Happy challenge launch everyone!
I am still very much a beginner reader. My approach to reading manga is as follows:
- Free-read an entire volume (no lookups unless I DESPERATELY want to know what a word means).
- Go back to the beginning and free-reread one chapter.
- Close-read (with dictionary, translation software, and other reference material) the chapter, keeping a vocab list. A close-reading session usually lasts until I’ve generated around 10 new vocab items (or I finish a chapter, whichever comes first).
- Move on to next chapter and repeat (free-reread, then close-read).
- Once the volume is done, move on to free-reading the next volume, and repeat.
I am currently rereading よつばと！Vol. 3; today I close-read p. 133-140 and generated the following vocab list:
影薄い: かげうすい: in the background; not standing out
確かに: たしかに: surely, certainly
肩たたき: かたたたき: shoulder massage
券: けん: ticket, coupon
こっている: to be stiff; to be elaborate/intricate
ロマンチスト: romanticist
気が長い: きがながい: patient
再発行: さいはっこう: reissue, republication
有効期限: ゆうこうきげん: expiration date (for ticket)
追加: ついか: addition, appendix
Although I make myself go through the tedious work of looking up words I don’t know in Jisho, I have been immensely helped by the よつばと discussion threads when I get stuck: よつばと! Vol 3 Discussion Thread (Yotsuba&! Reading Club)
For example, I know what ざぶとん一枚 means literally, but had no idea what it meant in this context: that it’s a way of praising someone’s joke by suggesting they be given a place on a talk show. Now I know!
It was a challenge to tear myself away from Wimbledon coverage today to do this, but I will do my best going forward…