I was thinking I could try to improve my reading skills by getting books in jp on my Kobo (or Kindle) and check the words I don’t know by clicking on them (and get a definition in English, like on my other ebooks), but is it even possible ?
It is possible with Kindle at least. You can download different dictionaries and set them as your default.
I used the JMdict Japanese-English Dictionary for a while on my Kindle.
The method you describe is one I used to great success. I went from roughly 200ish kanji to not quite N1 but pretty close. I can read much more quickly as well. I did start with Honzuki, so the prose was decently kind as well.
However, it does require some of the base grammar knowledge to work best. I actually knew a lot of terms and my teachers put a heavy emphasis on grammar, vs cramming kanji, so I had an easier time getting used to the new kanji.
If you don’t yet have a solid grammar base, trying to read while also getting grammar down is best. Just learning words in a sequence but not understanding why they are in that sequence is, in my opinion, one of the worst ways to learn a language.
The kindle app on iOS has a translate feature. Not sure if the same exists on eink devices.
You can test the kindle app for free right now by picking a book and downloading a sample to see if you like it.
You can sideload all the big dictionaries on Kindle and the J-J dictionaries are quite good even though the tablet screen is a bit laggy.
It’s weird but the dictionaries for the Kindle device, Kindle for Mac, and Kindle for Android are all different. I recommend the Kindle device as the dictionary there is more robust. If possible, try to do J to J dictionary as well since that will increase your comprehension more.
4 comments
It is possible with Kindle at least. You can download different dictionaries and set them as your default.
I used the JMdict Japanese-English Dictionary for a while on my Kindle.
The method you describe is one I used to great success. I went from roughly 200ish kanji to not quite N1 but pretty close. I can read much more quickly as well. I did start with Honzuki, so the prose was decently kind as well.
However, it does require some of the base grammar knowledge to work best. I actually knew a lot of terms and my teachers put a heavy emphasis on grammar, vs cramming kanji, so I had an easier time getting used to the new kanji.
If you don’t yet have a solid grammar base, trying to read while also getting grammar down is best. Just learning words in a sequence but not understanding why they are in that sequence is, in my opinion, one of the worst ways to learn a language.
The kindle app on iOS has a translate feature. Not sure if the same exists on eink devices.
You can test the kindle app for free right now by picking a book and downloading a sample to see if you like it.
You can sideload all the big dictionaries on Kindle and the J-J dictionaries are quite good even though the tablet screen is a bit laggy.
It’s weird but the dictionaries for the Kindle device, Kindle for Mac, and Kindle for Android are all different. I recommend the Kindle device as the dictionary there is more robust. If possible, try to do J to J dictionary as well since that will increase your comprehension more.