Beginner Japanese Book Club // Now Reading: 葬送のフリーレン // Next: ウスズミの果て

[ChristopherFritz]

@drockinjp

I’m willing to give it a try.

Here’s something I wrote for first-time readers in the current ABBC. I think it also applies when one goes from one stage of reading to another (such as ABBC to BBC, or manga or novel, or reading to listening):

@ChristopherFritz

You'll be reading less than you think

Over the [time period of the book club], you will not be reading.

You will be deciphering.

What’s the difference?

Reading is what happens when you look at written characters, and you take in their meaning.

Deciphering is what happens when those written characters are incomprehensible, and you need to look up vocabulary words and grammar in an attempt to discern their meaning.

It’s important to know this going in. Otherwise, it’s easy to think you’re doing something wrong, and to give up.

In fact, it may even take reading multiple manga volumes (or other native materials) before you encounter even one line of text that you feel you actually read.

This is normal. This is what you must expect going in.

Keeping pace by tolerating ambiguity

Tolerance is when you begrudgingly accept something.

Ambiguity occurs when you have insufficient information.

Learning a new language is filled with uncertainty.

Over time, that uncertainty decreases, as you learn more of the language.

When you first start reading, you will encounter many things you do not know. Grammar constructs, vocabulary words, language concepts, and so on. There will be too many elements to properly learn all at once. And many of those elements will take repeated exposure to fully grasp.

You need to develop a tolerance for ambiguity. This is where you accept that some things are too foreign or too difficult to understand yet, knowing that you will come to grasp and understand them following future exposure.

It’s important to keep a moderate tolerance for ambiguity.

Having too low of a tolerance results in spending too much time trying to learn each item. Progression through material is slow, which can be demoralizing, and can lead to burning out on the material. Learning is more dense, but repeated exposure is needed to help solidify understanding, and a slow pace hinders this.

Having too high of a tolerance leads to insufficient learning. Progression through material is fast, but actual learning is handicapped, as too many unknowns are skipped over due to getting the basic gist of it.

The [Book Club] helps you maintain a moderate level of tolerance for ambiguity. Following the discussion threads, and asking questions along the way, you take in a lot of new information in a short period of time. Sticking with the club reading schedule maintains forward momentum in reading.

Even if you find you struggle to follow along, so long as you ask questions on things you’re not certain about, and read the weekly discussion threads (even if it’s about grammar you feel you already know, as you may discover aspects you didn’t), you will over time have the following results:

• You’ll learn more grammar, including grammar that’s designated as JLPT N1 (because it does come up in most any material written for native speakers, just less commonly than N5–N2).
• You’ll learn more vocabulary, even though most of it you’ll probably forget if you’re not specifically studying them or adding them to an SRS.
• You’ll get faster at reading, as your brain, a pattern-recognition machine, sees the same grammar over and over, and in some cases the same words again.

Keep in mind, I’ve written this not knowing your background with Japanese, and the kind of material you are able to read comfortably.