Why books for 10 year olds are easier than books for 5 year olds

Previously I’ve posted about Japanese children’s stories and also websites intended for Japanese children. At the time I was experimenting with children’s books but the experience ultimately left me a bit frustrated. The vocabulary (both content and the fact it was mostly hiragana) was difficult and the content was a bit juvenile (while stories about shrinking and flying on the...

Goals of 2010

I’ve been keeping a record of my Japanese progress since the end of October 2009. It’s been a very good motivator, and also good to see where I devote my time. Or where I don’t. I may be (am) weird, but I enjoy trying to reach my goals and beat them in this very visual way. With that said, I want to set some over all goals for the new year. So that I can kick them in the...

Books for Japanese Children

After a bit of conversation in my article about my recent study methods I thought it would be good to get into more detail about the books I’ve been reading! Besides some manga, I’ve been reading books intended for Japanese children. There are a few problems I’ve found reading these compared to graded readers that are intended for beginners to the language. For instance,...

Going Gung-ho – November 2009

Where did the time go? It’s been over a month since I last posted, and I’ll tell you where I’ve been. Right here on the computer! Since the 19th of October 2009, I’ve spent 89 hours studying Japanese. Some of you may know nanowrimo – an event which takes part in November where you attempt to write 50,000 words in a month. My goal of November was something...

Carlie’s Japanese Progress – March 2009

March was an OK month in regards to my Japanese progress. Some of the activities I did include: An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese I have gone through chapter three of this but still need to do more review. Reading Manga I have read through two and a half volumes of manga. I finished the first four chapters of Hana Kimi and decided that was a “book” when it...