Someone have read it?
I gave it a glance and seems pretty advanced stuff...
not for me for now....

I read book 5. I remember thinking it was super difficult the first time I picked it up, but going back to it later (especially after having seen the drama), it ended up being pretty easy. Definitely more understandable than something like Death Note. It's really funny too.

off topic but i just wanted to let you guys know im incredibly jealous that you can guys can read Japanese manga already (>_<)

'already'? Pah! So can you! You know the kana? Tae Kim level grammar? Grab a dictionary, grab a kids manga, and get going!

GTO's difficulty comes from heavy use of slang (gyaru & bosozoku galore) and numerous (obscure to a foreigner?) cultural references (who has actually seen 金髪先生 which inspired GTO?). They don't really express difficult concepts using hard words and advanced grammar.

QuackingShoe Wrote:'already'? Pah! So can you! You know the kana? Tae Kim level grammar? Grab a dictionary, grab a kids manga, and get going!

I say skip kids manga. It's boring and the lack of kanji will drive you mad. Something like Crayon Shinchan (grouped as a seinen manga) is a happy medium.

I do enjoy watching Chibi Marukochan on Sundays, but I've never read the manga (meant for female children). Doraemon also counts as a children's manga and is very easy to read, but I can't say it's interesting despite the appeal of Doraemon himself. Genki II actually has some Doraemon manga in the back of it iirc.

i was wondering about that how do i find the meaning of japanese slang words? and if i could read any manga it would be either naruto or yotsubato. anyone ever try to read naruto in japanese? is it difficult?

Well, granted. I wouldn't (and haven't) read kids manga either. It's hard to give a generality otherwise, though. Just, fish around for something that you can both comprehend half of and that you also find interesting.
The core point is that you don't have to wait. As I've pointed out in the past, when I started reading manga I didn't even know what all of the three (four? Depends on how you count) big conditionals were! Or any of the casual mutations used in actual conversation. Just get something with furigana and context-based dialogue etc. For example, reading (or watching, as it happens) something like Lucky Star doesn't work as well, because all of the humour is based strictly on contextless topics. They're sitting on a train and talking about internet usernames; the topic of conversation has nothing to do with what they're doing, so you have to be able to pick everything up from the dialogue itself. (Also the manga is a 4-koma, which means you only have four panels in which to ascertain the context and get the joke, then move onto the next strip that has it's whole own other thing).

In contrast, a manga like Yotsubato is so situation-based that in many cases you could just about figure out what they're saying even if the dialogue bubbles were empty. Use those manga. Eventually you'll be able to work off less context (and eventually move to novels, gasp!), but until then, use manga that actually plays to the advantage of manga; stories that give context through images. Something like Ghost in the Shell defeats the purpose, from an early language-learners point of view. Talking heads discussing philosophy and politics? It might as well just be the text.

Edit: I read a little bit of Naruto out of curiosity, though not much. It's more difficult than some things because of the level of exposition, the level of slang, and the level of (made-up and otherwise) Ninja-stuff. In contrast, Yotsubato was the first thing I ever read. Edit 2: Oh, and if you read Yotsubato, don't feel bad if you get tired or confused when the adults are talking to each other. Just kindof skim (or skip) until you get to dialogues involving the children. Actually, on that note, don't feel bad skipping things in general

Oh yeah I forgot about よつば＆, it's EXTREMELY easy to read.

konakona50 Wrote:i was wondering about that how do i find the meaning of japanese slang words?

You just have to learn them through exposure. Anything purporting to be a reference to slang isn't worth even looking at (they are all a good 30+ years out of date and most try to translate into English slang, which doesn't work).

For slang I use 俗語辞書 pretty often. It's a website so I guess it's as up to date as you'll get in a dictionary, and it seems to be meant to help Japanese people understand their kids? It's useful but I'm sure the definitions are as hilarious to young Japanese as dictionary style definitions of English slang would be to us.

Anyway, the best way is and always will be a google search and/or search of the kokugo section of Yahoo!知恵袋 and find a discussion of the word that way. Works especially well for internet slang.

I haven't read Crayon Shin-chan, but I've been watching the episodes on Youtube non-stop for the past month or so. It is hilarious. It is good even if you don't understand quite everything, but the more you understand the better it gets. It has been a great way to expose myself (that sounds funny) to natural spoken Japanese and also slang/accents. I plan on buying some of the manga when I go to Japan this December (supposedly after about book 10 it starts to get really good) so that I can learn the slang in isolation, which will hopefully improve my listening ability when watching the show.

Jarvik7 Wrote:Genki II actually has some Doraemon manga in the back of it iirc.

It's a small little story about the general plot, but it's super easy to read.

