Japanese Graded Readers: Level 1

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If you’d like to save money, NHK Easy News is a solid resource. Just as the title suggests, it’s real news written in simple Japanese. The first book you read will always be the hardest, no matter where or when you start. If you’ll humor me and call juggling an art—learning to read is, well, something of an art. Choosing what to read involves juggling length with difficulty. This is a core idea behind today’s list. Search for the authors Clay and Yumi Boutwell to find more by this awesome Japanese teaching duo. “Short Stories in Japanese: New Penguin Parallel Texts”

Fans of the above-mentioned Hikoichi (or those who are already beyond a beginner reading level) will be thrilled to know that Hikoichi’s story is actually the first in a 10-volume series. Each volume in this series is a graded Japanese reader featuring four short stories. The level of difficulty increases with each volume, so this series can be followed chronologically. Reading in Japanese is different than reading in your native language. No matter what you read, your potential to consume content is much lower. This is balanced out by the fact that your ability to develop language skills from a given book is also much higher. Definitely read something you’re interested in. It’s a fact that we pay attention to anything that naturally catches and holds our attention. Listen, they worked for us in grade school through high school, didn’t they? They still work—in any language! Which graded readers should you choose? While graded readers have become more popular for language learners in many languages, they're still relatively new in Japanese, so unfortunately there are fewer options available than you can find in English or Spanish, for example. That said, there are a couple of great options we think will fit the bill for any Japanese student looking to learn to read and improve their overall language ability.After each story, readers can also find additional notes on the plot and Japanese culture as well as grammar and vocabulary notes. “Read Real Japanese” Series

You are a beginner/low-level student of Japanese and want to practice your reading in a fun and enjoyable way Peterson, J. (2019). The effects of extensive reading on reading rate among intermediate-level learners of Japanese as a foreign language (Pending Publication, Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.25394/PGS.9922868.v1 It has 15 short stories in Japanese with literal English translations, then explanations for grammar and vocabulary. There is no furigana which might make these stories difficult for learners not used to reading kanji. If you’re reading something for the purpose of a spook or twist, then Otsuichi is your man—and he just happens to be great for finding your feet in Japanese. 4. Read Longer Short Stories Some readers come in the form of a guided reading text, where English boosts you along as you get familiar with Japanese kana and kanji. There may be full-on whole text translations set side-by-side with the Japanese text. The first half of the book may be in Japanese and the second half in English.

I've mentioned it a few times before, but let's talk a bit more about what extensive reading is, as doing so will give us an idea of how best to use graded readers for studying. Extensive reading is a language-learning strategy where learners practice by reading longer, simpler texts, as smoothly as possible without stopping to look up unfamiliar vocabulary or grammar.