Background / skill level: I’m currently doing a weekly local class that is on the first few chapters of Genki 2. In the middle of getting through an N5 vocab Anki deck and planning on doing an N4 as well.
I’m trying to pull myself out of the “beginner/school level” and try to read material out there in the real world instead of just what’s in the Genki textbook and vocab sentences in Anki.
Maybe I’m still not ready for even the easiest material in the Todai app but it’s frustrating because I feel like I’m stuck in this “classroom” state of learning Japanese and I’m impatient to get out of it. It obviously doesn’t help that the class is only once a week and really slow but hoping to get some encouragement from other people who might understand.
I feel like I do decently well in my class with where I am in the textbook but when I venture out of that contrived environment because I’m inpatient I get burnt out immediately with material that is too hard. I don’t really want to read children’s books that might be more at my level and would love to read manga/light novels but maybe that’s just what I have to do until I break out of “beginner hell”.
5 comments
Textbooks have always been the way to learn to be fair. Granted that they can’t teach you social interaction and what is common but it gives you the fundamentals and a headstart at least. So frankly I can’t see a problem with doing both. Which is basically what I would suggest. At the moment I’ve been using Hey Japan, as it seems to have a wide variety to learn from and covers all JLPT levels, and even has the tests. I am currently looking into what textbooks I can also learn from. If you are looking into the more real-world social aspect then all I can suggest is to look for groups, even Discord servers, and find people to chat with.
You don’t really get to know all that much coming out of Genki 1 (speaking as someone whose only experience with textbooks was Genki 1before jumping straight into native materials with some other resources for grammar). No need to beat yourself up over slow progress. Just keep going, and be consistent while at the same time allow yourself time to absorb the information.
I mean, you’re in the middle of learning N5 vocab and you’re trying to read text where maybe a third of the words are taught for N5. Of course you’re not going to understand much.
Books for Japanese children aren’t necessarily easier either. Books for children are still books for fluent speakers of their native language.
If you want to read manga, there’s one called Crystal Hunters that’s available in extremely simplified Japanese that gradually gets harder with each volume. Their web site [is here](https://crystalhuntersmanga.com) and you can read the first volume for free in easy Japanese [here](https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/80075613). They also have guides on their web site that contain vocabulary lists (and a lot of basic info on Japanese).
Check out Satori Reader: https://www.satorireader.com/. it’s tailored towards the transition you’re trying to make, and is extremely helpful. Has text + professional readers/narrators, + definitions, grammar & culture notes, kanji/kana toggle, etc.
Otherwise the KKLC graded readers may be beneficial as well. Someone else already mentioned Crystal Hunters – they’re excellent. The first volume or two are a bit slow and simplistic, but they really pick up after that.
Also, look up what the easier manga are, and try to read one of those and compare against the translation. It will definitely be a challenge, but very rewarding as you struggle through it.
And yeah, despite the name, Todai stuff is still pretty challenging.
Well as others already stated, youre still in the early early stages, if you completed a n5 deck, you would have like ~600-800 vocabs, thats not a lot(atleast for native content).
You dont have to only read kid stuff, u/thatfool already gave a good example, there are also graded readers, stories written for japanese learners(so you wont see native garmmar etc.).
reading manga and lightnovels are a great goal, I really enjoy them, but you have to accept the fact, that it will take a lot of time to be able to be comprehend them.
Manga shouldnt take that long, I guess at arround 2000 vocabs you can start to read some easier (native) stuff, but you will still have to look up a lot(also highly dependend on the genre).
But lightnovels are a completely different beast, even a simple rom/com Vol. has atleast ~6000 unique words, even if every single of your n5 voabs would occur, you still wouldnt even be able to recognize ~5/6 of the unqiue words used. And we didnt even consider all the grammar used(n5 is still the “surface” of all the grammar).
But this can be a great long term goal for you, being able to somewhat read lightnovels, but you have to be patient, as it will take a lot of time and effort, but its surely worth it!