#tadoku

[jpf-sydney]

Okāsan daisuki

New item:

What did the forest bear tell Danny when he asked him what he should give his mother for her birthday? Two loving stories about a young child and his mother.

Shelf: 726.6 FLA (@ tadoku section) Okāsan daisuki. translated and edited by Mitsuyoshi Tatsuya.

Kaihan. Tōkyō : Iwanami Shoten, 1980. ISBN: 9784001151053

[60] unnumbered pages : colour illustrations ; 21 cm. (Iwanami no kodomo no hon).

First edition was published in 1954. Translated into Japanese from the English. Furigana on all kanji characters. Use of kanji is very limited for juvenile readership.

Table of contents:

Okāsan no tanjōbi / bun to e Mājorī Furakku

Okāsan no andekureta bōshi : Suwēden no ohanashi / e Ōsawa Shōsuke.

[oswald-can-draw]

Art I did for a tadoku! A tadoku is a small Japanese book that, through reading the story, helps you learn how to read in Japanese.

If you want, I can translate the gist of the story for you, or even include the Japanese version!

[gisatako]

1 word I learned from the tadoku club: こまいぬ, the animal statue in front of a jinja, which apparently not even the Japanese tutor conducting the club knew if it was an actual dog or not :D

[dokushoclub]

Japanese Reading Resources for Absolute Beginners

A question I encounter often is "How much Japanese should I study before I can begin reading in Japanese?"

From my experience as a learner and reader myself and from managing a Japanese book club for other learners I can honestly say that you can start way earlier than you probably think!

There are many resources that only require knowing hiragana. Those texts usually teach vocabulary through pictures and only use basic grammar.

Some are even simpler than that: The Japan Foundation's Hiragana Books are great for those, who are still remembering hiragana characters. Every short book introduces only 1-2 new characters, so it's a great reading exercise for those who've just started.

The free graded reader 「どうぞ、どうも」 by the NPO Tagengo Tadoku only uses the words 「どうぞ」 and 「どうも」 to write an entire story. Again, this makes for a great exercise in reading hiragana and understanding context. Another "level 0" recommendation by the same NPO would definitely be 「しろい？くろい？」. This book uses the full range of hiragana characters but the grammar is simple and all used vocabulary is illustrated.

Another site with great resources for absolute beginners is Nihongo Tadoku Dōjō. If you have memorized both hiragana and katakana and know how the particles を and で work you will be able to read this text about stationary (ぶんぼうぐ) and understand everything by looking at the pictures!

The resources linked so far can all be accessed completely free on the linked websites. If you have the money to spare, please also have a look at the box 「スタート」 from the series reberubetsu nihongo tadoku raiburarī published by the NPO Tagengo Tadoku and ASK (affiliate link). This box includes 8 little books in very simple Japanese.

All these texts for absolute beginners will get you started reading in Japanese with very little knowledge of characters and vocabulary.

Reading in Japanese is a skill that requires practice. But once you get used to it, it can be such a valuable tool to reinforce new vocabulary and grammar. So please don't wait until you're "ready" before you start reading - start early at your own level!

[the-nihongo-adventure]

I love that moment in language learning when you learn a word purely through context and then it keeps coming up in almost every media you consume in that language. Every time this happens I'm like -

[rigelmejo]

Comprehensible Input Japanese Materials, and Beginner Listening Materials:

Comprehensible Japanese: https://youtube.com/@cijapanese

Nihongo Con Teppei (i recommend all the stuff this guy made):

Comprehensible Input Wiki has a Japanese list of resources, i really recommend this page for finding more resources (and pages for other languages too):

DruDru's Main Experiment (he wrote the beginning of what a comprehensible input text resource could look like for japanese, be aware it is being proofread by a native speaker and the beginning has been edited but not all of the newer chapters, my biggest interest in this project is how YES comprehensible input/learner textooks WOULD WORK with languages like japanese, with a little work put in to add more pictures):

Sakura Tadoku Lab (free graded reader stories):

