I collect reading resources in Japanese and write book reviews by JLPT level. Japanese langblr but only for reading books - Bookblr for but only for learning Japanese. Share your books with me o(*^＠^*)o
Reading novels in Japanese can be a real challenge if your reading flow comes to a stop every time you encounter a kanji you can’t read, so getting a book with 100% furigana can help cutting back on that frustration.
There are several Japanese publishers with a younger target audience, whose books all have furigana on every kanji while still presenting complex and interesting stories about 150 – 300 pages long.
They are my top recommendation for all intermediate readers, who already have experience with graded readers, easy childrens stories or manga, but have yet to read a longer novel aimed at native speakers.
講談社青い鳥文庫 – Kōdansha Aoi Tori Bunko
集英社みらい文庫 – Shūeisha Mirai Bunko
角川つばさ文庫 – Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko
小学館ジュニア文庫 - Shōgakukan Junior Bunko
双葉社ジュニア文庫 – Futabasha Junior Bunko
静山社ペガサス文庫 – Seizansha Pegasus Bunko
TOジュニア文庫 – TO Junior Bunko
You will recognize them easily by their colorful frames around the covers and they include popular anime movies like 君の名は。novelisations of anime series or disney movies, light novels and even the Harry Potter books.
I go into more detail about my recommendations for each publisher on my blog.
Reading novels in Japanese can be a real challenge if your reading flow comes to a stop every time you encounter a kanji you can’t read. The
haha, i totally dropped off the map for a while, huh? well, i decided to apply for grad school last fall and so every time i thought about opening my laptop to update this blog, i was instead reminded of upcoming due dates and resumes and essays and emails...and i just left the laptop closed. BUT! the application period has long since passed. more importantly, I GOT IN!!! the program starts in august and i'm very excited to be entering a new chapter of life. sometimes i feel like i'm behind since i didn't pursue a master's straight after undergrad...then again, everyone lives life at their own pace. i don't know if i truly believe in fate or destiny or anything like that, but i do take some comfort in the belief that i'm exactly where i'm meant to be in life at any given time. whatever happens will happen. my job is to deal with things as they come.
anyway, why don't we get down to business? i've got a few panels to compare from chapter 70 today. the first one is of tengen with the butterfly mansion girls.
english:
Say something! You stuck-up pig! // Kyaaah!
japanese:
何とか言えっての‼ 地味な奴だな‼ // キャ――ッ
this one took me completely off guard because tengen 100% does not call kanao a pig or stuck-up in japanese. all he says is "[You're a] quiet one," albeit in a disrespectful tone. being quiet or reserved is, after all, one of the worst things you could be in tengen's eyes. something like "You meek little mouse!" would be closer to the original japanese and a more in-character insult for tengen, in my opinion. seriously, i've never ever, not once in all my years of studying japanese, thought of pig as a suitable translation of 奴. what the hell were they thinking...?
next is a panel of tanjirou yelling at tengen about aoi.
english:
People have different needs and abilities! You can't just use them as you like with no regard for them at all! Let Aoi go!!
japanese:
人には人の事情があるんだから無神経に色々つつき回さないでいただきたい‼ アオイさんを返せ‼
this panel comes after tengen has just said that aoi doesn't look like she'll be useful, but since she's basically a corps member he's still going to take her on a mission anyway. both the reader and tanjirou know aoi feels insecure about her position in the corps, and in classic tanjirou fashion, he indignantly yells at his superior for the transgression.
tanjirou doesn't quite say anything about different needs and abilities or using people as one pleases, though. more literally, his line is "People have their own circumstances, so I'd like to ask you not to callously poke at this and that!" basically he's telling tengen to think before he speaks. i guess the "you can't use people" part is a reference to tengen's plan to use aoi for his mission? having read the japanese version still makes it a confusing choice in my opinion, to say the least.
i'd also like to point out tanjirou's somewhat polite ～いただきたい and the 返せ‼ that comes right after. very funny juxtaposition to me, teehee.
the final panel for today features tengen and tanjirou & co.
english:
So...? // He's tall! // Where are we going?
japanese:
で？// でけえ // どこ行くんだオッさん
firstly, i think "He's huge!" instead of "He's tall!" would've been a better choice for zenitsu's 「でけえ」, but that's just me. the main thing about this panel that got me, though, was inosuke calling tengen オッさん. it's been omitted in the official english version, which i can understand. there's not many good english translations of it that would fit inosuke's character. i've seen it translated as mister, but inosuke wouldn't say that. i've also seen it as pops or bloke, but inosuke wouldn't say that either. if demon slayer were being translated now, they might have gone with unc, which honestly is probably the best option available. unfortunately inosuke is not a black u.s. american and does not live in the late 20th or early 21st centuries, so he still wouldn't say that.
they could've gone with old man and that would've been fine, but whatever. mostly i just wanted to show more people that inosuke calls tengen オッさん. it's so fucking funny to me. "where are we going, OLD MAN?" and the old man in question isn't even 25.
that brings us to the end of this panel comparison. i'll try to get back into reading demon slayer more often, but no promises. thanks for reading, and please look forward to the next posts! 読んでくれてありがとう！次の投稿を楽しみにしてください！
*I had to localize this for Japanese funeral processions (“cremate the dead with their smartphone in the casket”) and Japanese cultural beliefs (the dead crossing “the River Sanzu” instead of the River Styx)
today it dawned on me that i might read more in japanese if i had an actual book app on my phone. 🤷♀️ i downloaded Kobo and immediately read two manga volumes. I guess i can get anything done as long as it involves being on my phone
I just finished the 10th volume of 名探偵コナン! Considering how long this series is, hitting 10 volumes already feels like a small milestone to me. 😃
Originally, I planned to watch the anime regularly so that I could hear the words I’d read in the manga. Well... somehow I didn't manage to keep up with the anime. 😅 I'll try again.
I got a Japanese study partner who gets on a call with me for an hour once a week, and we just read manga together
Like, he shares his screen and we read out loud page by page
The goal is that this will be a gateway for me to finally read in my own, but for now it’s fun to read together so we can be like “how do we read that kanji? yeah but in this context. is it coming up on jisho for you? no the left radical is different”
psa: just because you're learning a language as an adult does not mean you need to read "adult" books in your new language. you can read kids' books too - they have easier vocabulary, they have pictures, and sometimes they're just more fun. and I promise you, i really do - nobody is going to judge you for buying or checking out or reading them. hells, they might see you reading a book they used to, or still, love, and it'll make them smile. and all you'll have done is give them a nice moment to carry through the day with them.
so read the "young" books. you never know, you could find a new favourite :)
After 3 volumes of くまクマ熊ベアー I wanted to increase the level of difficulty a bit. 灰原くんの強くて青春ニューゲーム was perfect for that.
Since the story is slice-of-life, it’s easy to follow. I also liked the twist later in the book. The main character’s desire to change the past and reinvent himself felt very relatable to me. It’s interesting to see how he tries to improve his situation and how the outcome differs from his expectations.
This series is more difficult than くまクマ熊ベアー but after finishing the first few chapters, I was quite used to most of the authors favorite vocabulary and expressions.
I think I'll read the next one or two volumes before switching to something else.
Awful. Both of those that look the same there are the same kanji, but they're each pronounced different in that one word with no indication of how either is pronounced (aside from the context that I know what this word is.)
Kanji is great and helpful.... and also hard and scary. Complaining about it in mild ways is part of the learning process, this is helping.
