So I got Shirokuma Cafe a while back, but couldn’t even get through the first page so I let it be.
Now that i’ve gotten a tad better at Japanese I can somewhat get through the first page, but still struggle a bit. I’m level four of wani kani, and was wondering at what level should I read that book or any other book in general?
And should i still try to push through the book? I know I won’t fully understand *everything* my first go, but just want to make sure I’m not wasting my time…
Also if there’s any good ways to quickly learn grammar (i do well with grasping it and will research more if confused) please send through. I’ve been using tofugu, cure dolly, tae kim for grammar, but they seem rather slowish. I feel like I can get it a lot quicker.
4 comments
Learning languages is all about **iteration** with the purpose of maximizing for enjoyment. You should focus on what you find the most enjoyable. If you can read a manga for 20 hours a day because you are having fun despite only understanding 20% of it, that would be a better use of your time than reading something for an hour or two while grinding for the 100% understanding (which I’d say is not even realistic, maybe 80-90% is closer) and dreading every second of it.
Do you enjoy reading shirokuma cafe while skipping the parts you don’t fully understand? If so, then just keep doing that. If not, and you want something that is more palatable for you, then look for something else. A huge part of your Japanese learning career will be about you stumbling around new stuff to read and testing things to see if they are a good level for you or not. You will come across a lot of stuff that is too hard/too boring to read, and a lot of stuff that is “just right” and will click with you. Get into the habit of giving things a try and then deciding for yourself if you’re having fun or not.
There’s nothing wrong with reading extensively and skipping parts you don’t understand, in general. That’s what I did for a long time and it turned out fine.
No matter how much you learn beforehand, your first book will probably be a huge grind, at least at first. It gets a lot easier eventually, after you push through the initial obstacles. If you are willing to work through it now, go for it!
That said, I think somewhere around level 12 to 15 of Wanikani would provide a stronger foundation for starting to read simple manga.
Also consider Satori Reader…
read anything you like at any time you like
don’t force yourself to do something incredibly annoying, there are always other options
there are also middle roads like read a little, look up words you don’t know, then *reread* that little bit
always self-evaluate, that’s more important than any plan or any opinion from another learner; always be determining what is and isn’t working, and tweaking things for yourself, always be trying new things and even old things
I would say try to understand EVERYTHING. Like in the first book I read, I just asked questions if I got stuck.
If you can’t make it through it, you need to learn some basic things. I’ll elaborate.
First I did genki I and II, and took about 7 months
I read some books after Genki, here’s my bookshelf
https://imgur.com/a/6UoSygg (note: I read these in order, starting on the left, ending on the right)
Genki didn’t give me 100% of the needed grammar, but, it gave me enough so it wasn’t hopeless
As you see, with that basic stuff from Genki, I was able to take it further myself.