Furigana in Katakana - Increasing exposure

Index » The Japanese language

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Reply #1 - 2012 August 31, 4:47 am
callmedodge Member
From: Tokyo Registered: 2012-02-06 Posts: 69

I was just thinking there of starting to put all of my furigana in Anki into katakana. Katakana is still one of those things that eludes me. I can read it fine but at a rate that is about 3 or 4 times slower (if not more) than the rate I can read hiragana and familiar kanji at. The problem is simple: I do not have enough exposure to katakana.

I was just wondering if anyone has tried this and whether or not they have what are their thoughts on it?

Reply #2 - 2012 August 31, 5:36 am
frony0 Member
From: London United Kingdom Registered: 2011-12-10 Posts: 257

I'm sure it would be an easy modification to the desktop plugin, but I still wouldn't do it. If you make an immersive enough environment - turn all your regular online sites, smartphone and pc into Japanese, you'll come into contact with enough katakana to be able to read it fairly well, I think...

Reply #3 - 2012 August 31, 5:48 am
yudantaiteki Member
Registered: 2009-10-03 Posts: 3619

I think it's a bad idea to practice reading katakana using things that wouldn't normally be written in katakana.  Part of the challenge of reading katakana is interpreting the loan words, not just connecting the symbols with the pronunciation.

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Reply #4 - 2012 September 02, 7:46 pm
callmedodge Member
From: Tokyo Registered: 2012-02-06 Posts: 69

I`m in a pretty immersive environment - living in Tokyo - but katakana words still aren`t that common in my daily life. It`s just moreso to get practice reading the symbols more so I can increase the speed at which I interpret new loan words. It wont have any detrimental effect on how I read kanji as I only use furigana when absolutely necessary but seeing the furigana in katakana even after I`ve read it properly may help.

I really don`t know though, you`re probably right.

Reply #5 - 2012 September 02, 7:52 pm
Zgarbas Watchman
From: 名古屋 Registered: 2011-10-09 Posts: 1210 Website

Start playing games, depending on the genre they can be 80% katakana smile. Pretty much any sports game, anything that has lots of made-up words/names (Skyrim has a bunch), etc.

Reply #6 - 2012 September 02, 9:46 pm
callmedodge Member
From: Tokyo Registered: 2012-02-06 Posts: 69

I was thinking about replaying FF7 in Japanese as I`m already familiar with the storyline or maybe 8. Is the Japanese level pretty high in those games? Might be the best way actually. Cheers!

Reply #7 - 2012 September 03, 8:49 am
frony0 Member
From: London United Kingdom Registered: 2011-12-10 Posts: 257

I was planning on doing that too actually, with FF9... Glad to know it's a good idea

Reply #8 - 2012 September 03, 8:59 am
yudantaiteki Member
Registered: 2009-10-03 Posts: 3619

Depends on what you mean by "pretty high" -- there's no furigana so that's a barrier.  Games with fully voiced dialogue give you some help in that regard, which of course excludes FF7.  If you mean playing through and understanding the whole story I think you have to be at upper intermediate, but you can of course play the game with a lot less.

But part of my preparation for JLPT 1 that helped me out a lot was playing through Star Ocean 3, Summon Night 3, Tales of Symphonia, and FF X-2.

Last edited by yudantaiteki (2012 September 03, 8:59 am)

Reply #9 - 2012 September 03, 9:31 am
Stian Member
From: England Registered: 2012-06-21 Posts: 426

The Japanese version of Zelda Majora's Mask has a lot of katakana, and not as many obscure kanji as OoT...

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