My humble 2016 JLPT N3 thread

Don't sweat it too much ariariari! Based on the description off the description of the Level 3 Readers, you seem to be on track.

Quote:Japanese Graded Readers Level 3 - Volume 2 is designed for a proficiency level equivalent to Japanese Langauge Proficiency Test Level N3~N4. The set of stories utilizes a vocabulary of about 800 words. The grammar points include: ~toki, ~tara/ba/nara, ~sou, ~you, potential, imperative, passive form, etc.

Shirokuma is actually starting to get to the point where it is difficult to extensive read but I plan to just skip unknowns for now until I finish vol 1 which I am about halfway. Then continue to extensive read vol 2 and intensive read vol 1.RawToast's intensive reading tips were awesome and it reminded me of a FluentU article, "Learn Japanese With Manga in 6 Simple Steps"

Quote:

1. Familiarize yourself with an entire manga book
   
2. Look up Japanese vocabulary
   
3. Take notes that you can use again
   
4. Re-read a manga book with notes
   
5. Read the book again without notes
   
6. Let some time pass and then read it again
   

The reason why I chose to continue to plan to extensive read the next vol while intensively reading the previous one is because of a tip I got from the Tofugu article, "WHY READING JAPANESE IS so DIFFICULT: THE FIRST PAGE SYNDROME"

Quote:3. Stick with an author: Every author has their own "voice." This means they use certain words more often, and write in a specific style. The way they weave words grammatically will be unique. If you read articles or books written by the same author, you'll have to spend less time figuring out grammar. The author will follow a pattern, and you will learn it pretty quickly (within those first couple pages).

This was the main reason I decided to not read another manga series until I completed an entire series the first time around. I chose shirokuma because it is such a short series (also the fact that besides the talking animals aspect, the language is completely everyday). Also like the tip suggests, because an author has a particular writing style, vocab and grammar patterns repeat which is great for extensive reading! Especially since many of those words will carry over to the next volume so it just snowballs from there

Later I plan to mix it up and use much longer manga series.