Starting to read

Hi, I’m at level four. I am wondering if I should start to read easy things in Japanese, like comics and graphic novels. If level four is not adequate to read with please tell me. But if it’s OK to start reading please give me some suggestions.
-Abigail Bauman

8 Likes

I’ve tried at a similar level and honestly I think it may be better to spend that time getting to level 10 or more. I literally was looking up every other word. It certainly can’t hurt to try but your time would probably be better spent listening to podcasts or youtube videos on grammar, set phrases, and very common vocab. That’s just based on my experience, yours may be totally different. Good luck!

6 Likes

I actually would recommend getting a beginners grammar book / starting a grammar course because they have texts that you can read now and enforce using the same kanji that you’re currently learning. I tried reading NHK easy (I’m also level 5) and totally agree with @Hellapet - too many words to look up. However the grammar textbook I’m using uses pretty much the same Kanji that I have learned so far or am currently learning.

4 Likes

These are the easiest things I’ve found, Bauman.

(It was a very slow process… I should get back to it really. It was good to have simple sentences though and to try and figure out a bit of grammar as I went. Hopefully with a few more words under my belt now I won’t be looking up all the words as well as figuring out the grammar! And at least with these there’s not too much slang and informal ways of saying things that makes it possibly harder to understand things like comics?)

5 Likes

You should at least try reading something like graded readers or easier manga. It will be very hard in the beginning but it gets easier over time.

2 Likes

Thanks for the help!

1 Like

Thank you!

This is a really good site to read as a beginner. Easier than NHK easy news but better for starter imo. Sadly look like creator don’t update it anymore, still many articles to read though.

Also start go through textbook for grammars and learn words from other sources than Wanikani. This website mainly taught about Kanji, words you learn from here are far fewer and sometime rarely use compare to the like of those famous 2k/6k Anki decks for example.

3 Likes

It’s nice to see content that has furigana and explanations but is not limited to nhk’s news thank you for sharing :slight_smile:

2 Likes