Will learning Japanese by reading a children storybook help?

[RannKokoro]

Hi all, I'm currently trying to learn Japanese because I really want to know how to read japanese magazines so I've recently bought a children story book to help myself in learning Japanese. At the same time, I've been practicing how to write Hiragana. However, I am just wondering, will I be able to achieve much if I'm kind of guessing the sentences that are written by using google translate? Or is there a better way to learn?

Thank you so much.

 

[Mike Cash]

Attempting to learn Japanese by using children's books is a very common idea. It is also a very bad idea.

Is there a better way to learn? Yes. Take a class. If you can't do that, then at least use a textbook (and associated materials, if any).

Learning enough Japanese to be able to read magazines is a project that is likely to take a few years of dedicated effort. You may save a bit of time from pre-existing familiarity with kanji, but you're still looking at quite a bit of work.

 

[RannKokoro]

Attempting to learn Japanese by using children's books is a very common idea. It is also a very bad idea.

Is there a better way to learn? Yes. Take a class. If you can't do that, then at least use a textbook (and associated materials, if any).

Learning enough Japanese to be able to read magazines is a project that is likely to take a few years of dedicated effort. You may save a bit of time from pre-existing familiarity with kanji, but you're still looking at quite a bit of work.

Ah. That's not a very good news. Thank you so much for telling me though. I shall try to invest in a textbook instead.

 

[Mike Cash]

Some other members with more current info than I have help with recommendations for specific materials.

 

[mosunshine]

I'm not sure about self-study text-books,
but for Kanji,(which is really essential ), please check out this new blog
NIHONGO ICHIBAN

Also the Japan Foundation page is excellent !
WEB版「エリンが挑戦！にほんごできます。」サイト閉鎖と新サイトのご案内 | WEB版 エリンが挑戦！にほんごできます。

For reading on your own, then JOI's teachers write weekly blogs.
These include audio, Kanji reading, vocab lists and an English translation.
Learn Japanese Online

 

[staren]

Some other members with more current info than I have help with recommendations for specific materials.

I guess I'm one of those

I used Genki 1 and 2. I thought they were good. Check em out

 

[RannKokoro]

I guess I'm one of those

I used Genki 1 and 2. I thought they were good. Check em out

I'm not sure about self-study text-books,
but for Kanji,(which is really essential ), please check out this new blog
NIHONGO ICHIBAN

Also the Japan Foundation page is excellent !
WEB版「エリンが挑戦！にほんごできます。」サイト閉鎖と新サイトのご案内 | WEB版 エリンが挑戦！にほんごできます。

For reading on your own, then JOI's teachers write weekly blogs.
These include audio, Kanji reading, vocab lists and an English translation.
Learn Japanese Online

I will check them out. Thank you so much!

 

[forgottenmems]

I use childrens books now and I'm at an intermediate level. I wouldn't recommend them to a complete beginniner as the grammar is still hard for me as an intermediate learner.

 

[nekojita]

Depends on what sort of "children's books". In my opinion, books for five year olds generally don't make good learning material regardless of your level, and most people aren't reading them because they're actually interested in them but under some idea that it will be easy/easier. Most learners actually find all-kana to be harder (it's more difficult to parse), and the vocabulary is often full of terms that you're unlikely to find anywhere except in a kids' book.

Stuff aimed at older kids in a field you're interested in can be useful as a stepping stone (once you've got the basics under your belt) since you'll see more furigana and explanation of technical/specialist terms.
e.g. if you were interested in poetry, you'd want to look at websites/books aimed at teaching kids about famous poems.
if you have a particular hobby, you can look for "introduction to (whatever)" websites.
if you want to read newspapers, there are sites that try to encourage students to read newspapers (by providing definitions of difficult terms, background info, etc).
if you want to read novels, a light novel version of a manga you know the story of is a good way to start.

There's also often manga explanations for various topics, even JAXA produced some:
なびたん：「はじめまして」の巻 - READ - 準天頂衛星システム（QZSS）みちびきデータ公開サイト[QZ-vision]

 

[Davey]

It would be good for your hiragana and katakana reading I think. The vocabulary wouldn't be that good (especially because lots of books have the sound of animals etc ... nice to know, but not too read the whole time), and also you wouldn't really use those kind of things in sentences because you will sound like a 5 year old.

Too start with it would be great, after that try reading stuff like the hiragana times.