I recently read my 200th book in Japanese and thought I’d write about the experience and what it did for my overall proficiency in case the info is helpful for someone else.
**About my Japanese Level**
I learned Japanese for several years via traditional textbook study and passed the JLPT N1 in 2017. After that passing, I had to put Japanese on the back burner due to other things going on in my life that took priority and effectively didn’t touch it for several years.
**The Reading Project**
At the start of the pandemic, I found myself, like many, with a lot of free time on my hands and decided to start reading some Japanese paperbacks that I had laying around. After finishing one book, I kept reaching for the next until things snowballed and turned into a full-scale project with goals and milestones focused on book and page amounts.
**Here is a rough overview of my progress and what reading at different milestones looked like:**
**1-10 books:** I was reading paperback books I had lying around that were way above my reading level and spending a lot of time looking up each word in the dictionary. It took days or weeks to finish one book.
**10 – 20 books:** I switched to an e-reader with a popup dictionary and started reading books for children and teens, relying especially on books from 青い鳥文庫 (these are a fantastic resource!). My reading speed and comprehension skyrocketed at this point since I was reading for my level and had to look up fewer words. I started building a lot of momentum in this period.
**20 – 50 books:** I found a few series and authors that I loved and got sucked into reading in all my free time. Despite still needing to look up words frequently, the pages flew by and I could focus on the stories. Reading became a lot of fun during this period. However, I attempted to read a few works of adult literary fiction and found them still above my level, so my focus was still very much on simpler books here.
**50 – 100 books:** Reading was becoming very effortless, despite still needing to consult the dictionary often. I expanded my reading at this point from fiction to other genres like non-fiction, business books, modern literature, and memoirs to increase the vocabulary I was exposed to. I was constantly researching and finding more books that I wanted to read in my free time and reading became my main hobby.
**100 – 150 books:** I could read pretty much anything I wanted and the dictionary look-ups were becoming less and less. I started reading books that won literary prizes, such as the 芥川賞 or the 三島由紀夫賞, and learning more about literary analysis and Japanese literature in general.
**150 – 200 books:** Look ups became rarer and rarer. I can now sometimes read an entire book without looking up a new word. I reintroduced paperback books during this period and found myself able to read paperbacks of older books such as こころ、人間失格、細雪 with no trouble and pretty much no need to consult a dictionary. I can do things like speed read certain passages or skim texts and reading feels as effortless as in my native language.
**How did this affect my Japanese?**
I will break things down via specific skills to take a look at the individual gains I experienced.
**Listening**
I believe reading more was the single best thing I ever did to improve my listening ability. The more words I know, the better I can understand what I am hearing. Simple as that. However, I did find that hearing a word that I had read a few times being spoken helped me cement it in my mind and move it to my active memory, so I began listening to 1 hour of podcasts or audiobooks a day from around the 70 book point. Now I can understand most audiobooks, the news, TV, etc. with zero problems and I attribute that to reading with a dose of active listening on the side.
**Writing**
Writing text messages to friends is extremely fast and effortless. Not much more to say here.
My ability to write and remember kanji improved, but I think that is because I already actively study and practice writing kanji every day. I don’t think reading alone will help anyone who doesn’t already practice writing kanji.
I don’t practice writing compositions so I can’t speak to this. However, I have internalized so many grammar and writing structures from reading both fiction and non-fiction that I think I would have a great basis to work with here if I ever decide to improve my writing skills.
**Speaking**
During most of this reading project, I did not speak at all. Around 170 books I decided to begin italki after not speaking Japanese to anyone for nearly 4 years. After overcoming my initial nervousness, I found myself way more expressive and fluent when speaking than ever before. Instead of being scared of talking myself into a corner as I was previously, I am now the one actively bringing up topics and offering my thoughts and opinions. I regularly discuss “difficult” topics with my teachers such as art, social issues, history, and literature, and have no problems keeping up. I receive no grammar corrections, but still the occasional correction on how I could phrase something more natural.
I’m actually quite amazed that I was able to attain the level of speaking that I have now after years of not speaking to anyone, but there is a caveat here – I had years of experience speaking Japanese before, both with friends and professionally, so it was simply a case of reactivating my dormant ability. I think it would be much harder for someone who has never spoken before to begin speaking and attain a high level of fluency only through reading (but reading will surely be a big help).
**In Conclusion**
I never expected to come this far or read so many books! Reading Japanese books has become my passion and has done so much for not only my Japanese but also my life in general. I feel like I now have a deeper understanding of the Japanese culture and mentality and can have more meaningful discussions with my Japanese friends and connect with them on a deeper level. I read tons of amazing books, some of which have now become favorites, that I never would have been able to read if I didn’t learn Japanese and had a lot of fun doing it.
I started this project with an N1 level but I think I could have started even at N3 and attained the same results, in the end, so don’t let your level hold you back if you want to start reading. Improving your reading and Japanese is simply a matter of volume and exposure, so dive in as soon as you can (even before you feel ready because you will never be fully ready!).
**If I had to give three pieces of advice to another learned based on what I learned during this project, they would be:**
* Believing in yourself and the process. It will get easier. The words you are looking up will eventually stick. It will all pay off and you’ll get to where you want to be with a bit of patience.
