Aside from improving my reading comprehension, I would also like to improve my Kanji skills.
I have seen Makoto magazine web preview and I think they did a good job of showing the yomikata (hiragana counterpart) when you click the Kanji. Contents look interesting too. But even I have a good impression, I would like to hear if anyone here actually subscribed and kept reading their contents in the long run… Was it helpful?
Asking because I notice it seems like their contents are stuck with the same Japanese level, N4 and below. But I might be wrong
Another candidate is Satori Reader which has the same Kanji with yomikata features in the web
If you know any others aside from these 2, could you suggest?
I am looking for something interesting, I am more of a non-fiction reader (I usually read self-help books and about finance and business) rather than fiction but I guess language learning readers are limited to stories… (or may maybe there is?)
Anyway, as long as it is far from boring dialogue scripts on textbook, I am in
1 comment
I am a native French speaker, and a retired high school French teacher (36 years). Now, I train language teachers, and do consulting work with pre-service and probationary language teachers. Moreover, I have had a big part in the development of the California state standards for languages, so I have experience with language learning materials and curriculum development. All that to just provide a bit of background about what I mean by my comments.
In retirement, I am learning Japanese as part of a long time dream of going to Japan. So, I have been using Duolingo every day for nearly 1600 days, and about to give up on it.
I am also subscribed to Makoto+ and I really like Clay & Yumi’s materials. In addition to the ezine, I have most of the books they have published. So what do I like about their materials?
1) They present language coupled with culture. Language & culture always go hand in hand. You cannot separate the two. When you break them apart, and only focus on language,the lessons are sterile and devoid of interest that will engage students, including us!
2) Although they offer some grammar support, grammar is not the focus. We do not learn another language by learning grammar! Grammar is only helpful once we know enough language to benefit from increasing accuracy and to know how to communicate the “correct/right” way, as decided by someone, for example the Académie française in France (established by Richelieu to decide “le bon usage” or good usage.
3) Their materials often make use of what we language teacher like to call “authentic resources” — media produced by the people who speak the language for those who also speak the language. For example, music by Japanese artists, with a focus on the lyrics. They also use short stories, haiku, and more. Why? Because it is of high interest to those of us learning the language.
4) They also focus on communication skills over structural details. They don’t ignore the structures, but they emphasize the point for learning the language. So, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, writing opportunities and speaking is encouraged. They model good pronunciation. They also use humour, contemporary culture as well as historical… and more.
They aren’t perfect, but they do offer great resources for beginners as well as for intermediate communicators. They have some mor3 advanced things as well, and they suggest other things too.
That’s all I have time for now. I might add more later. But hopefully this helps to answer your questions! I obviously recommend them. Others can add their ideas now too. I hope they will!
またね！