Free Tadoku Books (I have read ALL of these and 1 highly recommend you start reading them now, even if youre a beginner, because if you are scared of reading then these really help you push through the initial hurdle of being afraid to try. After these books, I was feeling brave enough to try reading japanese books in Kindle. I'd personally recommend Satori Reader app as the next step as you get intermediate, the app is paid so I'm using it on and off and waiting for time to use it intensely, but Satori Reader has excellent upper beginner and intermediate reading materials with extensive translations/grammar explanations/recorded audio that make learning to read something with a lot of resources to ensure you can check if youre understanding):

I also just highly recommend youtube channels in general, youtube automated CC does a decent enough job with japanese that you can turn on CC on japanese lets plays of games (like video games you played before and know the plot of), or learning resources in japanese (and read along as you listen if you want listening practice). If you find japanese audiobooks or podcasts on youtube, you can again use CC for a transcript or text if you'd like to read too.

[gretheresa]

3rd April 2024

Day 2 of 100 days of productivity.

I have my exams for Japanese coming up and I'm way too behind on the syllabus and have an especially weak vocabulary. So I've been trying to read up in Japanese from sources other than the college textbooks. I managed to get some Level 4 and 5 short stories off of Tadoku and so far have read 3 out of the 6 I had downloaded and thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the ones that revolve quite a lot around wordplay.

Today I've started with 幽霊床屋(ゆうれいとこや).

I tend to highlight the kanjis I'm already familiar with, which most people find dumb but but hear me out. It gives an odd sense of satisfaction as opposed to when I used to highlight the kanjis I needed to learn/retain. Now when I can easily recall the reading of the Kanji, I highlight it. That way I can also get an idea of just how many kanjis in a single page am I familiar with. it's like a progress tracker. I do this mostly with new reading materials and not my college textbooks since the vocab and kanji of college prescribed books are a compulsion to learn before the start of a new chapter anyway.

I think I'll post the 新しい単語(あたらしいたんご) in a separate post, once I'm done with the story.

[sheeeshvangi]

Been practicing reading!

The full NHK articles are pretty nice, I'd definitely recommend it for N2 learners.

You can also check out Yomitan. It's a cursor dictionary that helps out a lot.

Some easier recourses I recommend for reading practice:

1. NHK Easy News

2. Todaii

3. Yomu Yomu

4. Tadoku

[skyonfilm]

this year has so far been the worst when it actually comes to japanese studying... its been very inconsistent (and i'm still on chapter one on the textbook i got like 7-8 months ago).

these days, i've mostly been using tadoku to help with my reading. my most recent reads were 彼氏が欲しい！, まだ？ and ピーターラビットのお話. i usually write down vocabulary and translations (in furigana as writing in kanji still stresses me out).

if i get round to it, i may write up a vocabulary list for some of the common words from each of the stories i've read... maybe when i'm more active again!!

i also brought a new folder today for my japanese language studies and used my old one towards work stuff that used to live in my uni folder!!!

🌻🌕🥞🌸🌈

[sannastudies]

My Japanese Reading-Corner, feat. some free reading materials

I use OneNote for my studies & I created a dedicated section where I can keep track of all the things I am reading. It was important to me to give this page a pleasant design - I want to feel cozy the moment I jump to my Reading Corner ; u ; )

Since I am reading a lot of Graded Readers on Tadoku I am dividing them into their Levels as well.

LV 1 and LV 2 are very easy for me and I could jump to Lv 3 right away, however all these graded readers still teach me plenty of new words, so I don't want to miss out on any of them. Thus, I am making my way through Lv 1 & Lv 2 first - the more I read, the better! ( . u . )

Aside from Tadoku, I also read on EbookJapan - they have a very big selection of free Light Novels & Manga across all Genre. Access is time-restricted though, as after a while, the selection changes and new titles replace the current ones. Thus, if I find something interesting I have to keep in mind to finish reading it before it vanishes.

However, there is of course still the option to buy the ebook version for usually very cheap prices ( . u . )

If you are looking for websites where you can practice reading in japanese I definitely recommend these two sites.

