Japanese is an incredibly fun and rewarding language (if you’ve ever wanted to learn it for ANY reason, most importantly including the “silly” reasons) but the fearmongering and capitalist intervention involved in the language learning process have given it a reputation as an “impossible task” for English speakers, leading to confusion and dkn learners and weird pessimist attitudes about the whole thing. In this thread I will explain how to effectively learn and retain Japanese. This is a tried, tested and true method; probably 99% of all people who try to learn Japanese give up, but everyone I’ve met who has tried and stuck with this has been at or above N3-N4 after 6 months or less including me
You can teach yourself Japanese for free if you have a little free time every day and a computer
1. Drill yourself on hiragana and katakana. These are the phonetic building blocks of Japanese, think of them as equivalent to english letters. This site is a good resource in general. Once you have a solid grasp on this, DO NOT LINGER HERE; move to step 2. You will master kana later.
2. Download Anki. This is a flashcard service. They have a paid app if you’re willing to invest for it, but if not, they have a mobile website (create an account and sync it with your computer).
This is the deck you’re going to download. Import it to Anki and do this every day. I have learned the hard way (twice) that skipping this is bad. If you become overwhelmed, you can change the number of new cards and reviews by clicking the cog next to the name of the deck!
3. Cure Dolly (Youtube, grammar) + transcript. She has kind of a posh accent, you might want to turn subtitles on. Watch a few videos when you feel like it but most importantly set up 4 and 5 as soon as possible
4. Yomitan (must have) is a browser extension that functions as a pop-up dictionary. you need to install dictionaries for it to work. here are some dictionaries you can use with yomitan and explanations of what they do
5. READ. DO NOT LET YOURSELF GET STUCK BEFORE THIS STEP. JUST READ!!!! Most people who fail to learn Japanese do so because they are afraid of not being ready to move on, which is counterproductive. Just read. When you were a child did you spend years on vocab and grammar before reading? No I bet you did not. Pick something to read and learn what you don’t already know by reading in Japanese.
Jiten.moe has a list of novels and visual novels that you can read on your computer sorted by difficulty. So does jpdb. There’s also this document. There’s also this document. Hey look this website is cool too
For visual novels: download LunaHook. It “hooks” to your VN and allows you to use Yomitan on words you don’t know. Turn off the translation feature, it does nothing to help you learn
For literary texts: ttsu e-reader supports epub and htmlz files.
You can also learn Japanese by watching anime, but it’s a little more convoluted and requires a lot more patience.
For manga, utilize Mangatan, but I don’t recommend this right out the gate because when you’re first learning sentence structure you’ll want something with complete sentences.
Set your computer up for mining vocab before you start reading. Once you finish your kaishi deck, you can drill your mining cards (I didn’t do mine until after finishing kaishi because it was too much).
Most importantly: reading is going to be hard at first. It is going to piss you off. You need to muscle through with this because this is where the bulk of your learning will happen. After a while you will just feel like reading because you love reading! Try not to pick something too hard for your first read, but if you’re interested in the story you might be able to muscle through something a little tougher.
Remember to consult yomitan and cure dolly where needed, that’s what it’s there for. As you can see I am quite normal about the Japanese language, so if you have any other questions or need help with anything else feel free to shoot me an ask and I will get back to you promptly. Japanese is not your enemy and it is not impossible. It is your friend
Message to all learners esp beginners: make sure your device is actually displaying Japanese kanji characters when you look at Japanese texts and not Chinese hanzi.
FNN プライムオンライン news segment uploaded on February 26th 2025. The segment is about the battle for the legal recognition of who designed the globally popular Sanrio character Kuromi. Sanrio has for years obfuscated the fact that Kuromi was a character created for the TV anime "Onegai My Melody", which was produced by Studio Comet. A character designer at Studio Comet made the initial design for Kuromi that would become the iconic character. The president of Studio Comet wishes for this fact to be officially acknowledged by Sanrio.
