I recently came across this graded reader by Oxford Brookes (here in Oxford there is the world famous “Oxford University”, but also Brookes, that is maybe less famous but still quite important). It was mentioned before on the forum, but not in detail, and I have to say it’s a great product: it looks amazing and I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a graded reader.
I will be starting reading the first book soon, if someone wants to read it with me so we can help each other please let me know
Here you can find more information and even look inside the first pages of the books. For example this is a page as it appears on their website (at this link) , just to give you an idea of how how cool it looks:
Cool
They are available from Amazon and actually they’re cheaper than some other series published in Japan.
I just jumped in , should be here in a few days; I’m currently going through two other graded readers series.
this particular series doesn’t follows Tadoku’s level system, but basically Level 1 in this series should be equivalent to Level 2 in Tadoku; in case you wan’t to go into those ones as well.
Let me know when you get them ;). I don’t know what Taduko system is, I’ll look into it ^^
Ah okay you mean the white rabbit series. Yeah I have seen that but they are very expensive and the book shop didn’t have them anyway, so I opted for what was there. We’ll see how it goes. You are right, the first level might be harder than the first one (level 0) on white rabbit series.
Here’s a brief explanation of Tadoku.
Basically just read something within your level, and don’t stop. Not for dictionary or explanations. So it’s kind of important to be in your level.
I also am going through those rather expensive graded readers right now (I only bought them because I was in Japan and they were at lest cheaper than ordering them from overseas) and am currently looking for more material.
I have some supposedly easier stuff that I‘ll have a look at (like Yotsuba, Chi‘s Sweet Home and so on) but having something that is intended for language learners seems more appropriate for my current level.
I was eager to make the switch to authentic japanese material, and I’m doing it little by little. But having a dedicated material like Graded Readers it’s a great resource.
Reading native material it’s enjoyable, but it gets tiresome quicker, as I make pauses to look up for things more often. Besides, except for Kanji and the expected grading according to school year, there’s much variation from the difficulty of one book to the other, mainly because of vocab and grammar, which japanese kids handle much better than intermediate learners
Great thing though it’s that there’re some recommendations in the Tadoku website, so according to the level you can keep up doing graded readers you can try also jumping into native media.
Even though I’ve been following since Level 0, and now reading the stories in the Level 3 from the Ask Graded Readers, I went with the Taishukan series as well. I see that reading stories graded for the first levels in this series also probes enjoyable, I learn some vocab still, and I find it helpful to keep reading more often. So I’ll do the same with the Oxford collection … the more, the better…
I got a level 2 volume of those Taishukan ones last time in Japan, I had completely forgotten about that one! And I agree: the more, the better. At a beginner level these resources are so helpful to get comprehensible input and get into the habit of reading.
*checks * Jupp, already have it!
Not gotten around to reading it yet though, so if we start reading it together I will join =)
I only have the first one, might buy the others, but only if I finish that one first =P (if we continue reading on I will of cause buy it ahead of time when we are getting about half way)
I brought my copy on a flight and happened to sit next to an actual Japanese guy while reading
I’m not sure he noticed… But I could confirm my suspicion when he spoke with his friend at landing =^_^=
Ok, finished the first volume this afternoon. What did you think of the stories?
I acquired both Level 2 volumes as well, so I’ll continue with the series.
Compared to the other graded readers I’ve gone through some of the stories don’t seem to stand on itself so well, and seemed just like introductions to further stories (specially the last three), so I was like…. meh….
Anyway, even though no problems with the grammar so far, I learned quite a few new words in these stories.
Interest thing about this series is that is mentioned as a six level series…. So far only published until Level 3, but I wonder if they will actually get until the last level, If so, it will be the first graded series to do it.
PS: I started somewhat of a register of my readings, as to keep track and don’t lose motivation with this reading spree. This site it’s very good for that exactly:
Mmm… They are quite similar. Each volume in Taishukan collection comes with 7 stories per volume (13 pages). Ask comes with 6 stories with 15 pages each (just in Level 0, there are 5 per volume in the rest of the series).
It seems that Level 0 came as an afterthought for both collections, as for Aks it didn’t existed initially and Taishukan’s first volume comes with a mix of Level 0 (x2), Level 1 (x2) and Level 2 (x3) stories.
Taishukan volume 7 and 8 are both a mix between level 0 and 1 stories.
Anyway, if you’re uncertain if Level 0 or level 1, the mixed volumes in Taishukan could be better.
You can check Tadoku free stories and find about how much would you understand from level 0 and 1 stories.
, should be here in a few days; I’m currently going through two other graded readers series.
… the more, the better…