Tobberoth Wrote:I say, if you want to read English books, read them in English. If you want to read Japanese books, read them in Japanese. Reading a translated book is "easier" because you know the context, but all that really means is that you're not really understanding what you're reading, you're just using a context you already know to fill in. This, IMO, will lead to bad learning, you should learn to READ a japanese book, not to look at pretty text and make up your own story as you go. If you're not good enough to read a real japanese novel, get a dictionary, or read something else.
There are some amazing Japanese authors and I find it odd that someone would learn japanese without any interest in japanese culture, reading a japanese book in japanese is way better than reading a translation of something you already read.
Sorry, Tobberoth, I need to disagree here.
I think reading translated books is best BECAUSE you know the context. Already knowing that something is going to happen, or someone will say something, and then reading it in Japanese is great - you may not know all the words, but you can effectively guess which word means what and you see how the sentence structure changes.
In complete opposition to your point on this promoting bad study habits, I think it promotes good study habits. One of the best ways to learn a language, as it has been done for so very, very long, is to sit there and figure it out. How do you think grammar guides and learning materials come about? People needed to figure out another language to begin with. Learning words through context will make them stick far better (better even than a SRS, I'd say, but using in conjunction with a SRS is magical).
Give it a try, you might change your mind.
In fairness, a warning - Sometimes translated books will read a little... off in Japanese. Not really weird, but then again not precisely fluid Japanese.
