Are you a first-time reader?
If so, there are a few things you’re going to want to know.
You'll be reading less than you think
Over the next three months, you will not be reading.
You will be deciphering.
What’s the difference?
Reading is what happens when you look at written characters, and you take in their meaning.
Deciphering is what happens when those written characters are incomprehensible, and you need to look up vocabulary words and grammar in an attempt to discern their meaning.
It’s important to know this going in. Otherwise, it’s easy to think you’re doing something wrong, and to give up.
In fact, it may even take reading multiple manga volumes (or other native materials) before you encounter even one line of text that you feel you actually read.
This is normal. This is what you must expect going in.
Keeping pace by tolerating ambiguity
Tolerance is when you begrudgingly accept something.
Ambiguity occurs when you have insufficient information.
Learning a new language is filled with uncertainty.
Over time, that uncertainty decreases, as you learn more of the language.
When you first start reading, you will encounter many things you do not know. Grammar constructs, vocabulary words, language concepts, and so on. There will be too many elements to properly learn all at once. And many of those elements will take repeated exposure to fully grasp.
You need to develop a tolerance for ambiguity. This is where you accept that some things are too foreign or too difficult to understand yet, knowing that you will come to grasp and understand them following future exposure.
It’s important to keep a moderate tolerance for ambiguity.
Having too low of a tolerance results in spending too much time trying to learn each item. Progression through material is slow, which can be demoralizing, and can lead to burning out on the material. Learning is more dense, but repeated exposure is needed to help solidify understanding, and a slow pace hinders this.
Having too high of a tolerance leads to insufficient learning. Progression through material is fast, but actual learning is handicapped, as too many unknowns are skipped over due to getting the basic gist of it.
The Absolute Beginner Book Club helps you maintain a moderate level of tolerance for ambiguity. Following the discussion threads, and asking questions along the way, you take in a lot of new information in a short period of time. Sticking with the club reading schedule maintains forward momentum in reading.
This manga we’re about to read has self-contained chapters. You don’t need to fully understand one chapter before moving on to the next.
This is important.
As long as you are learning grammar and vocabulary along the way, and as long as you get the gist of the story in each chapter, you must allow yourself to move on each week.
Disclaimer: You can read at whatever pace you feel works best for you. Most first-time readers do not know what will work best for them, and will not know if they’re doing things right or wrong.