日テレ news segment uploaded on August 7th 2025 about Love and Deepspace's popularity, the cosplayer dating service that's spun off from it, and chinese youth who have opted out of the expectations of marriage and child rearing
(Note: With this post I just want to share thoughts and tips based on my own experiences and observations. If you have a different opinion that's fine. Language learning is an very individual process. Everyone has different goals and preferences. Try different things and do what works best for you.)
Reading is an effective way to increase your vocabulary. But the really interesting books are often very difficult for a language learner (especially if you have little to no experience with native level books). Looking at a page full of unknown words can be intimidating. And if it’s a physical book, reading even a few pages takes ages if you need to look up many words. Reading texts above your current level can be slow and difficult.
From time to time I see language learners who tend to avoid books for natives and keep studying from textbooks or apps to “prepare“ themselves until they are “ready“. And I understand their decision. Textbooks and language learning apps provide structure and present the language in manageable chunks. They are an important first step and they can be a great resource for intermediate learners. Please use them to learn the basics and as a reference but keep in mind that they can only get you to a certain level.
It’s obvious, but books for native speakers are not written with language test levels in mind (in the case of Japanese the JLPT). A book for natives can contain words of all levels. For example: The language used in books for a young audience is usually easier than for adults, but even books for kids can contain words that are not in your textbook. On the other hand, novels for adults contain not only abstract and specialized words but also many common words you probably already know. To put it simply: There are no strict levels in the "wild". That’s why you need to learn to deal with the language outside of textbooks.
These resources help but they just can’t teach you everything. I mean, it would be extremely unrealistic to expect that you just need to study enough textbooks or completing all levels of your language learning app and then you are able to understand any novel for adult natives without look ups.
If you want to learn to read at the level of an adult native speaker, you need to face this challenge and start reading these books at some point — and I mean many of them. No matter how much you prepared yourself through textbooks and apps, you will run into a ton of new words and phrases. This is intimidating at first, but there’s no way around it.
You learn simply as you go by trying your best to understand and looking up words, phrases and grammar points. If you are only used to textbooks and apps, it’s absolutely normal that you struggle for quite some time. Don't worry! It gets easier the more you expose yourself with content for native speakers.
What is intimidating today will feel normal for you in the future. Keep going, don’t fear challenges, be open minded and take your time — and you will be able to tackle more and more difficult content.
Tips and recommendations
I myself am at a point where I’ve read around 100 books in Japanese. Many of them were manga, the rest were light novels, novels and a few non-fiction books. The level of difficulty of these books varies. I started with easier books and tried to read more and more challenging ones. I also regularly play video games in Japanese. A few examples:
Manga
名探偵コナン (has full furigana, it’s quite challenging but you’ll learn a ton of expressions and words from a wide range of real wold topics, strongly recommend it)
ナルト (typical battle shonen manga, full furigana, much easier than コナン)
Silver Spoon (full furigana, lots of specialized vocab and therefore difficult, but also very fun)
バクマン (one of my favorites, very enjoyable but also difficult)
らんま 1/2 (I love this series, it has full furigana and is one of the easier manga I've read so far; just be prepared that it contains a bunch of "fantasy" words like attack names etc.)
Novels and Light Novels
ハイキュウ 小説版 (this was challenging at first because the author uses a quite rich vocabulary, the stories are not very complex though)
名探偵コナン (I’ve read several novel versions of the Detective Conan movies, the writing style is quite easy to understand, they cover various topics and they have full furigana, I strongly recommend them)
ハリー・ポッター 1 to 4 (the beginning was hard and sometimes I was a bit lost what happens but the overall difficulty is okay; there are also audiobooks on Audible)
変な家 (I really enjoyed this one, the first chapters are quite easy, only the last one was suddenly very difficult)
Games
Animal Crossing (easy and relaxing game, full furigana)
Ace Attorney (one of my favorites, no furigana, challenging at first but now at Ace Attorney 3 I can play it with only occasional look ups)
Even though I’ve read quite a number of books, I’m far from fluent. I'm currently reading several books: 夏へのトンネル、さよならの出口, リング and ソードアート・オンライン 1. Even with all my experience, there are many new words in all of them. Maybe I should be better at this point, but it is what it is.
