Audio Book Reading

Wondering if any of you found that reading with audio books helped you improve your reading skills? Right now I have been reading with the audio book and find I am getting roughly the same kind of practice I get out watching anime with Japanese subs and not sure if I am helping or hurting any given skill by mixing the two.

Secondly, obviously I am gonna be slower reading independently, but has anyone had experience where reading with the audio book helped them up their independent reading speed?

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I havenā€™t started doing this with Japanese yet, but reading along with audiobooks/plays really helped me figure out how a lot of words were supposed to be pronounced in English when I was first learning the language, but at the moment I need more time to digest grammar when reading in Japanese. Iā€™m not sure it will help with anything beyond linking the pronunciations with the written form of the words thošŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø

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Iā€™m mostly fine doing grammar ambiguously at this stage in my learning. Granted the stuff I am reading is aimed at Middle Schoolers, so itā€™s not trying to be super complex.

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Iā€™ve done it for two books now (in a series that I had already read three books in, so I knew what I was getting into) and itā€™s definitely improved my reading speed. Having someone else read out the pronunciation of kanji that Iā€™ve forgotten can be quite helpful :sweat_smile: Itā€™s helped me reinforce a few kanji readings (and shown me some that Iā€™d been reading wrongā€¦)

That aside, as I donā€™t do a lot of regular listening, I find that it does help with that as well. Occasionally Iā€™ll have get distracted while reading and just listen to the audiobook and Iā€™ll still perfectly understand whatā€™s happening, which was a recent and surprising discovery.

Also, the series that I had the audiobooks for (ćƒ†ć‚£ć‚¢ćƒ ćƒ¼ćƒ³åøå›½ē‰©čŖž) has really well-narrated audiobooks, which makes listening and reading at the same time very fun. Overall, I would definitely recommend trying it out with a series whose grammar and vocabulary that you already know reasonably well, so that you donā€™t have to pause too much while listening.

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This has been happening to me too! Which is why I havenā€™t been sweating about watching shows as much and doing 1.5 hour sessions. It just seems like I am doing the same thing I do with Netflix but with more emphasis on the reading aspect.

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Iā€™ve been doing this for a while, and personally I think whether reading or listening benefits the most depends on how you do it. If youā€™re reading slightly ahead of the audiobook, only using it to confirm the readings and make sure you donā€™t get stuck too long on any particular word, itā€™s still primarily your reading skills thatā€™ll benefit. If youā€™re listening to the audiobook and following the text simultaneously, using the text to confirm what youā€™re hearing, itā€™ll be more of a listening exercise.

For me personally, I think itā€™s less efficient in terms of ā€œpure reading practiceā€. If I spent an hour on pure reading, my reading would improve more than if I spent an hour reading and listening combined. Buut unless for some reason you want to improve your reading specifically, e.g. youā€™re prepping for the N1, I donā€™t think thatā€™s an issue. It seems reasonable to me that book+audiobook combined do more for my overall Japanese abilities, because personally Iā€™m faster, have higher comprehension and enjoy it more.

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I tried on one just now, but at 2x speed, and with listening ahead once before.

It appears that

  • I might be able to read faster than that. From what I have tried in English, speeding up on story-type can be done with good gaze direction. On textbook type, however, illustrations then keywords.
  • As expected, vocabulary clarity is sacrificed. Some parts may need looking up, or simply just pondering.
  • 2x speed makes the audio sound bad.

I might try again with 1.5x or 1.2x; and also in not-yet-listened part. Sacrificing possibly faster speed, for listenablity.

Also, anime with JP sub is different regarding speech clarity; and also non-spoken parts, then subsequent reading backlog volume.

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