Hello,
I decided to start focusing on improving my reading, my listening skill is decent but compared to it my reading is severely behind.
The resources I find are either too easy and boring or interesting but very advanced for my level, I don’t know how to specify my level but I can read stuff like Shoujo manga relatively with ease yet I struggle when I try to read an article or almost any native pure text, which is why I want to try to try reading other things than manga and subtitle.
I would like to look for resources through google but i’d like to know what you guys recommend and what you’ve tried + i find that many good websites can’t be easily found trough google.
For now I’ve been using Quora and it is pretty good since it show questions and topics from my field of interest but I’d like to practice through more structured and organized articles or stories, What I’m looking for is something highly entertaining and not very advanced or specific to certain field (preferably availably for free) things like blogs, diaries, short stories, simple and fun light novels….
The subjects I’m interested in are mainly cultural and cross-cultural topics, movies, manga and anime (something like blogs for anime and manga reviews would be nice), linguistics and language-related topics, literature…
As for stories I like drama and stories with some sort of development.
Any recommendations or tips for improving my reading would be really appreciated!
6 comments
https://jpdb.io/
くま クマ 熊 ベアー
maybe you dont realize it but youre basically saying “just give me anything(free)”. theres a lot of stuff out there. so heres an idea. use this site https://www.bestrandoms.com/random-japanese-words
then look up whatever word you like on youtube, filter by upload date(it helps because you can find channels that are still regularly uploading) then pick a random video and see how much you can understand. if it doesnt work out just restart the process until you find a suitable amount of channels that upload content you like(and can understand at least partially)
as for reading try this https://ncode.syosetu.com/n0860u/
its not exactly a masterpiece but its slice of life and relatively easy to understand.
or just watch something on animelon. wataten is pretty easy i think.
When it comes to intermediate free ressources my two main recommendation would be these two websites. Both have interesting topics and all texts are completely free.
* [YomuJP (Tadoku Dōjō)](https://yomujp.com/): blog-like articles on various non-fiction subjects written especially for learners. I liked their [series on Japanese linguistics](https://yomujp.com/tag/%e8%be%9e%e5%85%b8%e7%b7%a8%e9%9b%86%e8%80%85%e3%81%98%e3%81%a6%e3%82%93%e3%81%b8%e3%82%93%e3%81%97%e3%82%85%e3%81%86%e3%81%97%e3%82%83%e3%81%8b%e3%82%89%e8%a6%8b%e3%81%bf%e3%81%9f%e6%97%a5/) and their [series on famous Japanese](https://yomujp.com/tag/the-great-japanese/).
* [Tongari Books](https://tongari-books.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html): Short stories for intermediate-to-advanced Japanese learners. Furigana on all kanji, but still complex themes. I liked this [detective story](https://tongari-books.blogspot.com/2020/12/blog-post.html), this [ghost story](https://tongari-books.blogspot.com/2021/02/311.html) and this [short-story](https://tongari-books.blogspot.com/2022/02/blog-post.html).
If you’re looking for more in-depth recommendations, I blog about everything I read on [dokushoclub.com](https://dokushoclub.com). Also [learnnatively.com](https://learnnatively.com) might help you with purchasable options for your level.
Something like YomiChan or the 10Ten reader are great dictionaries for some online reading. These are so efficient!
For physical books, there are excellent dictionaries and kanji input both for iOS and Android.
I also have a used Casio 9800 electronic dictionary that cost less than $70. It keeps me focused and has excellent dictionaries, plus the batteries last a long time. These are not to popular on this subreddit and are another item to carry around. Phones & computers could have more efficient search if you don’t know the reading (e.g. you write in the kanji) but that is not always the case.
How about Satori Reader?
https://www.satorireader.com/series/grouped/difficulty