However, this is no reason to panic. I think that it’s important to not fear unknown words. New words are not a barrier, they help you grow. Instead of worrying about all these unknown words I take my time, look up words and follow the story. I can enjoy these books even though I don’t understand everything and need to look up many words.
To me, it’s about the journey, not the goal.
Some tips and strategies
Pick a book you’ve already liked reading in your native language (or after watching the movie). This way, you can be sure that you will like the story. This makes looking up many words more bearable. Plus, knowing the story makes it easier to understand the novel in your target language.
If possible, choose the ebook version. Reading digitally makes look ups faster and therefore less frustrating. Because it’s almost effortless you can look up many words without burning out. And by looking up more, there are more opportunities to learn new words.
Decide how many words you want to look up per page depending on your needs. Looking up words digitally is fast and almost effortless. This way it’s not hard to look up every word you don’t know. But if this is too much for your taste, just set a limit that makes reading more comfortable for you. You could try to look up only the 3 most important/interesting words per page and see how it goes. Change the number depending on how you feel or how difficult the book is.
It’s okay to not understand 100%. Progress is better than perfection. As long as you read regularly and look up at least some new words, your vocabulary will grow. Don’t worry too much about every single word you don’t know.
Being able to guess words from context is a valuable skill. Try to understand from context first and look up what seems necessary afterwards.
Don’t let yourself get discouraged right away just because you encounter several new words per page. If you start a new book, try to read at least the first chapter. The prologue and the first chapter are usually the hardest, because you need to get used to the authors writing style and the story.
Take as much time as you need. If you lack vocabulary, reading speed is nothing to worry about at this stage. Build up your vocabulary first.
Even if the overall level of difficulty is okay, there can always be paragraphs or chapters where your comprehension suddenly drops. That’s completely normal. Do your best to understand the gist, look up some words and then move on. Focus on the things you can understand.
You don’t need to learn everything the first time you read a book. Don’t worry too much about rare and specialized words, yet. Try to focus on more common words first. Since they come up more often and in different books, they are more useful at this point. Later when you are more advanced, looking up and learning these rather rare words is less overwhelming than in the beginning where everything is new.
A flashcard program like Anki helps to remember words you've encountered during your reading sessions. But instead of adding all new words I recommend to add only words you've seen at least a few times. I put the Japanese word together with an example sentence on the front and the meaning on the back. I use it only as a supplement. My daily Anki sessions are between 10 - 15 minutes long. I want to use most of my learning time for reading and listening -- this is where I really learn new words (= by repeatedly seeing them in context). Anki just helps me to build up familiarity with words I already recognize. Anki is not a must, of course. If you really can't stand it, don't use it. Just make sure that you read and listen regulary.
Graded readers can help to get used to reading in your target language. However, the gap between graded readers and easier books for natives can still be quite significant.
This particular (optional) section used to not let you move on until you'd written something correct and relevant. Over the last few months I noticed that it was just changing around words even when what I'd written was correct. Then I just threw ten random french words at it. Since then I've been skipping it altogether, until today.
I saw 轟 on a sign (the name of a company) and asked my friend how to read it
She said “Todoroki” so I immediately checked how the character in my hero academia is spelled and sure enough Todoroki Shoto is 轟 焦凍.
I’m not saying studying kanji via your favorite anime characters’ names is super efficient, because there are a lot of super uncommon kanji out there in those names. BUT…if you enjoy it, have fun and rest assured it’s not completely useless.
one of my students shared this cool website where you can drill yourself on japanese conjugations: link
i looked at it myself and you can mess with options to choose if you want verbs, adjectives, which conjugations you want to practice, if you want furigana, etc. there's a bunch of stuff
He's so inexperienced at the game it really plays out like a sitcom because he does not know what to prioritize nor the easy money gain strats. In one episode he loses everything he has to gambling
Something interesting in the elevator! I thought that the 门 radical was only used in Simplified Chinese and had never seen it used in a Japanese context before! Apparently it's recognized here as a variation. It's usually written 門, meaning gate/door.
