I want to read the Bible in Japanese to improve my vocab and keigo, but I have no idea how to approach it. I don’t know how to read most of it, so I thought you all might have some suggestions. For reference, I know the Hiragana and Katakana, along with maybe 200-300 Kanji (like, all N5 ones)
4 comments
You’ll need to know grammar and kanji
Go get the free Bunpro trial and speedrun N5 grammar. Tons of sentences will make a whole lot more sense if you know those grammar points.
Btw, is the Bible even written in Keigo? I’d expect it be be in a even more honorific/archaic type of speech.
I imagine the bible is written in quite formal and more classic, literary Japanese which would make this very challenging for a beginner.
May I recommend some more approachable reading resources? The [tadoku free graded readers](https://tadoku.org/japanese/free-books/) are full of illustrated fiction and non-fiction books. [YomuJP](https://yomujp.com/) has non-fiction texts and articles with pictures. [Sakura Tadoku Lab](https://jgrpg-sakura.com/library/) offers longer fiction in simple grammar if you create an account. [And there are many more suitable for N5](https://dokushoclub.com/free-reading-resources/n5-free-reading-resources/) and [N4](https://dokushoclub.com/free-reading-resources/n4-free-reading-resources/).
Two things coming from a guy who was a missionary in Japan:
The bible usually has furigana
You will not want to study the bible to learn keigo
シオンの娘よ、大いに喜べ、エルサレムの娘よ、呼ばわれ。
This is how half of the bible is written. You’ll learn some decent vocab, but will talk like a bible prophet…not really keigo…