Oops yes, I kept meaning to do that. Thanks for the nudge and sorry for neglecting it 
will try to do it this weekend, so give me another poke on Monday if itâs not done.
1 Like
No rush
1 Like
I am about to start level 16 and want to begin reading, but Iâm not sure where to begin. Iâm also taking a Japanese conversation class as well as studying on my own. Are there suggestions for level appropriate readers? I know any material will require time, patience, and a good jisho, but what level of graded reader (or other material) would be a good start for someone at my level? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
1 Like
only if there were an absolute beginner club, you could look at the nominations.
yotsubato is generally recommended. but youâre going to have to deal with âchildren speakâ
ăăăăŸă«ăă§is easy if you ignore the avalanche of puns
ć°ć„łç”æ«æ
èĄ if you can read kanji
one piece, if youâre into one piece
kumakumakumakuma if you really like the show and your will is made of steel
1 Like
If you look under the graded reader section thereâs a link to some free graded readers - you could take a look at those to judge the level thatâs comfortable for you?
Otherwise itâs quite difficult to make suggestions, because your kanji knowledge really isnât the main factor in what you can read - itâs much more about how much grammar you know, and to some extent how much vocabulary you have good recall of.
If youâre looking at buying anything native you will very often find that you can read the first few pages for free as a preview on eBook sites (even if youâre ultimately looking to buy a physical copy). Thatâs genuinely probably the best way to judge if a particular book/manga is going to work for you. Iâd definitely look into what the book clubs have read in the past to give you some starting ideas 
@Raionus sorreeeeeeeeee
5 Likes
I added BOOKOFF online to the places to buy used books. Iâve purchased probably 75+ books, mostly manga, through BOOKOFF. The quality is always immaculate. Iâve bought manga thatâs from the early 80s, but only has the expected aging color. The books still smell like books should, the spins are in great condition, and only in a few books have I found accidently bent pages.
I also included a link to Buyee, which is a proxy service. Itâs the one that partners with Mercari and Booth (Pixivâs selling marketplace), both of which are very picky with the quality of shipping, so I trust itâs quite capable. I donât know if she wants to leave a review of it, but @saibaneko used it to purchase books from BOOKOFF and I believe her items arrived very quickly if I recall correctly.
8 Likes
OMG, thanks for sharing this site! Theyâve all of the Naruto 72 volumes for 90 dollars! If dad will agree, I think I might buy themâŠ
2 Likes
I love used book stores! This looks like a great resource.
I'm a little confused about the description, is this interpretation correct?
Bookoff is a company that has physical stores that you can buy a variety of used goods at, and Bookoff Online only sells used books, CDs, DVDs, and BlueRays?
And Buyee is a service like Tenso and White Rabbit Express to help you buy their stuff outside of Japan? Should we change the description to something like:
2 Likes
I think this adds more clarity, thanks! One thing though: For me âBOOKOFF has limited shipping destinationsâ would make more sense as âshipping locationsâ sounds to me like the places from where they ship (but Iâm not a native speaker, so maybe Iâm just misinterpreting 
).
Maybe you can add another sentence to explain forwarding services? Maybe âThese services provide a Japanese address to which your purchases can be sent from any Japanese business, and they will forward these goods to you internationally.â or something?
2 Likes
Also, âBluRayâ is spelt without an E. 
3 Likes
bookoff is great but after some research, i recommend you look around for proxy buyer. buyee would be fine for a large one off but for lots of small items (i get second hand craft materials for example that are impossible to find at affordable prices outside japan), youâd need to switch to a proxy with a different fee structure.
hope you get your naruto collection!
2 Likes
@DIO-Strawberry A description suggestion, but your writing style is much friendlier, so please change if you want 
BOOKă»OFF Online
BOOKă»OFF Online is the online version of a popular used-goods store in Japan. They have a great variety of books, CDs, DVDs, and BluRays usually at very low prices. The majority of it is secondhand but the quality is usually impeccable. There are limited shipping options, but you can use one of the forwarding services listed below to help you purchase and ship everything.If you canât find an online store that will ship to you, consider a forwarding or proxy service like Tenso, White Rabbit Express or Buyee.
1 Like
Didnât know about this one, thanks!
I was just wondering⊠Does it have an English version of the site�
My Japanese is not quite that strong yet 
2 Likes
Iâm always getting it confused with Bluetooth lol 
Maybe Iâll learn to keep them straight.
2 Likes
Thatâs how it reads honestly. I had a meeting and was trying to write too fast. Idk if they actually normally ship outside Japan. Iâm not really sure how to check either.
Honestly this is part of why I included Buyee in the description. Iâm not sure how proxy/forwarding services usually work, but Buyee seems to function as a website add-on so youâre buying through their interface?
1 Like
Did Buyee treat them as if being bought separately?? Things from BOOKOFF get shipped together, so I donât understand why on earth they would do that.
Thank you, Iâll make some edits.
BOOKOFF is sadly not English friendly. When Iâm running low on Japanese energy, I use Google Chromeâs built in Google Translate service. You can turn it on/off pretty easily, but you might need to give it permissions in your settings.
Youâll have to make sure to search titles as they are listed as well. I usually check Japanese Wikipedia if Iâm unsure if something will be in katakana or romaji. For example, Part 7 of JoJo is âSTEEL BALL RUNâ rather than in katakana.
2 Likes
no, thatâs what iâm saying: if itâs a big one off order from one site, then buyee is good. for many lil orders from lots of sites, itâs better to go with a low per item fee. i doubt thereâs one proxy thatâs best for all possible cases.
2 Likes
What about free Graded Readers? The easiest ones donât demand much more than ăŻăăăă§ă and Hiragana knowledge.
(The board just informed me, that this was posted before, but itâs just so useful, I have to post it again).
Got it, thank you!
1 Like