開 means open(ed), unfold, or unseal. It's read ひら.く, ひら.き, -びら.き, ひら.ける, あ.く, あ.ける, or カイ.
閉 means close(d) or shut. It's read と.じる, と.ざす, し.める, し.まる, た.てる, or ヘイ.
Have you ever wondered why reading Japanese texts is… difficult? And I’m not talking about kanji. I'm talking about...
Paragraph organization/structuring.
Different cultures equal different ways of expressing thoughts, and the Japanese way of expressing thoughts is different from my native culture and English culture.
It's also worth noting that some cultures are reader-oriented and some are writer-oriented.
Read-oriented means that the author focuses on the reader and tries to compose a piece of text that is easy to consume, and easy to understand for the reader. This could refer to:
lack of sophisticated vocabulary
short sentences
short paragraphs
lots of examples
straightforward examples and lots of contexts
Writer-oriented means that the writer, it might sound harsh, is more focused on themselves. The writer through their composition tries to, in simple words, show off. Yes, the author tries to prove to the reader that they are a competent person and that they know what they are talking about, but they don't necessarily care if the reader will understand their text. They shift the responsibility of understanding the text to the reader. You can expect:
difficult vocabulary
wordy sentences
poor explanations
the author sort of assumes that the reader knows or has a similar knowledge level as the author
Of course, it also depends on the target audience, the field, and the purpose of the composition. Some texts are written by professionals for professionals, so the author can safely assume that their target audience will comprehend their work.
To learn more about this, get acquainted with high- and low-context cultures, a concept coined by Edward T. Hall.
High and low context refers to how a message is communicated. In high-context cultures, such as those found in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, the physical context of the message carries a great deal of importance. People tend to be more indirect and expect the person they are communicating with to decode the implicit part of their message. While the person sending the message takes painstaking care in crafting the message, the person receiving the message is expected to read it within context. The message may lack the verbal directness you would expect in a low-context culture. In high-context cultures, body language is as important and sometimes more important than the actual words spoken.
In contrast, in low-context cultures such as the United States and most Northern European countries, people tend to be explicit and direct in their communications. Satisfying individual needs is important. You’re probably familiar with some well-known low-context mottos: “Say what you mean” and “Don’t beat around the bush.” The guiding principle is to minimize the margins of misunderstanding or doubt. Low-context communication aspires to get straight to the point. (Source)
Now we know what may cause problems with understanding Japanese texts.
Let’s move to some basics: definitions and rules governing English paragraphs and Japanese paragraphs.
What is a paragraph?
Merriam-Webster defines a paragraph as
“a subdivision of a written composition that consists of one or more sentences, deals with one point or gives the words of one speaker, and begins on a new, usually indented line.”
Pretty straightforward, right? The most important part of this definition is that a paragraph in an English text contains ONE POINT/IDEA.
Japanese danraku
On the other hand, the definition of a Japanese paragraph (danraku) is not so clear. Kazumi Kimura and Masako Kondo of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies did research on that topic and what they managed to establish is that:
“The definition and functions of danraku are vague, and the requirements for danraku are not clearly stated in most composition textbooks.”
“According to Shinmura (2001), danraku is defined, as “a major division in a long passage”
”Matsumura (1999) also defines danraku as “a part of a long passage and a division group of the same content.”
”In other dictionaries, no clearer definitions for danraku are found, either. Moreover, no book suggests the rules or requirements for danraku.”
So, what’s the conclusion?
There are some rules and commonly accepted conventions governing English paragraphing, while the Japanese treat the idea of paragraphing in a more relaxed way. They don’t see it as a standard unit of text organization.
Japanese Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu Format
An interesting article.
