ask them, and help all the other participants who have the same question!

How should I post my questions?

Here’s a format I like to use, as an example:

Using page numbers helps anybody quickly go to the page, and typing out the sentence makes it searchable and provides context for those who want to answer. Sometimes they don’t even have to open the book to answer your question.

And here’s how to make it:

[details="Page 7"]
ツチノコがごみ？？らします 必ずネット
What are the ？？ on the trash sign?
[/details]

[details="Page 18"]
Kon: 隅のほう......っぽい方向から埋めていこう
"Let's fill it up... sort of into the direction of the corner"? I guess he might be talking about filling in the map?
[/details]

[details="Page 23"]
Kon: まぁ部屋とまともに繋がってない廊下なんて意味ないけど
Does Kon mean that there's no point in having the normal second floor corridor if it's not connected to the normal second floor rooms? And まともに is "normally"?
[/details]

Two things to keep in mind:

  • Be sure to post it in the weekly thread to which those pages belong. You can find an overview over them in the schedule.
  • If you don’t use physical pages, mention it. Ebook readers often are off by one or more. Many books or manga have physical page numbers printed on some pages though - you can find one of those and count forward or backwards to your page.
How can I quickly find out if my questions have already been asked by someone?

Use the search function with “in this topic” selected to look up part of the sentence you are interested in:

About reading and understanding

Is it too early for me if I have to look up a lot of grammar/vocab and often don't understand sentences?

That’s pretty normal for your first book(s) - we all started out like that. If you keep at it, I promise you that you will get better.

Feeling strongly like that actually happened to me twice, once with my first Absolute Beginner Book Club, and again with my first Beginner Book Club. Both times I felt ill-prepared and like I’m not even really reading because I had to do oh-so many look-ups, and like I should give it up for now and try again once I’m better because there’s no point continuing right now.

Well, turns out there was a point. While I actually gave up that ABBC, I did power through this feeling and stick around for that BBC, and I’m so glad I did. I learnt so much, and once I was done I went back to try that ABBC book again, and this time I could actually read through it in a few days! (Still with many look-ups, of course, but by then I was totally fine with that.)

So… the solution is usually not stopping to read and going back to learning vocab until the feeling goes away - it’s to make peace with having to look up a lot.

Here are @MrGeneric’s thoughts on that matter:

How can I approach a sentence I don't understand?

Here’s how I usually read:

  • I read a sentence. Do I know all vocab? If not, I look it up as I’m reading by typing the words I don’t know into jisho.org (vocab) or thejadednetwork.com/sfx (sfx).
  • Does the sentence make sense to me? If yes, I continue with the next one.
  • If I almost get it, but some details I missing, I try to google for those details (e.g. if I have never seen the sentence ending よね, I will google “yone japanese grammar”). If it that solves it, I make a bookmark of the info I found and continue with the next sentence.
  • If I can’t find out what the heck is up with the sentence, I transcribe it and stick it into ichi.moe, which will analyze the parts the sentence is made up of. Often that allows me to look up grammar or just solves my problems, and I continue with the next sentence.
  • If I still don’t know what’s going on, I put it into DeepL. If the automatic translation makes sense to me and fits in the context, I look at the Japanese sentence again and try to figure out how DeepL got there.
  • If I still can’t figure out the sentence, I check the weekly thread (if I’m reading with a club). Was the question already asked?
    • If so, I check (or wait for) the answer.
    • If not, or if the answers don’t help, I make a question with the sentence and my best guess of a translation.

So, in short, my order is:

  • Looking up words via jisho.org, thejadednetwork.com/sfx or the vocab sheet while reading.
  • If I have trouble: Googling for grammar or expressions if I can identify them.
  • If I still have trouble: Transcribing + putting the sentence into ichi.moe.
  • If I still have trouble: Putting it into DeepL.
  • If I still have trouble: Checking the thread.
  • if there’s no answer: My best guess at translating + asking a question.
How much should I try to understand?

That depends on three things: How hard the book is for you, how much time and energy you want to put in, and how much you want to understand.

  • If it’s hard and you only have little time/energy, try to understand the gist and learn a few new things each week. Remember to ask questions when you struggle.
  • If it’s hard, but you have more time/energy, go for as many details as you want to after you get the gist! Ask lots of questions, the community is a treasure trove of information!
  • If it’s not that hard but you still want to deepen your understanding, feel free to ask questions about more minor details you don’t completely get.

Pace and don’t overexert yourself. It’s more important to finish the whole book and learn a lot throughout, than to go for 100% understanding of chapter 1 and 2 only to be burned out and stop reading there. If you realize you can’t keep up what you’re doing, start doing less - you’ll still learn a lot!

And lastly, if you don’t actually care about e.g. getting all the details and just want to have a nice reading experience, that’s totally okay too and you’re still very welcome to read with us!

About the club in general

The club is too fast for me, or I'm starting late. Can I read at a slower pace?

Feel free to read at your own pace. If you have any questions, just ask them in the weekly thread they belong to (see the schedule here). It doesn’t matter if it’s been weeks, months or years since the club read that chapter - you’ll likely get an answer surprisingly fast. (And don’t forget to use the search function first to see if your question has already been answered.)

Am I doing the book club wrong if I'm __________________?

I think the only time you do a book club wrong is when you neither enjoy it nor learn anything from it. Do as much or as little as you are comfortable with.

Any suggestions on how to get the most out of the book club?

For me, the best thing about the book clubs is that you can learn so much - but that’s only if you actually participate in the club. So, my recommendation is: Read the threads, and ask all the questions you have!

And if you feel up to it, answering questions is another way to learn a lot.

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