Alec_xvi
Member
From: Nayoro
Registered: 2010-12-27
Posts: 55
Hey everyone,
If you are looking to improve your Japanese and get a general idea of current affairs in Japan please take a moment to visit NHK News Easy.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/
This is a pilot project for NHK, and for me, its absolutely amazing!
Whenever I would pick up a Japanese newspaper, or force myself to read news online, I would want to either scratch out my eyeballs, or give up on the language itself (and I have been studying for N1 for nearly a year). But, with this website, as the news articles are written in an easy to understand manner, I actually enjoy the articles I am reading.
In addition, there are/is:
-a link to the original "difficult" Japanese article
-voice over for all the articles (practice your listening)
-the option to highlight kanji of places and names to make them easier to distinguish
-an original NHK news broadcast pertaining to the article
-a built in Japanese>Japanese dictionary for difficult words
-Japanese explanations for difficult compounds
-NO furigana, which is a good thing! (but, I expect that they will add a toggle in the near future)
-3 articles added daily!
As a foreigner desperately trying to learn the language and understand current affairs, this one-of-a-kind website is great! So, I felt that it was my duty to spread the message, let everyone know of this amazing tool, and get the people at NHK to notice.
If you visit even only once, it will show the people at NHK that this is a tool that us foreigners want and need. Afterall, more hits equals more money, and more money equals better service and therefore an improved learning/communication resource for the foreign community.
Let me know what you think!
Last edited by Alec_xvi (2012 October 23, 1:29 pm)
Just had a quick look at this and it looks ideal for me! Since I'm probably just below N3 level it's still quite difficult to read for me, but it's not seemingly impossible (like real news is) for me to read!
What level would you say this is at? Do they convert all the latest news into this format?
Thank you for sharing this great resource.
Edit: I just read that article about the earthquake in L'Aquilla and was able to get the general meaning of the article without looking up anything! This is amazing, I'm going to use this pretty much every day as a way of getting sentences and as practice thank you!
Last edited by Kewickviper (2012 October 23, 8:14 am)
Javizy
Member
From: England
Registered: 2007-02-16
Posts: 770
Alec_xvi wrote:
(and I have been studying for N1 for nearly a year).
Have you seen any example 読解 questions before? I was reading regular NHK news for a while before taking the test, but the reading still seemed pretty brutal given the time limit. I agree that newspapers are pretty tough, but online news seems to be far more digestible - look at the length of the stories on the main NHK news site. The version you posted does seem pretty great for people of a lower level, and I would've been greatful for this link a few years ago, but for someone studying for N1, it could lead to laziness or underestimating the test - there's no furigana or simplified expressions in N1. Seems like a good resource in any case, and hopefully it's successful.
Alec_xvi
Member
From: Nayoro
Registered: 2010-12-27
Posts: 55
Kewickviper wrote:
Just had a quick look at this and it looks ideal for me! Since I'm probably just below N3 level it's still quite difficult to read for me, but it's not seemingly impossible (like real news is) for me to read!
What level would you say this is at? Do they convert all the latest news into this format?
Thank you for sharing this great resource.
I believe that it is a perfect level for someone studying for N3-N2, but I would go as far to say that it would be beneficial for N1'ers as if they are looking to set a base to improving their reading to a higher level.
I myself plan to improve my speaking by reading the news out loud (and yes, I will also speak with my Japanese friends/colleagues), seeing how it is written very much how I speak.
Last edited by Alec_xvi (2012 October 24, 12:39 pm)
Corodon
Member
From: Texas
Registered: 2008-06-02
Posts: 34
Seamoby wrote:
This question sounded odd to me. You can read the articles now. Can you read Core 6k? What's the difference between learning new words from reading the articles and learning new words from Core 6k?
I am still very early on in my studies of the Core 6k, and when I look at the articles I can get a sense of what they are talking about, but not really read them yet. I'm not even to the point of it just being a few unknown words blocking me from reading the articles.
My goal in asking the question was, right now I look at the articles and think, ugh, these easy articles are too advanced for me, reading full difficulty material seems very far off. But, I know that every day I am learning 20 more sentences out of the Core, which puts me done at X months down the road. And if at that point I will be able to read the NHK articles, that's a tangible benefit. Not just that I will be able to read 6000 iKnow sentences, but that this material that I would like to be able to read but is beyond my skills will become accessible to me. It ties a goal that I want to be able to achieve to a task that that has quantifiable, attainable steps which for me is much more motivating than just a general objective of wanting to be good at Japanese.