Kishōtenketsu (起承転結) is how (most commonly) the Japanese structure their narratives. Why should you care? Because this pattern affects other types of narratives too!
Robyn Paterson explains what each syllable in the name stands for. Let’s take a look.
Ki – In this stage, we get a character and situation, and that character demonstrates a need, usually one based on a derivative of basic human needs.
Sho – The character makes a plan, and tries to follow a path they think will fill that need.
Ten – The character faces an obstacle to their plan, and must figure out how to overcome it.
Ketsu – The character is done facing the current obstacle(s) and now has either fulfilled their need or moved closer towards fulfilling it.
How is it different from the Western narratives, then?
Western narratives tend to write about conflicts. It is always about people struggling to win something, to become someone, to fight against someone. Stories usually start off with a problem, then the problem is followed by all the events and actions that should help solve the problem, and at the end, there’s “and they lived happily ever after.” Sounds familiar, right? Such an approach is reflected in more scientific writings too. Introduction, body, and conclusion. Rigid and organized pattern.
The Japanese way of writing stories is more about the interactions between living organisms. They don’t see the world as a constant battlefield. They see it as a cooperative system. Sure, there are conflicts, but the approach toward solving conflicts is also different.
That’s why the Japanese writing style may seem chaotic and random to us, Western people. In Japanese stories, there is no “thesis” or “problem statement” at the beginning. Japanese narratives and other writing styles are more relaxed and not problem-oriented.
I sometimes think that Japanese people just write whatever comes to their minds, but that’s just my conclusion.
Robyn Peterson summarized the differences in two short statements, and they are great!
American story – Man conquers outer space.
Japanese story – Man finds his place in outer space.
Japanese paragraphs
Kazumi Kimura and Masako Kondo carried out research in which they analyzed English essays written by Japanese students. While the research focuses on English essays and the goal here is to help English teachers teach better writing to Japanese students, the two authors pinpointed some features of Japanese paragraph structure.
A Japanese writer’s interest is in decorating with an emphasis on surface effects to move readers rather than that in presenting a message or information clearly.
The purpose of writing is often different between the two languages (English and Japanese).
Japanese essay writers generally aim to move their readers, and they are not concerned about how to clearly convey information as English writers are.
Kinoshita’s (1981) observes that ‘most Japanese writers may end a paragraph because they think they have written a lot in a paragraph’ (p. 61).
A writer can put more than two main ideas in one danraku because the strict organization of a topic sentence and a supporting sentence is not required.
They [the Japanese] organize paragraphs as they would for danraku, without any logical combination of a topic sentence and supporting sentences. They also often place more than two main ideas in one paragraph because in danraku that is possible.
Japanese writers tend not to pay attention to stating a clear topic sentence which is followed by appropriate supporting sentences. Therefore, Japanese students should realize that danraku and paragraphs are not identical, and they should not write English in a danraku style.
During the research, one of the common problems was that more than a few students wrote their English essays only in one paragraph, and such paragraphs contained many different ideas.
The second problem was that two topic sentences sometimes appeared in one paragraph and different ideas were discussed.
The third problem was that a topic sentence was often absent from many paragraphs.
Japanese writing style lacks conjunctions and connectives. They separate thoughts with commas, and that feature bleeds into English texts as well.
(I haven’t changed the wording. The original is the same)
These are just basic differences! However, I feel like reading Japanese articles will be much easier from now on: I know the features and I know what to expect.
An interesting article on the topic here. It also tackles the conventions of spoken Japanese and argument organization.
References:
“Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu- a Japanese way to structure your stories. | RobynPaterson.com.” Site. August 06, 2020. Publisher, Web. August 06, 2020. (website no longer exists)
“Effective writing instruction: From Japanese danraku to English paragraphs.” Site. August 06, 2020. Publisher, Web. August 06, 2020.
“Publications - Do Asian authors have a different style of academic writing from European authors? - Academia Stack Exchange.” $site. August 06, 2020. Publisher, Web. August 06, 2020.
