Reading Warriors: Into the Wild

[morninghues]

Hello!

So, my approach to learning Japanese is to use WK for kanji/vocab and Tae Kim’s guide for grammar. I figured I’d combine the two by attempting to translate a book. I ended up picking Warriors: Into the Wild, since it’s a book I know very well.

Obviously I’m not too far into WK, and I’m not that far into Tae Kim’s guide either, so I’m planning on just fighting my way through everything I don’t know. My question is, about what WK level do you think I’d have to be to understand most of the book? (“most” being a very subjective term, obviously, but I’m just looking for a ballpark - would 30 be okay or would I have to be all the way up near 60?)

Here’s one page from the book:

Thanks!

[Saruko]

Hi morninghues! Welcome to Wanikani

I always like seeing the different reading material that different people choose; it’s interesting to see the variety

My question is, about what WK level do you think I’d have to be to understand most of the book? (“most” being a very subjective term, obviously, but I’m just looking for a ballpark - would 30 be okay or would I have to be all the way up near 60?)

30 should be pretty good, as far as kanji goes. I’m at level 29 right now and can at least recognize most of the kanji on that page that don’t have furigana.

However, when I’m reading things (other than NHK easy news), I usually find that grammar and vocab are the limiting factors. The WK vocab is good for reinforcing the kanji readings, but there is a LOT of essential vocab that isn’t included. I like Tae Kim’s guide for looking up grammar, but sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what exactly to look up, if it’s a totally new grammar point. Maybe since you’re working through the entire guide, it will work better for you? Anyway, good luck!

Also, the Short Grammar Questions thread is a great place to ask for help if there’s a phrase or sentence that you’re having trouble with.

がんばって！

[SkySoraAi]

Hey there-- Warriors: Into the Wild is one of my favorites, too! Good thing it’s in Japanese! I’m not sure about level exactly-- Saruko-san seemed to have a good guess of about 30. I can read the page, and I was level 40!

Welcome, and best of luck with your Japanese studies!

[morninghues]

Thank you! That’s about what I figured. Sounds like I’ll be looking up kanji for a while then.

[jneapan]

I started reading manga around level 15. If you’re not adverse to looking up unknown kanji in something like jisho.org that should be good enough. But kanji isn’t really your limiting factor, it’s actually grammar. I’d say, until you reach lower-intermediate level, you’ll have lots of trouble with whatever you try to read that’s not a textbook example sentence. I’m not sure how Tae Kim structures the lessons, but you should probably prioritize those instead of WaniKani if you want reading comprehension. (you can always look up unknown words in a dictionary, and if they’re frequent enough, like 雄 and 雌 in the page you posted, you’ll commit them to memory through reinforcement, but it’s significantly harder to look up unknown grammar).

[crihak]

But kanji isn’t really your limiting factor, it’s actually grammar.

I’m not sure how Tae Kim structures the lessons, but you should probably prioritize those instead of WaniKani

I agree here, going through the non-advanced portions of Tae Kim was a huge help in getting me to a point where I could read stuff that wasn’t an example sentence.

[Ncastaneda]

I feel for the sake of convenience that kind of approach would be much more feasible using some e-reader.

I’m using a Kindle for a few months now, and not having to jump from the book to a dictionary, but have the definitions right there is been a huge improvement upon my reading routine. Probably it would had allowed me to jump into harder material earlier.

[banira]

On the other hand, having to just click to look something up might hinder your retention, as opposed to having to look closely what radicals are there, what the difference to that other kanji that looks similar might be.

I find that I tend to re-re-re-lookup stuff when all I have to do is move the mouse…

[Ncastaneda]

having to just click to look something up might hinder your retention, as opposed to having to look closely what radicals are there

… I meant an e-reader actually, Kindle or similar. You can change the font size, so is even easier to identify those kanji. I wouldn’t recommend doing the reading on a computer, in my case avoiding eye strain was a huge issue to pick up an e-ink device.