Dec 20 2009
New Japanese Titles
Here are some of the titles that we recently acquired at Asian Library:
Literature for Language Learners
Irasuto koten zen’yaku (イラスト古典全訳枕草子)
Kimi ga mitsukeru monogatari: Jūdai no tame no shinmeisaku
(きみが見つける物語 : 十代のための新名作)
10-pun de yomeru meisaku – grades 1 to 6 (10分で読める名作)
Rōdoku “bungaku no shizuku” (朗読「文学のしずく」)
Ghost and Mystery Stories
Edo kaii kisō bungei taikei (江戸怪異綺想文芸大系)
Purofuiru: tantei to ryōki (ぷろふいる : 探偵と猟奇)
Hi Shirin!
I just wanted to leave a comment to show that I do read this. ^^
I actually borrowed きみが見つける物語 (the ほうかご偏) during the first week back, but only managed to slave through something like 5 pages before it was time to return it. Around what grade level is it? I was hoping for slightly more furigana;;. I’ll try 10分で読める名作 next.
Haidi (the girl you met via Nathen Clerici after a Japanese final last semester)
Hi Haidi,
Thanks for the comment!
The きみが見つける物語 series I think is for 十代, or Japanese teenagers and possibly pre-teens. So, I think it would be quite challenging for those in first and second-year Japanese.
The 10分で読める名作 is probably a better choice for lower-level undergraduates, as it is targeted towards students in grades one to six in Japan. These works not only have lots of furigana, but they also include easier vocabulary, which you may be more familiar with. I would also recommend レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー. This set includes lots of short stories at different reading levels.
For any of these titles, I wouldn’t worry about the number of pages you manage to get through. It’s always difficult and slow at the beginning, so don’t get discouraged. You’ll get faster as time goes on, and your vocabulary grows. An electronic dictionary can also be very helpful to speed up reading.
Shirin
Haidi, glad to see you’re still at it! Like Shirin wrote, don’t worry too much about the number of pages you read. That’ll come. I think you’ll be better off finding a level that is challenging, but not so much that reading in Japanese becomes too frustrating. Shirin is doing a great job of bringing in titles good for 1st and 2nd year students, so take advantage of it!
Nathen