Tadoku's graded readers should offer something interesting across many Levels - and so does EbookJapan~! ( . u . )

[jpf-sydney]

Nihongo tadoku. 2, Arata na chōsen to shiryōshū

New item:

Shelf: 817.507 TAG 2 Nihongo tadoku. 2, Arata na chōsen to shiryōshū. edited by NPO Tagengo Tadoku kanshū ; contributed by Takahashi Wataru, Awano Makiko, Katayama Tomoko, Sakuta Nanae, Hanabusa Noriko.

Japan? : webjapanese.com, 2022. ISBN: 9784910570181

205 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm. (Nihongo kyōshi dokuhon).

Includes annotated bibliography on the subject (pages 89-136). Text in Japanese.

[dragoneyestudies]

7月24日の勉強日記

I've finished most of my studying for today, all I have left to do is one more round of WaniKani reviews this evening.

Today I Did:

Anki, reviewing Genki 1 vocab and starting Genki 2

WaniKani, finally unlocked all level 1 kanji

Listening practice watching a video from Comprehensible Japanese on YouTube

Still Need To Do:

Final WaniKani reviews

Reading practice using tadoku

Finally, I wanted to do some writing practice, please feel free to give corrections as long as you're kind!

今朝は午前十一時に起きました。朝ごはんを食べなかったてす。日本語を勉強しました。次に昼ごはんを食べました。昼ごはんはサンドイッチを食べました。サンドイッチはおいしかったです。

今はなつ休みです。だから、ひまがたくさんあります。ひまで友だちとゲームをするのが好きです。いろいろなゲームが好きです。

[mainichi-nihongoal]

📝日本語ログ ー 2/2/23-5/2/23 (木曜日ー日曜日)

Once again, doing a batch update because I apparently (read: truly) suck at noting down daily updates. The consolation, though, is that I actually haven't missed a single day of Japanese since I started the No Zero Days Langblr Challenge, though I wish I could be equally active with tracking my progress (since I'm not using any progress tracker at the moment). Anyway, here's the update for the last few days -

🦉Duolingo

Unit 36 contd. (Talk about school)

5x+ lessons

💜Drops

Completed Theme: Fruits

Current Theme: Vegetables

📖Reading

Read 4x Tadoku Books on Ask Online

Attended a Book Donation Fair organised by the Japan Foundation on 2nd & 3rd February. There were mostly Japanese books there, so I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out which books to get by reading the titles and synopsis (with some help from Google Lens😅). It led to some very surprising yet good discoveries – along with ample amounts of reading practice🤓

🎧Listening (+ Speaking)

My current favourite part of Japanese immersion! Continued with more podcast episodes while also watching jdorama and anime!

Started watching the anime The Case Files of Jeweler Richard/宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 on YouTube – it's available on the official channel of Muse Asia! I have only watched the first episode but I'm loving the story so far, especially the main characters Richard & Seigi. The conversations around the precious gems are also very illuminating. It's based on a light novel, so I'd love to read it in Japanese someday. (2nd Feb)

Continued watching the jdorama Kounodori. Finished the 5th episode. Each and every episode of the drama is honestly so heartfelt and emotional. I'm so glad that I gave it a shot🥹

Attended an online Tadoku club meeting where we silently read short Tadoku stories and then discussed them with other members in the meeting. These meetings lend a very good opportunity for speaking practice😀

Podcast episode link:

🎶song stuck in my head:

[dokushoclub]

[N5] 彼氏（かれし）がほしい！

If you are at the beginner stage of learning Japanese and interested in reading full manga one day, have a look at this short free manga in simple Japanese:

Textbook grammar with some colloquial expressions inbetween

100% furigana on all kanji

Beautiful drawings that support reading comprehension

[midnightmoonlightwriter]

「ゼロデイがない！」２０２３年のチャレンジ

２０２３年１月18日

Yesterday I was at work all day and while nothing much was going on and I could slack off when it came to working – more or less I did my reviews below every hour, read a bit and then cleaned until I had new reviews the whole time (with a bit of receptionist and bar keeper work thrown in very rarely) – I still came home and fell straight into bed. So I am a bit late with this write up.

