This is for the intermediate/post-intermediate learners (N3+), but this has been on my mind a fair bit lately. The intermediate plateau is something we all become familiar with at one point or another, and it’s very easy to get stuck there, but I’ve been experimenting with a literacy-based model for boosting my understanding (and I’ve found personal success). For those who have developed or are developing their skills further, I’d love to hear your thoughts on similar experiences or approaches.
tl;dr: Reading manga/books is proving to be a solid strategy for me, and I’d love to hear about similar experiences. Something something language/literacy theory.
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I’ve been experimenting with a few manga series, and I’m looking towards starting to move towards shorter books targeted for a similar age bracket. In short, I’ve been using reading as a focus point with the idea that any lack of understanding isn’t a pure language-related issue, but one of building literacy in a second language. It’s hardly revolutionary, but here’s my experiences so far in recent times.
For context, I have a background in educational psychological and languages, and much of the established theory is that the further you go with a language, while immersion can be important, using combinations of skills and synthesising applications of your understanding is crucial. In short, new vocabulary, grammar and Kanji need context and application to be effectively retained beyond simple recollection. Likewise, in theory regarding literacy in your dominant language (mine is English), reading consistently and building upon reading habits expands language skills. There’s a lot of chatter about how comics and the like are a pathway to expanded reading over time. The literacy approach also involves maintaining momentum, even if there are words, sentences or sections that don’t make complete sense on the first pass. The former is about application and context, the latter is about momentum and building a rhythm with challenges. It’s about building strength over time, and the feel of ‘brain strain’ can be comparable to lifting weights when it’s a new skill. Likewise, these bumps or walls can result in negative feedback loops without the right approach/mindset.
Following some recommendations, I started three manga series that are considered ‘accessible’ in terms of language, Kanji/Furigana, and overall complexity. I’m 3 volumes into Yotsuba, 2 of the bunko release of Sailor Moon, and I’m almost done with the first volume of the collector’s edition re-release of Slam Dunk. While there was some trepidation at first (the classic uncertainty/wall of language learning AND literacy), I’m finding that 75-80% of the language is understood automatically, with another 5-10% gained from context, and the remainder tends to be genre-related or exposition/plot heavy sections. It’s felt fantastic applying my skills, and I’m having fun reading the series. It’s also helping me build my understanding of Kanji and slang/dialect modifications rather rapidly.
In many ways, this has been about abandoning the “Oh, I didn’t understand that section, I need to translate it into my main language/check the words” mindset, rather than forging ahead and then verifying understanding with zero judgment on ability.
Now, I realise the the ‘just read manga’ mentality has a lot of baggage and for those not remotely interested in manga it’s borderline useless as a suggestion. What I’m finding is that this approach is acting as a gateway for synthesising my skills acquired over time (spoken/heard language in particular) at Intermediate level, while adding a means of applying them, and building confidence/motivation at the same time. Manga is also relatively low-risk, as context can be inferred from the images (and then checked), rather than crumbling in response to the wall of vocabulary/Kanji a book/novel might present. Eventually, I do want to move onto more general books, and I’ve got some things lined up. Likewise, I’m making sure that this isn’t the only media I access in Japanese, so things are a bit more rounded.
To summarise, it’s an approach that’s providing some success, motivation and interest, and the literacy-centric skill growth mindset is working well for me. JLPT targets are fine and I’ll work towards that, but this feels a bit more… organic, if a bit niche.
6 comments
It looks like you are talking about 2 things.
One is something like 20/80 rule, that initial 20% provides 80% coverage. In case of Japanese, initially a single particle can provide 1-4% of coverage, but at the end we literally need to learn 15-30k words for the last 2% of coverage. When people talk about intermediate plateau, they usually mean that it’s hard to track the progress. At the beginning we need to translate 3-4 unknown words every sentence, but even when we become around N1 level, we still do the same thing, translate unknown words. The only difference is that now it’s 1 every several sentences, but still 4-6 on every book’s page. Progress becomes so gradual, that for many people it looks like they learn nothing, especially after initial moving from “know 0 kanji” to “can recognize majority of kanji” in several months only.
And another topic is about practical ability. When we learn something like conjugation, it’s simply a key. What we want at the end isn’t knowledge of rules like 食べる is る-verb, so I cut this る and replace with て or something like that. What we want to know are these tens of different situations and fitting words to it, so we instantly understand and react. We see something tasty and it’s instantly 食べたい by itself. Any language at the end is purely practical ability and all these grammar and other rules exist only to shortcut, so we are able to produce even at early stages.
Personally when I was at around n3 level I was not able to read manga without searching the dictionary every other sentence, which kind of ruined the fun a bit. I used a resource called Satori Reader which is aimed squarely at intermediate readers. There are interesting articles and stories written by native Japanese, but they come with detailed explanation on grammar and cultural context. Highly recommend it for those trying to get past the intermediate hump.
Starting at around N3 level I mostly focused on reading (not really into manga so I did light novels at first and then just regular books), watching YouTube and drama, and learning 10 words a day in Anki. It feels rough at first, but after a few months it works. I took the N1 two weeks ago, didn’t do much to prepare for the exam in particular and probably passed. I don’t think this approach is niche at all, I’d say most people who end up reaching a high level switch to mostly native content sooner or later. It’s also way more fun than forever being stuck learning in a ‘structured’ way.
Also to everyone who feels like they’re stuck on the intermediate plateau, stop looking at it that way and instead think that the difficult book learning part is over, and now you can just do stuff in Japanese.
You have discovered for yourself the Input Hypotesys. You might find the work of Stephen Krashen quite interesting, he’s been preaching out that for quite a while.
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Those are some interesting links for you to check:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiTsduRreug](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiTsduRreug)
http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf
The “intermediate plateau” is a myth. Basically, the only thing that is going on is that you learn relatively less because you already know a lot, but you still don’t know a big chunk of the language, so you feel kinda helpless. There is no such a thing as a plateau if you are learning new words, grammar points and kanji.
Saying that you are facing the intermediate plateau is akin to saying “I’m not wise enough to realize that progress naturally slows down the more I know something, and I feel a bit bored because I’m not pushing myself enough”. Wanna see how you are not at a plateau? Keep track of how many new words/kanji etc. you learn a week, and compare yourself now to the you from 2 months ago. If you see no progress, the plateau is because you are not studying and spending time immersing in the language.
I ditched Anki in January and just read since then. Probably about 14 books in right now.
Yes, you still will find many books too hard (as in reading pace, and with it enjoyment, plummets). However, I can look at a book that was once too hard, like かがみの孤城, and it’s an easy read now.
The N2 test was far easier too, but highlighted my lack of listening: 30 minutes a day doesn’t cut it.
I’ll probably post more once the results are out.