Even though my Japanese vocabulary is now beyond what gets covered by all the vocabulary books I have found (all aimed at learners of Japanese), I still run into too many unknown words for me to *begin* to understand standard Japanese written content (e.g. news, blog posts, magazine articles, novels, etc.).
I conclude that, in order to further train my Japanese vocabulary, I need to use vocabulary-training resources aimed at Japanese students.[1]
Unfortunately, I have not found a good search strategy to locate such resources.[2]
Can someone recommend some good search strategies, or outright vocabulary-building resources aimed at Japanese students?
[1] Caveat: I know that many people hate the idea of using resources specifically aimed at building vocabulary, and prefer instead to increase their vocabulary through exposure to comprehensible input. I am not one of these people! When I was learning English as a second language, I used vocabulary-training books aimed for American high school students. I am aware of the fact that such books offer a very impoverished version of the language (i.e. the definitions provided are often oversimplified), but for me they were invaluable at getting me over the intelligibility barrier.
[2] Ironically, the main obstacle I run into is that all my searches tend to result in resources for learning English vocabulary. Of course, I do not include any English words, let alone the character 英 in my searches, but I guess that in Japan there is a much bigger demand for expanding one’s English vocabulary than for expanding one’s Japanese one!
6 comments
First thing that came to mind is looking for resources geared towards high school and college entrance exams.
I don’t know if you’ll be able to find something like that for free or if it’ll provide useful information, but it’s an idea.
Also make sure to use 国語 rather than 日本語 when you do searches for stuff like this.
**(edit: this came to me after the fact, but try searching Japanese** [**Amazon.com**](https://Amazon.com) **for 語彙力 and you’ll get resources aimed for adults trying to improve their vocabulary. can’t speak for the usefulness of these kind of books since i never used them, but they do exist.**
[**https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E8%AA%9E%E5%BD%99%E5%8A%9B/s?k=%E8%AA%9E%E5%BD%99%E5%8A%9B**](https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E8%AA%9E%E5%BD%99%E5%8A%9B/s?k=%E8%AA%9E%E5%BD%99%E5%8A%9B)**)**
I think it’s going to be hard to find exactly what you’re looking for, because most native speakers build vocabulary organically through reading, not by using “vocabulary-training resources”.
Unfortunately, you probably can’t expect to find as many resources for Japanese as English, just because of the overwhelming disparity between the number of English learners and Japanese learners.
>I still run into too many unknown words for me to *begin* to understand standard Japanese written content (e.g. news, blog posts, magazine articles, novels, etc.).
Really? I find it hard to imagine that someone who has mastered a certain level of grammar and vocabulary would be completely lost trying to consume *any* native materials. I think you may be underselling yourself a bit.
Anyhow, what about Anki decks and the like? I learned Japanese before Anki/SRS existed, so I never used them, but wouldn’t these be considered “vocabulary-training resources”?
Another option would be kanji resources that teach vocab in context (e.g. like the *Kanji in Context* series). You will probably be able to find these more readily than “vocabulary-training resources” (though again, they teach mostly in the context of sentences rather than offering definitions for every word, since the point is kanji/reading practice rather than just strict vocab building).
I wish you luck, though I have a feeling you may have to adapt your study methods if you don’t find exactly what you want.
The methods developed here (in English speaking world) are frankly better than the learning methods they have there, by a significant margin. As a method of study, I learn by looking up how they attempt to learn English and yeah, it’s archaic to say the least.
Look for the resources here (on this sub-reddit) about building vocabulary, it’s significantly better. Also, a well read person is someone who has a well rounded vocabulary. Get the biggest word list you can find and build it up with an SRS system (like Anki), then read a lot with a lot of look ups.
I’m not sure about that. N1 textbooks usually cover ~15k vocabulary and with such amount it’s typically possible to understand meaning of unknown words from context alone. Have you used N1 textbooks?
Maybe a dictionary for children will be useful then? This: [新レインボー小学国語辞典](https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/%E9%87%91%E7%94%B0%E4%B8%80-%E7%A7%80%E7%A9%82/dp/4053049369) seems to have pretty comprehensible definitions.
Or maybe this book, which explains Japanese proverbs: [小学生のまんがことわざ辞典](https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/%E9%87%91%E7%94%B0%E4%B8%80%E6%98%A5%E5%BD%A6-%E9%87%91%E7%94%B0%E4%B8%80%E7%A7%80%E7%A9%82/dp/4053042674/)
I just have to ask: What’s stopping you from picking up an easy light novel or something and just simply reading? If there are unknown words then why not look them up? E-Reader make this very easy to do.
Here are some onomatopeia picture flash cards
(話し言葉・書き言葉が豊かになるオノマトペ絵カード ([実用品]) https://amzn.asia/d/gvtGXAi
Illustrated vocabulary book for 6th graders
「伝える力」が伸びる! 12歳までに知っておきたい語彙力図鑑 https://amzn.asia/d/bnSfBmh
Vocab book for ES 3rd graders (part of a series. Different levels also available)
語彙力アップ1300 1 小学校基礎レベル https://amzn.asia/d/0j3nSZB
A good amount of stuff popped up by just searching 小学校語彙
People saying native speaking children don’t use vocabulary resources have never worked in education and don’t remember their own school days lol. Learning vocabulary purely from reading requires a child to enjoy reading and do it regularly, which a lot of them do not. I grew up regularly having vocab tests, vocab lists to memorize, doing vocab building activities in class, etc