Learning to Read Japanese

[megatyler30]

I'm interested in learning Japanese for manga/light novels/visual novels/video games, this said, unless it makes reading Japanese easier I would prefer to only work understanding written Japanese and typing Japanese, not speaking, pronunciation listening comprehension, etc. What path would you suggest in learning Japanese for this reason? Would Hesig method work well for this and if not what would be good alternatives. Also if Hesig's books are to be used, what should I do once I've been over them? Thank you very much for reading and hopefully for replying.

Tyler

Edit: Sorry I forgot to add this, it would be mainly for light novels, visual novels, and video games so the manga isn't the main objective like with most people. Also if I could get good enough at it, I would want to do (written) translations for light novels and possibly manga.

 

[Morphling]

You need a Japanese textbook and start understanding the grammar. Manga grammar will be harder as there are many irregular usages.

Use whatever method you think works for Kanji but the natives learn by rote. Typically you are given a handful every week and you write them repeatedly and be given tests and reading comprehension. There are no shortcuts unless you have Kanji background.

Japanese is a messy language, it won't be quick or easy.

 

[SomeCallMeChris]

I think it's worthwhile for someone interested in reading to do Remember the Kanji volume 1. Make sure that you read everything he writes, foreword and lesson notes and all -- you don't have to do everything exactly his way, but make sure you understand what his way is and have a good (if personal) reason for your variation. Lots of people skip to the first kanji and go on to do something that is nothing like what Heisig describes and then complain that it doesn't work or confuse themselves in all sorts of ways.

Also don't be afraid to change kanji or component keywords, just make sure to check the keyword lists in the back and make written notes to avoid future conflicts.

Aside from that, learning Japanese is learning Japanese. Languages are fundamentally verbal, despite the complexities of kanji. Whenever people read, they subvocalize what they are reading (you can detect the inaudible movements in the vocal chords to prove this, or so I heard on NPR.) My ability to read smoothly really didn't come until I learned to listen to full speed speech even though I'm more of a reader than a speaker. The best that focusing on reading is going to get you is that you don't have to spend a lot of time working on your own accent.

 

[nekojita]

If you really are interested in the Heisig method, there's something called RTK Lite which redoes the order into something more useful. (You do not need all the joyo; for light novels/games etc you will see some non-joyo used). Be aware that you can't just do Heisig and then expect to read native materials (without studying the vocab/grammar).

I prefer a words/sentences based method, like Kanji Odyssey (I did basically the same thing by working through Kanji Kentei and similar materials). (You still need to be aware of kanji radicals/components including phonetic components)

As soon as possible get away from anything which lists kanji/vocab you should be learning and go via what is in you want to read/play. For games the most important word is 攻略 (walkthrough).

 

[megatyler30]

Thank you for the replies and suggestions. Also I have one more question, how does one go about figuring out where one word begins and another ends it's unfamiliar vocabulary (when trying to read)? Or is it something that becomes clear once I learn enough grammar?
@SomeCallMeChris
I already know about subvocalization, I didn't think about that, although I do know that one does not need to subvocalize to read, only it's common and helps to better remember the text being read.

 

[nekojita]

Parsing is really just based on grammar/vocab knowledge + practice. Strings of hiragana tend to be what trip people up. For example (picked at random off a game site):

経験値とお金稼ぎのためにできるだけ多くのクエストをクリアーしておきたいところ。

クリアーしておきたいところ is クリアーして (a katakana word being used as a suru verb, in te-form) + おきたい (tai form of the verb oku) + ところ (a word with various meanings - here more situation/point in time than physical place). There's no other sensible way to split it. Even if you didn't know the verb oku, if you know the grammar it should be obvious that you have して + a verb in tai form + ところ and you can make a decent guess at what the dictionary form of the verb is.

For strings of kanji, usually they can be split into blocks of two (unless a prefix/suffix kanji is present), so 内閣衛星情報センター is just 内閣 + 衛星 + 情報 + センター

Basically you can use contextual reading to read through a text and follow the ideas/plot even it contains unfamiliar words.

 

[megatyler30]

@nekojita
Thank you very much for the quick and helpful reply.
Also I recently found this

How to Read Visual Novels in Japanese in 2 years time (or 1 year if you are fast) ― learn to read through VN or anime

Do you think that is a good way to go? (the visual novel method I mean)

 

[lachy]

I don't really know about mangas but for the web, Rikaichan/Rikaikun work wonder. I also think you can go faster than a year, more like 6 months.

When learning kanji, I suggest that you learn most important first since 500 kanji cover 80% of Wikipedia. So I wouldn't suggest learning in Heisig order but rather to use a custom list on Reviewing the Kanji.

Edit: I also notice that about grammar, no one mentioned Tae Kim's Guide, which is the one textbook I recommend.

 

[Tak Yamanaka]

Hello.

I am a Japanese teacher.
If you want to learn to read Japanese, I suggest that reading many Japanese textbooks.
Actually almost Japanese textbooks are not interesting, I think.