For example in the beginning I've encountered phrases like this
大型特殊「ただしキヤタピラにかぎる」大型自動二輪電気溶接などの資格取得・・空手２段補導歴８３回――
or
湘南の高校を中退後大検をへて優羅志亜大学入学――――
And even if I break down the phrase with the help of a dictionary...I can't get the meaning of some parts so...it's too slow
...For now I'm into dragonball...and it's easy and enjoyable,but my dream remain to read gto someday!

cescoz Wrote:湘南の高校を中退後大検をへて優羅志亜大学入学――――
And even if I break down the phrase with the help of a dictionary...I can't get the meaning of some parts so...it's too slow
...For now I'm into dragonball...and it's easy and enjoyable,but my dream remain to read gto someday!

If you see a clump of kanji that you can't find in a dictionary, it's probably a name. ex: 湘南 (a real place so was actually in my kokugo dictionary) and 優羅志亜大学. Another possibility is that it's a made up word, so look at what the individual kanji mean.

It would be better if I knew the context & the graphics in the frame accompanying the text but...
→After dropping out of highschool in Shounan, he(? - whoever the subject is) passed the entrance exam and entered Yuurashia(? - you can only guess at the nanori) University...

Try not to read with a dictionary in hand, it makes things much less enjoyable. Try to figure out the meaning from context & thinking about what the kanji mean. For example if you didn't know what 中退 means, take it apart. Middle + withdrawl, in the context of school. "Dropping out" is the first thing that pops into one's head. You should (eventually) be able to pick up from context what "words" are actually proper names as well. If after all of that you really are stuck and you haven't figured it out by a few pages later, then go and look it up & add it into anki (along with any words you puzzled out yourself so you don't forget).

I haven't gotten to that level yet.
Though it is very rewarding going on Japanese websites and being able to decipher at least 3 of the 100 kanji on the first page.
Its motivating me to do more.

askayscha Wrote:I haven't gotten to that level yet.
Though it is very rewarding going on Japanese websites and being able to decipher at least 3 of the 100 kanji on the first page.
Its motivating me to do more.

Indeed. These little bits of motivation -- seeing random kanji everywhere, and then realizing -- that they weren't random kanji -- that I KNEW them[in the superficial manner that you would after Heisiging them at least] -- that's what kept me going in the early stages of RTK.

askayscha Wrote:I haven't gotten to that level yet.
Though it is very rewarding going on Japanese websites and being able to decipher at least 3 of the 100 kanji on the first page.
Its motivating me to do more.

I agree. That kept me going until I could get far enough through the kanji to start doing vocabulary. In fact, I still find it rewarding to recognize a few kanji... And even moreso when I recognize whole words or even whole sentences.

Crayon Shinchan is perfect. Easy conversations but still using kanji, useful day to day words and extremely fun. Where else can you learn awesome words like ケツマルダシ?

I'll recomend Suzuka. It's a harem manga but it is kinda different. It is very easy to read.

cescoz Wrote:For example in the beginning I've encountered phrases like this
大型特殊「ただしキヤタピラにかぎる」大型自動二輪電気溶接などの資格取得・・空手２段補導歴８３回――

Break each part up. If there's some big string of kanji, ignore that and focus on the stuff around it first.

資格取得 "qualification acquisition" So it probably means he got a license or permit for whatever 大型特殊「ただしキヤタピラにかぎる」大型自動二輪電気溶接など is referring to.

キヤタピラ is キャタピラ or "Caterpillar"

Omitting the middle part: 大型特殊「ただしキャタピラにかぎる」の資格取得 is "qualification acquisition of large scale special (but limited to Caterpillars)." It's probably referring to a license for large scale vehicles, heavy machinery. I'm guessing that. I checked and there is a 大型特殊免許 and this looks like fun...

大型自動二輪 "large scale automatic two wheel" - A motorcycle class, 400cc and up. I found that on Wikipedia.

電気溶接 "electric welding"

大型特殊「ただしキヤタピラにかぎる」大型自動二輪電気溶接などの資格取得
"Acquired licenses/permits for large scale vehicles (limited to Caterpillars), large scale two wheeled vehicles, electric welding, etc." -- Based on what I looked up and guessing.

If you can't find something in the dictionary, just type it in Google and see what comes up.

If you want to try this part, these are two different things:
空手２段
補導歴８３回

I read manga and I can't fully understand that kind stuff either just looking at it. Fortunately this style of writing doesn't occur enough that it should stop you from reading the rest. Just read what you can and get back to that part later. It's more fun that way and I doubt you will have missed much. But if Dragonball is easier and fun, do that instead for now. GTO will seem easier later.