Since I'm sure there are people here who have read it/have experience with it, how good would you say 吾輩は猫である is for picking up phrases and vocabulary, given that it was written in 1905?

It sounds interesting and I'd like to read it, but I'm worried that I'll waste time trying to understand ancient Japanese which I really don't need to know.

remember seeing similar vocab in rurouni kenshin manga books. Anything in Japanese is useful. Once you get past all the common stuff, then your going to really want to learn more or stop but why should one stop? There are still plenty of things to learn after.

ta12121 Wrote:Anything in Japanese is useful.

Is it though? For example, I wouldn't recommend to someone learning English to try to read a Shakespeare play.

fakewookie Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:Anything in Japanese is useful.

Is it though? For example, I wouldn't recommend to someone learning English to try to read a Shakespeare play.

true. I'm just saying, once one get's past the common stuff, then one should learn more vocab(some rare if one wants too).

I gave up on it after a while (more because of the content then the language XD )...Kokoro is easier, and more interesting if you want to read Soseki IMO.

EDIT: It looks like someone else compared the two.

I wouldn't recommend it. It's pretty hard and extremely long. You can find an audiobook in the Audiobooks thread. http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=752 First sample here.

The first chapter is pretty easy though so you can start from there and see if you want to read it until the end.

I read it in translation and it was pretty interesting; Soseki is easier than some of the other writers from that period. IMO his easiest novel is Bocchan.

The first chapter also stands by itself as a short story.

For the first chapter, there is a different audiobook here:
http://jclab.wordpress.com/2007/03/

It's too hard for me at the moment, but I like it and will go back to it sometime.


I read Kokoro and Botchan in translation, and found both of them too upsetting to want to dwell on them for many hours in the course of study. The latter might just be me, since as far as I've heard it's not normally considered to be a dark one...

bladethecoder Wrote:The first chapter also stands by itself as a short story.

For the first chapter, there is a different audiobook here:
http://jclab.wordpress.com/2007/03/

It's too hard for me at the moment, but I like it and will go back to it sometime.


I read Kokoro and Botchan in translation, and found both of them too upsetting to want to dwell on them for many hours in the course of study. The latter might just be me, since as far as I've heard it's not normally considered to be a dark one...

oh yea I was wondering about that site for some time(forgot it). Thanks for the link.

Kokoro is usually considered fairly dark, but not Bocchan -- Bocchan is supposed to be humorous satire. Being an ALT at the time, I found his portrayal of being plopped down in a backwoods school to be hilarious. I've never heard of anyone being upset by Bocchan.

I read the most hilarious bad English translation of Bocchan. It made the main character sound like a unreliable narrator, which he apparently is not supposed to be.

As for I Am a Cat, I thought it was pretty boring when I read a bit of it. On the upside, the first chapter was meant to be a short story, so can just read that part and see how you feel. At any rate, the whole thing is so long I can't imagine very many learners getting all the way through it.