* Read for your level. Look for things at your level and work your way up to the difficult things you want to read. Embrace “low-brow” things that you may not necessarily read in your native language, such as thrillers, romance, young-adult LNs, etc. Reading things that are too hard is a sure-fire way to kill your motivation and momentum so invest effort into keeping it level appropriate and fun.
* Don’t give up. As long as you keep at it and don’t stop, you are always one step further ahead than you were yesterday! All those small steps mount up and one day you will look back and realize you are suddenly much further ahead than you were when you started.
28 comments
Thanks – this is really motivating.
Can I ask which e-reader you used and how you bought books for it in Japanese. I’m in Australia and I can’t seem to buy Japanese books for my kobo.
I’m reading LNs as a total beginner and its so fun when you get the words without looking them up 🥰🥰
That’s really impressive. I like how you incorporate different kind of genres when reading, switching to different kind of texts. Not easy feat.
There was a link ( https://puroh.it/reading-for-a-fine-vocabulary/ ) in a thread here recently that estimated it would take around 130 average (length and content) books to build a fluent vocabulary. It looks like your experience is roughly close (though clearly your starting point was far from zero).
Did you do any other kind of review as you went?
I hope I can follow a similar path! I was an avid reader as a kid, but I lost the habit as an adult. I’d love to grow it back.
That’s really inspirational. I love reading but even in my native language I doubt I could read 200 books in the 2.5 years since the pandemic. That’s almost seven books a month, on top of all the other study you said you did. What a beast!
>I switched to an e-reader with a popup dictionary and started reading books for children and teens, relying especially on books from 青い鳥文庫 (these are a fantastic resource!).
Could you give me your top five enjoyable reads from this level?
Very inspiring! I got my N1 last year and only since then I started reading Japanese books. Similarly I started with paperback then I bought myself a Kindle and then I started reading every single day. Up to day I am reading my 35th Japanese book and just like what you mentioned the more words I am exposed to the better listening ability I get, which is surprising. My situation is similar though, no conversation practice for more than a year. Might need to start italki asap.
Happy reading together!
P.S.
The latest 3 books I am reading:
夜は短し歩けよ乙女 (角川文庫) https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0093GEBJS/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_8DFZNA3X0MD32S7X6XQ3
小説 秒速5センチメートル (角川文庫) https://amzn.asia/d/dB0X0Ug
秒速5センチメートル one more side https://amzn.asia/d/dhKRaIO
This is really inspiring. I am just at the level to start reading books, around N3, but hesitant to start because it’s a bit of a slog having to look up so much. I feel like I will make a goal to read one book now I can see it how it pays off!
That’s awesome! May I ask what was the new career field you were able to jump into from the knowledge you gained while reading?
I’m happy to hear it!
I’m taking JLPT N3 next month and have kimi no na ha in Japanese, and I want to read it before the exam to get a little boost in reading, and your story is really inspiring! ^^
Also, do you have any podcasts in Japanese that you’d recommend?
I’ve read 8 Novels so far namely these(夜市, 地球星人, 世界から猫が消えたなら, 三日間の幸福, かがみの孤城, 君の膵臓をたべたい, コンビニ人間, また、同じ夢を見ていた)
I was wondering if you have any Novel Recommendations for maybe like an intermidiate niveau? No children books, but also ones that are not too hard?
Excellent post! Did you read manga at any point?
Given how beneficial these seem to have been, can someone recommend good e-reader that works with older android tablets, has good dictionary (build in or plug in) and is not vendor or format locked?
Thank you for sharing, I started reading in Japanese a couple of years ago because vocabulary is my weakest point and I wanted to find a fun way fo learn new words, I’m reading my 30th book at the moment, your journey is very inspirational! Do you have a book meter account? Would love to follow you and see what you’ve read so far
Quick questions for those reading on an ereader:
-Can I use any kindle connected to an amazon JP account? (ie, doesn’t have to be a kindle from Japan I assume)
-OP mentioned using a VPN to buy kindle books from Amazon JP, is that necessary?
-Lastly, is there any dictionary that can be engaged on a kindle’s word press function that gives word translation rather than dictionary in Japanese? I’m at N4 level and currently search kanji/vocab I don’t know by radical on my phone, would love something more streamlined on an ereader.
Excellent progress!!
There’s a lot of good information here, and it’s nice to know that your experience somewhat matches mine in terms of overall milestones.
A couple of questions:
* What are your plans from here on with Japanese?
* How many of those books were audiobooks? Did you read your books while listening to the audio?
I last left my reading in a similar place to how you describe your experience at the “100-150 books” milestone. Lookups are infrequent, and I feel comfortable reading whatever I want – I don’t feel as if I’m reading to learn Japanese anymore, and I don’t feel stressed reading books on new topics in Japanese. I’ve also done similar projects for listening, speaking, and [writing](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/s9zz3d/i_wrote_146_writing_samples_in_2021/) – I also agree that reading has helped immensely with internalising those structures and beginning to use them more naturally.
I’m also targeting 200 books, so your post serves as inspiration. I hope that I’ll soon be able to enjoy books in Japanese as much as you do!
