I’m just about to reach level 10 and I was wondering where I could find appropriate reading material going forward. I know a few more kanji than the ones I’ve learned so far. I have a couple light novels and some short story books which I use for immersive study, but it’s just such a pain in the a** to have to stop and look up kanji constantly (in addition to the occasional confusing grammar). Am I just being lazy, or is there a better way to go about using the kanji I’ve learned? よろしくお願いいたします！
I think it is normal for a level 10 to have to lookup for stuff.
A possible shortcut is to read web material like NHK News Web Easy and use a web extension like rikaikun for doing the inevitable lookups. Moving the mouse over the mysterious words to have their meanings revealed in popups by rikaikun is as lazy as you can realistically get. But you will still have to lookup for grammar points.
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I recommend manga or anime with Japanese subtitles. Having visual components will help you a lot with comprehension when your vocabulary is limited. As for not looking up every word. It’s a good idea to have a balance of both “wide reading” and “intensive reading”. “Intensive reading” being looking up anything you don’t know so you add it to your vocabulary. “Wide reading” is just reading a lot and just moving on past words you don’t know, it helps you get used to the flow of the language and internalize it.
Any reading is better than no reading so if you don’t have time or looking up every word is killing your enthusiasm then not looking things up is fine. Do try to spend some time doing more intensive reading if you can. You’ll get the best results if you enjoy the media you’re consuming, so adjust the balance so you’re still enjoying it.
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Have you tried any of the graded readers you can find online? Have a look at: Free books – にほんごたどく
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