I’ve begun reading regularly. No really intense content, just some manga (イニシャルD) and the easy news pages I have found. I am a car nut, so the technical jargon in the manga is not new to me.
It’s astounding. I’m picking up new grammar much more easily. Reading a manga that has an anime that I know pretty well is helping me to grasp the grammar points more steadily. I’m also re-reading the same 巻 (band? booklet? I only have a German word for this. Maybe volume?) a few times to go back as I fix more grammar in my brain and I can process it more effectively.
It works. That is what I wanted to say. Reading really works.
One thing I noticed was that when I started reading “real” Japanese about a month ago, I struggled to recognize kanji in print that I knew well as isolated items. This is improving as my brain wraps around the different fonts and text layouts. I’m looking up fewer kanji each day. Only strange thing is that my speech is drifting to teenage boy speech, which is kind of funny but not the end of the world for a variety of reasons, including my two teenage sons who find this whole “mom is learning Japanese” thing hilarious and wonderful.
Yep, volume. ^^
“Book” also works, but for something like manga, not quite as… accurate, I guess?
That’s really cool. I do think it helps to read something that you’re already familiar with (or really easy, like よつばと！). That’s why I’m joining the intermediate book club this summer in reading 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi)… I’ve watched all the anime and read all of the light novels (fan-translated) in English before. I’m sure the grammar is way beyond me, but I’m going to try, regardless.
That’s good to know. (And from the little bit I’ve done, I agree.)
Interesting… I thought Initial D was adults racing, not teenagers… (though, I’ve never watched the anime, only seen some AMVs using clips from the original/first few seasons in the 90’s)… Do you have any theories as to why that is? ^^
The main character is a teenager that helps his dad with his tofu deliveries every day (I think?) on a mountain, so he basically has it memorized and is really good at driving.
Also, the delivery car is really fast (I think?).
Most of the other characters are a little older (iirc), like 20-somethings, probably.
The story (as noted below) starts out about three high school kids and the group of 20YOs that float around them, along with the dad of one of the kids, and a sort of father to one of the 20YOs. The language is nearly all male, and the main girl is very girlie. The two other girls with big roles are not girlie at all (more like me).
I think I tend to pick up what I read, regardless of language. It is a weird thing, I can drop into dialects from all over without much exposure to them. So natural that I would pick up the male-focused language that dominates the text. I find it interesting that there is a lot of gendering in Japanese, but it is very different from gendering in romance languages.
If you come to Detroit, let me know, we could do lunch!
I’ve over in Windsor sometimes to shop. If you see a blue BRZ with MI plates, it might be me. I’ve nearly quit riding my motorcycle over as the CBP guys like to take it apart.
I keep dragging out previous volumes (finishing up 4 now) to review new kanji that I have learned that I know are present. Actually am catching words in ひらがな that WK taught me the kanji for. That is super cool.
That would be really cool - except I typically go only nonce or twice a year - mainly to have dinner with my parents when I’m down in Windsor to visit them around Christmas (at Xiaomoco’s or another US only restaurant that we miss).
When I can afford to travel on my own, I’ll take you up on that, though!
I haven’t learned 態と yet, but that’s cool. So fun when you can start to recognize things.
