Hello! How far into studying Japanese did you start using Satori reader? I’ve been studying about a year and am midway through Genki 2 but still really struggle to understand anything. How can I get better? Thank you so much!
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I started pretty early on, I accept that in every sentence there will be at least one unfamiliar word, but it’s still a great way to practice kanji and grammar.
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Satori is great because you can click on words or grammar to pull up dictionaries and explanations, plus it has audio.
In terms of starting reading I thinks it’s a great resource because of that, though of course with yomitan and the right dictionaries you could do that outside of their ecosystem. But they have their stories easily tailored and sorted by difficultly so it’s a streamlined experience. I think they might have also added some grammar articles? It’s been a while since I used it.
Genki2 is circa N4 so now is a great time to start reading to cement the grammar you’ve learned. Keep in mind, even if you had it all memorized, applying it will be new to you, and reading anything will feel like a struggle for a while. It’s normal!
If you like the social experience/being able to ask questions consider joining the absolute beginner or beginner book clubs. I…think there may also be a Genki study group going on? It may have finished.
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I think you’re at the perfect level to start. No matter how slow you have to go, it’s indispensable practice. Then before you know it you’ll be doing WK lessons when kanji you’re already familiar with pop up. Takes a bit of the load off your shoulders.
I’m like 6 months into Satori Reader and it’s honestly kinda fun now. Also the stories are excellent, some to the point where I would enjoy them in English
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I’d say now’s a good time to start. The textbook app made by the Satori team (Human Japanese) puts you at about the same level as the Genki books, and they made it so people can transition from textbooks at about that level to Satori. It’ll still probably be difficult at first because getting used to reading is a skill of its own, but it’ll get easier with practice.
I’d start with the Sakura and Suzuki story, it has very short chapters due to the letter format and I found it to be the easiest out of all the stories I read
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Satori Reader is great. Midway through Genki 2 is plenty of exposure to start using Satori, so I would try out a few of the series an see if you like it.
In general, the stories are annotated such that you really only need a very basic understanding of Japanese grammar to get started. I think if you understand Present and Past Tense short form verbs, the basic construction pattern of sentences, the basic particles (は,が, に, と, を) and some of the very common conjuctions particles like から、 けど, that’s enough to get started. Just look at the annotations and refer back to the textbook or grammar dictionary if there is something you don’t understand.
Don’t worry if it’s slow going at first, and if something seems to difficult, you can always just skip it or find something that’s easier to read.
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For the spring reading challenge, I’m doing one episode of the Jam Maker on Satori Reader per day. I take my time, going sentence by sentence, clicking on all the words and grammar points I don’t know and checking my own understanding by reading their translations ( the ….part at the end of each sentence). I listen to the audio and shadow each sentence at least once. If you have a problem understanding something, you can ask a question in the comments section & they’ll get back to you in a few days.
As a plus Point you can sync Satori Reader with Wanikani so only the kanji you can already read appear minus furigana.
They also have some great episodes on grammar.
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