Thank you for the post, and best of luck with your future studies!
200 books is amazing! I started reading at the start of 2020, while waiting for the results of the N1. I’ve read 148 books until now, although I would usually just do 20-25% a day per book, depending on its length and call it a day. I never found myself wanting to read a book from start to finish in one sitting. Although it was probably just me pacing myself.
I read mostly fiction, and I found myself expanding my genre from mostly Fantasy to medical dramas and mysteries.
I’ve been thinking lately how nice it would be if I could pick up reading in English again. I’m a Lit major and something about reading in college sucked all the fun out of reading in English. I practically stopped reading altogether after graduating.
What e-reader/dictionary did you use? Do you have any recommendations?
Thanks for the informative writeup!
*”10 – 20 books: I switched to an e-reader with a popup dictionary and started reading books for children and teens, relying especially on books from 青い鳥文庫 (these are a fantastic resource!). My reading speed and comprehension skyrocketed at this point since I was reading for my level and had to look up fewer words. I started building a lot of momentum in this period.”*
For that part, which e-reader and pop-up dictionary did you go with? I’ve been struggling with various setups. Also, where did you get the 青い鳥文庫 cannon?
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おめでとうございます 🎉🥳 never underestimate the power of reading.
In Canada we used to have a PSA that went “read read read to succeed!”
N1 guy considers children books to be his level.. How is an N4 like me supposed to feel about that?
>I think it would be much harder for someone who has never spoken before to begin speaking and attain a high level of fluency only through reading
That’s surprisingly not the case for most people. If you have a great command of the language, know the grammar, know a lot of words and when you should use them, speaking comes naturally. After overcoming the initial hurdle of getting used to enunciate the sounds at talking speed, you sound just as fast and fluent as someone with just good Japanese who has practiced speaking for years.
Hello, this was inspiring to read! I’ve tried to follow Olly Richards’ Story Learning Method which involved not looking up new words right away unless you come across them a couple of times and rereading a chapter at least 3 times to get a better understanding. And this does work wonders for other people but for me it felt tedious and discouraged me from reading.
Your project felt familiar to me in that I had also learned English in this way, looking up every word until it stuck, and as I progressed through books the number of times I’ve had to look up words also lessened. You’ve encouraged me to maybe try the same for Japanese, too. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
1. When you were still looking up words frequently with books 20+, were you still looking up every unknown word you came across? Or just unknown words you couldn’t guess generally from the context? I am at a reading level in chinese now where I can read some adult literature without a dictionary and guess some unknown words from context, with only a bit that I need to look up because I don’t have the faintest idea what the word means and it seems critical. But if you looked up words a lot more often, maybe me doing so too would speed up how fast I improve my reading skills. I’m wondering if at some point you started picking up more words from context and using the dictionary less.
2. Do you think this could be feasible to do for a person who knows around 2000 words? I am guessing yes? I have a mesh of japanese experience, studying on and off for 6 years. Grammar I generally grasp, but vocabulary wise I probably know about 2000 words. When I’m reading, kanji help me with guessing word meanings a lot since I have some similar cognates in chinese with hanzi to help with guessing sometimes. Hiragana words are very unknown to me though unless I already learned the word. So I find myself looking up kanji words for pronunciation, and hiragana words for meaning, when I read in japanese. I sort of threw myself in the deep end trying to read novels for young adults. I can get through a chapter in about 20 minutes so my reading speed could be even worse. But I am wondering if maybe starting with easier stuff like 青い鳥文庫 would be a better idea to build up my base of knowledge and base reading level. I think to a degree how much you read helps, and since I am reading harder stuff I’m getting few very little reading per day. I love and prefer picking up new vocabulary from reading, so I prefer to try reading asap. With chinese, I started reading graded readers within a few months then webnovels in 8 months once I knew 2000 words, and just kept going from there to learn new words. I want to do the same with japanese as early as I can, but with hiragana words without kanji and more kanji with multiple meanings, I’m not sure if maybe I should just be grinding more vocabulary in flashcards before I put a lot of time into reading. I’m not sure how big of a base vocabulary would be enough to push into reading a lot of japanese with a dictionary lookup.
3. What were some of your favorite things you read, and favorite authors?
4. Congrats!! 200 books is so many to read in any language, and to be reading them in a language you’ve studied is fantastic.
That’s damn impressive I gotta say, even in my native english 200 books would take me approx. 4 years (at 1 book a week), and I don’t think I’ve ever read a book without looking up at least a few words, sometimes quite a bit more too.
I’m currently reading 月の影 影の海 as my first Japanese novel and it’s been extremely slow going, am only 38% of the way after like two months lol (I was around N2 before starting). Now I’m a decent way through it though I am noticing, finally, that I don’t have to lookup nearly as many words as in the early section, and it’s slowly and steadily becoming more enjoyable.
Your post is an inspiritation – I will keep at it and who knows, maybe one day I’ll reach 200 novels read, haha.
Do you think you can share your reading list?
What a cool milestone to reach, nice job!
( Your post makes me eyeball my bookshelf, and all its unread books, with something more than a moderate amount of guilt XD )