文法

Did my Bunpro reviews and did a small write up on three (?) grammar points. Not sure if it was more or not. Feels like more but probably not.

単語と漢字

Did a few new lessons in Wanikani, and did some in Kamesame. I really need to write example sentences but I haven’t had the time yet – or rather, motivation quite frankly. Or the right headspace?

読み物

I read five or so Tadoku readers. One about a butterfly, one about a folktale from Edo „Seki no obaasan“, one about a goat and a wolf making friends and one about traveling to the sea. Not sure if I remember everything I read though.

聴く物

Just listening to music. Again. But I did something.

書き物

See above.

使ったアップ

Wanikani

Bunpro

Kamisame

Spotify

Tadoku Supporters

[tokidokitokyo]

2022年10月31日

Fall is in the air and it's a cozy time to study Japanese. It's also a time of the year that marks the busy season for students and employees alike. This fall I have been focusing on reading, trying to read anything and everything, and focusing on retaining things like vocabulary and kanji from these readings.

秋されの折、皆様にはますますご健勝のことと存じます。家で日本語の勉強することがぴったり季節ですよ。そして、学生も社会人もますます忙しくなる時期ですね。今年の秋の目的は日本語でいつでも何でもことに集中しています。読んだ単語や漢字も覚えられます様に努力をしています。

What I've Been Reading This Month

夜カフェ (Yoru Cafe) - A chapter book aimed at children, with the characters being around middle school age. Cute and heartwarming, but with a very slow pace, this is the first book in a series.

月刊少女野崎くん (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun) - A manga about a male high school student who illustrates girls' manga, his female classmate and fan, and all the other characters around him that he inserts into his work.

おじさまと猫 (A Man and His Cat) - A manga about an older man and the cat he adopts. Funny but with plenty of tear-jerking moments, this is a fast and adorable read.

NHK News Web Easy - Quick, easy-to-read articles designed for language learners and school kids to read. You can turn on/off ふりがな and the articles include up-to-date news information.

NHKニュース - The regular NHK news site, for when I have some more time, to read more in-depth articles for a Japanese audience.

絵本 (picture books) - Reading picture books with my son is a great way to practice 1) reading walls of hiragana, 2) reading aloud, 3) daily words with my son.

にほんごたどく (Tadoku Graded Readers) - A treasure trove of free graded readers for beginners and those who want to practice reading in Japanese. (Might I particularly recommend デカりんご).

Other Study Tools I Used This Month

renshuu.org - Kanji & vocabulary quizzes

Jisho.org - English/Japanese Dictionary (one of the most used dictionaries)

weblio - Japanese-Japanese Dictionary

言葉で遊ぼう (Kotoba de Asobo) - Japanese Wordle

Japanese podcasts

Things to Try Next Month

I spent October working on reading, and trying to focus on attaining new vocabulary and kanji knowledge at the same time. So in November, I'd like to focus on a different aspect of Japanese learning. I would like to get back into grammar, reviewing and learning new grammar points.

Handbook of Japanese Grammar - A grammar learning resource, separated by each grammar point.

日本語の森 (Nihongo no Mori) - Grammar videos separated by level, short and sweet for review or learning new grammar.

As the year comes to an end I will be looking back at how I started this monthly diary of my Japanese studies, and where I am now. I would like to review my goals and renew them. Have some of them changed? Definitely! Have some of them remained unfulfilled? Most certainly. But that is a natural part of the language learning process, and the changes in my goals reflect the changes in my priorities and the evolution of my knowledge of the language. So look forward to that in the next update!

Thanks as always for reading!

年末がどんどん近づいてて、今年の最初の目的と今までの進歩を分析したり、比べたりしてまとめて書こうと思っています。来年の目的も考えておいて、日本語の能力の成長について書き留めておこうと思っています。今までの目的が変わったり、満たされてなかったりしても、それは言語の勉強の一方だし、それからも成長ができて、自分の目指してる夢も叶えられますし。だから、来月も楽しみにしてね！

いつもありがとうございます！