I just implemented a new tool into my regimen. As suggested by the japanshop.com, I got a copy of Shonen Jump, a huge manga magazine for young boys. The big advantage is that every kanji has furigana above it explaining its reading. I used this and my canon wordtank to figure out and read the first two pages. I was slowed down a little bit because I was turning unknown vocabulary and kanji into paper flashcards. I bought word cards when I was visiting Japan. I had been dreading doing it but it's kind of fun. I am at Atom Cafe, a manga/internet cafe in New York where my wife and I usually go on Saturdays. It's been a little overwhelming to come every week and be overwhelmed by how much kanji I still don't know but it finally struck me that I can hit the Shonen Jump, have a little fun, and make some progress on the kanji reading front. (I finished RTKI in June but I really need to keep reviewing.) I have a copy of Shonen Jump I bought at the airport, but the fact that I'm paying $15 to be in this cafe and manga library motivates me to get the most out of my time here. Except I've just reached saturation point and am checking out the forums.

すごい！I'm a big fan of anime (less so manga) and one of my favourites, Naruto, comes from Shounen Jump, I believe. I have some doujinshi manga I bought in Tokyo (doujinshi is produced by enthusiasts rather than the big publishing houses but is often of a very high standard). The difficulty I have in reading it is the regular use of slang and youth-speak which often stumps me. Nevertheless, it's an entertaining form to practice reading with, and your post has inspired me to have another go with it.

There is manga to suit every age and taste, of course, but I do like 少年漫画 (the genre aimed at boys) I guess I'm a big kid! I would particularly recommend the classic ヒカルの碁 (Hikaru's Go) about a boy determined to be a go champion (with, typically for 少年, a supernatural twist to the story). If you play go, it also has a lot about the game itself, which may add interest. Although aimed at boys, it has a wider appeal and not as silly as much kids' manga.

Atom Cafe sounds like a great place to hang out.

I've found that I really don't need to spend the time making flash cards once I see words in context. Instead I'll just read each paragraph over and over several times, out loud (or maybe just mouth the words if other people are around) I've found that readings stick pretty well this way, when it's kanji I know from RtK1.

Also, rather than comics I usually read regular books of Japanese literature/essays/etc. Maybe this way is effective because I have to visualize the story myself instead of just glancing at pictures?

Right now I'm reading 告白 (To Tell the Truth) by Charles Jenkins, the American who defected to North Korea in the 60's and eventually married a Japanese woman who had been abducted by the NK military. I was planning to wait until it got published in English, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen.

Also, I have read 人生の目的 by 五木寛之, which was a collection of essays and a couple of books by 星新一, which were mainly short stories.

I think short stories are the way to go if you're just starting to read Japanese books. Another good one is たけしくん、ハイ！ by Beat Takeshi. It's a bunch of short stories about his childhood, it sort of reminds me of some of the stories Bill Cosby tells in his stand-up routine.

To look up characters or vocab, I use JquickTrans, it is very fast and easy to use. If I see a character I don't know the reading for, 99% of the time I can just type in the Heisig keyword and it will find the kanji for me.

I was reading Detective Conan for a while. I really liked it and all the kanji had furigana. Unfortunately, I skimmed through an english translation of the comic
I read and realized that I didn't understand that much... So I went back to RTK
exclusively for a bit. But I would recommend Detective Conan.

taijuando Wrote:I downloaded the Jquick translator and it may have been a mistake. It doesn't seem to work. The online version is cool.

Doesn't work? What exactly happens when you try to run it? What OS are you running? I've run it on every version of Windows from 2000 up through Vista at some point, and I've never had any problems with it. Also, it seems they have a number of help/troubleshooting documentation on their site.

a new tact...kind of fun...a couple of weeks ago I saw the premiere of Death Note, a movie based on a Japanese Shonen Jump comics series...I was suspicious at first because I don't really like unrealistic manga....this one is about a 死神 or Death God who drops a notebook, the "Death Note" on to earth...anyone whose name is written in the book will die within 40 seconds...I got the Japanese manga and an NYC Bookoff...a used Japanese bookstore and read the first 30 pages, using my dictionary extensively...then I 'cheated'...I got the English version at Kinokuniya books (also available on Amazon)....I've been putting sample Japanese sentences on to Anki and looking up unknown words on my Canon electronic dictionary. My incentive is that I can't read the next book in English or Japanese until I finish Anki'ing the first book. So far so good? I was wondering if people knew of any other good manga with furigana that might also have an English version. I've already found subtleties in translation but it's been fun. Look forward to hearing suggetions.

Ooh Death Note! I just picked up the first couple of volumes of that myself (from the NYC BookOff, no less!). You may be curious to check out the anime too, although you'll probably have to download it.

FullMetal Alchemist, Great Teacher Onizuka, and Hellsing are a few other manga that I have read and liked in English, and I know the NYC Kinokuniya has all of them in English (or did a few months ago). BookOff should have the first two in Japanese, but I couldn't find Hellsing there. It might be too old?

guppy Wrote:I was reading Detective Conan for a while. I really liked it and all the kanji had furigana.

I'd second 名探偵コナン。 Furigana gets in the way for the words I know but it is great for picking up new readings too.

The language seems fairly polite for manga. I'm surprised by how many grammar points from my JLPT2 books that I bump into in Conan.

Another thing I like about manga is that it only takes a few hours to read a book as opposed to novels where I have to devote a lot more time.

I highly recommend "Yotsubato", by the author of Azumanga. It's easy to read, has furigana, and is really fun.

taijuando, the tactic you are using(reading japanese/english and then in the other language) I have been told really helps you learn the language. But to help you out, try going to how-to-learn-any-language.com and go to the forums, there are so many people there who have tons of sources it's crazy, it's how I fount this site.