What lvl to start reading?

So at what level is it possible to give absolute beginner reading material a shot?

I’m still a long way from there, but I would just like to get a little dot on the horizon to know when I can possibly getting my hands on reading material.

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Level 0! As soon as possible.

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Why not give it a try now? Just remember to study grammar too :wink:

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Allright! I’ll dive into it then :slight_smile:

Im working on my grammar during the weekly lessons with my teacher, they are mainly grammar focused so wanikani is my go to source to expand reading skills as we aren’t learning kanji in the lessons.

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I guess you already read something in Japanese, right? At least some example sentences and such.

Were you asking about the absolute biginner book club perhaps? I don’t really know what the level is for the book they are currently reading.

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Yes, start right away. A lot grade 0 readers use mostly hiragana, so it’s not like you’ll be lacking kanji knowledge. And reading speed improves only with practice! Check out

for a massive list of freely available low level resources!

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Thank you, I will definitely check it out and see if I can buy some of the books this book club has been reading.

I will follow your advice to start straight away and not wait till I reach a certain level

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Me at your level: Suggestions for no furigana mangas!
Me now, 4 years later: Dang! Current bookclub is no furigana :cold_sweat: (I am attempting it, but the suggestions I got and bought 4 years ago are collecting dust… maybe soon =P )

And yeah, you have gotten a link to my Graded Readers “Book Club”. I still love the lvl 0 books, such confidence boost to read them compared to advanced stuff =P

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I’ve been reading some news in the nhk easy website: NEWS WEB EASY. I can’t barely read anything without looking 10000000 of things, though. I got pretty excited yesterday because I could almost make sense out of a headline without looking anything up :sweat_smile:

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Robaiko, I recommend these as beginner material

They start super simple (which is what I need). And they’re free.

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You can start with Learn to Read in Japanese Volume 1 and 2. They assume you know nothing but how to read kana. They will teach you new kanji in each chapter. Chapters are just sentences in Japanese on the left side of the page and English transliteration on the right side of the page. There is enough space so you can read the Japanese side straight down without ever looking at the English, however the English can be looked at as you need it. Each chapter introduces new words and kanji and reuses previously learned words. Additionally, sentences will build in complexity as you progress through both books. I really love the books and highly recommend you check them out.

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IMO grammer is more important than kanji (unless you are reading something without furigana) other than that i would say you wouldn’t really know unless you try. And for that i recommend trying to read what you like/interested in so reading it wouldn’t be a chore.

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