JapanNewbie

Start at the Beginning – Level 0 Reader

Posted on 18. Jul, 2010 @ 6:09 am by harvey in Books, Crazy Consumers, Language

Hey Everyone! This one is for the actual Newbies out there.

I learned through the White Rabbit Press newsletter that they now have a Level 0 Japanese Graded Reader. This means that no matter how newbie you are, you can use this to start reading Japanese. No more excuses! You don’t even need to know Kanji (they provide the furigana readings). This type of exercise is a good change of pace from memorizing random vocabulary and studying grammar.

Level 0 Graded Reader

Graded Japanese readers are basically texts that use a fixed amount of vocabulary, set grammar patterns, and a set number of Kanji, so that students can get through them while learning the Japanese appropriate to their level.

I’m a fan of the graded reader approach for studying foreign languages. I used a few graded Chinese readers here in China when I was first getting started. They really help to get you over the fear of seeing a bunch of foreign language text all at once.

Eventually you’ll need to start reading Japanese text you find in the wild, but for an absolute beginner that’s not always practical, and can be a bit overwhelming. These readers will help ease you into reading more and more Japanese. Then with time, making the jump to “wild” Japanese won’t be as intimidating.

After you get going with these readers I would recommend supplementing your studies with Japaense in the wild to keep you on your toes. The “wild stuff” will serve as a good reminder that most Japanese isn’t artificially tailored to what you are supposed to know, as is the case with the graded readers. So, I recommend building a skeleton foundation of knowledge with the readers, and then adding the meat with Japanese from the wild.

Think of it like this. When you go to the gym to practice boxing or something you’ll probably meet with your instructor and hit the pads that he wears on his hands using the punches that you know. When you get into the ring with a real opponent they’re obviously not going to move like the pads and wait for your practiced punches… but that doesn’t mean that the drills in the gym weren’t worth it! (Disclaimer: I don’t box.)

Use graded readers as your predictable punching bag for Japanese language learning. Use random tweets from super game designer @Kojima_Hideo or super housewife @youtomama0307jp as your real live opponents. (Don’t hit @youtomama though, she’s nice.)

がんばれ！

- Harvey

P.S. Zonjineko likes Graded Readers too!