Hi all,

Do you know any reading materials organized by level? My reading level is little under N3 and it's difficult for me to find texts that meet my level and can bring me new knowledge.

The manga are right but I would like to practice long texts.

There aren't really many reading materials designed for foreign language learners, so your best bet is to read Japanese books made for children.

Japanese Graded Readers is the only graded reader for foreigners that I know of, but it's pretty basic and overly expensive.

10分で読める and other readers for elementary school children are a great resource if you're looking for material that progresses from level to level.

Check out the "how many books till fluency" thread, which has many suggestions for easier reading material.

tokyostyle Wrote:Check the children's section of Aozora. You might start with this since you already know the story.

cool link, you can get the audio book from http://fantajikan.tea-nifty.com/blog/ too.

Reading above your level is TOUGH but you will learn a lot faster.

I recently picked up a light novel for 6th graders because I thought I was ready for that level, and I wasn't. I slugged through about the first 1/3 with a lot of pain and a dictionary. By the end of the book, I was reading and enjoying it 20-30 pages at a sitting. I didn't fully understand anything, but I was able to follow the story and enjoy it without a dictionary.

I did the same with Deathnote and downgraded after 3 volumes to Naruto and Bleach. Now I'm looking upwards to some kids novels (Pirates of the Caribbean actually).

Cranks Wrote:I did the same with Deathnote and downgraded after 3 volumes to Naruto and Bleach. Now I'm looking upwards to some kids novels (Pirates of the Caribbean actually).

Yeah a lot of the dialogue in DN I hadn't seen before, I've read the whole thing in English and saw the anime and movies so I knew what was going on anyway but thats not the point... oh well, It's not I don't have a lot of other stuff to read atm anyway. One Piece seems a lot easier just at a glance, bought one of the compilation books on recommendation by a friend. I'll go back to Death Note once I've cleared a few more books from my "to read" list.

wccrawford Wrote:Reading above your level is TOUGH but you will learn a lot faster.

I recently picked up a light novel for 6th graders because I thought I was ready for that level, and I wasn't. I slugged through about the first 1/3 with a lot of pain and a dictionary. By the end of the book, I was reading and enjoying it 20-30 pages at a sitting. I didn't fully understand anything, but I was able to follow the story and enjoy it without a dictionary.

Nice progress!
My problem is that I enjoy more SRSing my stupid vocab deck than reading real materials Maybe because for me real reading is harder than anki, I don't know.

Anyway I will take a look at the links mentioned above and see whether I can find interest in it thx for the links

Been there, done that. Read text versions of books above your level from your computer. You can use Rikaichan or this Anki plugin this one guy wrote. Both ways you can look up words instantly without having to really interrupt your reading (which is what sucks the most). If you have an OK amount of grammar under your belt you should do fine.

Also, I think the SRS can be more "fun" at the beginning is because whenever you begin to read something it can feel terrible since you realize just how little you know despite all your efforts in studying. Don't worry, once you begin to read more freely it will get way more interesting