Read Real Japanese

[WalterWills]

There are two books you can buy called "Read Real Japanese"- one is a collection of short stories, and the other is a collection of essays, each by contemporary writers. When I say "essays", I don't mean anything academic, one of them is about mens' attitudes to cooking, another is about telling little white lies- things like that.

I definitely recommend them for people who can read Kana and have a good grasp of basic grammar.

I think there are other books under the "Read Real Japanese" title but they're not laid out in the same way as these two are. I shall have to look into it.

Boths books have good introductions written by the translators, and there is also a picture and background information of each of the authors, also providing recommendations for other works of that author.

Basically, each book is in the Japanese format, where you read the book from the back cover to the front. On the right-hand page is the Japanese text, written in the traditional Japanese way- top to bottom, right to left. Every Kanji has furigana the first time you see it written.

On the left-hand page, is an English translation of more-or-less every sentence, but written piece-by-piece so that it's as close to the original Japanese as possible.

Now at the back of the book, written in the western style, first there is a dictionary with every word you find in the each of the stories/essays. After the dictionary, there is a grammar explanation of the main points of each sentence (every sentence except the very simple ones), and this section also provides a lot of information on Japanese writing styles- for example, why the author may have chosen to switch between the desu/masu style (which sounds subjective), to the plain da/dearu style (which sounds objective). Often there are explanations of why the "wa" particle is used instead of another, which is very useful.

Also, each book comes with a CD of each piece narrated by a Japanese actress. She does speak very fast at times, but in my opinion it's better to listen to Japanese spoken at a normal pace (i.e. very fast).

I find a great way to study is to sit at a computer, with the CD playing and the book (closed) with you. Try to write down each sentence, bit-by-bit, as you listen and skip-back the CD over and over. Then, once you've written out one sentence (you may recognise individual words or you may not), check in the book to make sure you heard each and every syllable correctly, and then, without using the book, try to work out what the sentence means, referring to the translation and grammar explanations when you've finished.

[Javizy]

I have the original one, which overall is quite good. The essays are interesting, and they are in full kanji, without any furigana. The layout is quite terrible though, half of the right page is the kanji, and the bottom half is romaji sentences followed by translated sentences, and the left page has reading notes; it's quite a mess.

I'm a little disappointed to hear that there is furigana, as it essentially takes away an opportunity to learn or review readings. Even if it only appears once, it's not the same as real Japanese. It's quite hard to find sources of full kanji with convenient kana transcripts available, even though it's one of the best and most convenient ways to learn.

Anyway, if you like those books, there are two books by Murray called 'Exploring Japanese Literature' and 'Breaking into Japanese Literature'. They include short stories by famous writers, and are probably a good place to start when you feel ready to start tackling more descriptive language. The layout is possibly perfect, with the top left section full Japanese (furigana included for nonstandard kanji), the top right section English, and the bottom half a custom dictionary containing every kanji word in order of appearance.

I've got to say though, besides the first half of 'Breaking into Japanese Literature', I find them extremely difficult. I never really had much of a problem with all the ellipsis/inference that is rife in Japanese, but some of the sentences are so long that I kind of get lost. Bit of a reality check really.

[MichaelMcDonald]

Hi,

thanks for this info, I've been wondering about those books and it sounds like they're pretty much what I'm looking for. The Japan Shop has those (japanshop.com), but they also have an interesting-looking series called Japanese Graded Readers. I was thinking of trying them out but 'Read Real Japanese' sounds good, too. At some point I'm sure I'll end up ordering both. If anybody knows about the graded readers series, it would be great to hear about them, too.

m.

[WalterWills]

I'm a little disappointed to hear that there is furigana, as it essentially takes away an opportunity to learn or review readings. Even if it only appears once, it's not the same as real Japanese. It's quite hard to find sources of full kanji with convenient kana transcripts available, even though it's one of the best and most convenient ways to learn.

I know what you mean. Simply reading the furigana is the lazy way to find out a Kanji's reading, and it does little to gain any foothold in your memory.

Anyway, if you like those books, there are two books by Murray called 'Exploring Japanese Literature' and 'Breaking into Japanese Literature'. They include short stories by famous writers, and are probably a good place to start when you feel ready to start tackling more descriptive language.

Thanks for the recommendation.
I've got so many books I haven't read though, so I'm going to try and get through them before spending any more money!

If anybody knows about the graded readers series, it would be great to hear about them, too.

My teacher lends me a book from that series every week. At the moment she gives me the level 2 books, and apart from a few new words here and there I find them easy to read. They're all written in the Japanese style, but the kanji always has furigana, and they seem to be all short children's stories except for a book on Mt. Fuji.

If you have any questions about them please ask, although I've only read about four books from that series, and I've got one with me now.

[Javizy]

Yeah, you're probably want to read as much as you can before you tackle those beasts Another nice book is 'Reading Japanese With a Smile', which has nine articles from a wacky newspaper column. The article is in full kanji on the left page, with a translation on the right, and then a detailed section that breaks down each sentence with furigana, romaji, definitions, and reading and cultural notes. A couple of the titles are 'Son-In-Law of the Mob' and 'His First Call Girl Was the Girl Next Door' Maybe something for the wishlist.

I got the Level 2 graded readers, and found it very easy, even some time ago. They are very well presented, and quite interesting, but I didn't get a lot out of the one I bought. I don't know what the higher levels are like though.