Intermediate Japanese language learning materials recomendat

[the_haunted_boy]

can someone recomend me something? I want something that is at an intermediate level or something that is not too beginer but too advanced either.

[Milmi]

How about buying some novels and start reading real Japanese? (I don't consider text books' texts as "real Japanese" because they are directed to the Japanese language students and are in the end quote barren). If adults' books seem to be too difficult, you could try some children books instead (like ハリー・ポッター and such).

Then you could purchase some grammar book and check the unknown grammar points from there. One really good grammar book is A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar (I recommed always useful A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, too). Together these two books are a brilliant!

P. S. Check the Store for Intermediate learning material.

[the_haunted_boy]

Milmi wrote:
How about buying some novels and start reading real Japanese? (I don't consider text books' texts as "real Japanese" because they are directed to the Japanese language students and are in the end quote barren). If adults' books seem to be too difficult, you could try some children books instead (like ハリー・ポッター and such).

Then you could purchase some grammar book and check the unknown grammar points from there. One really good grammar book is A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar (I recommed always useful A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, too). Together these two books are a brilliant!

P. S. Check the Store for Intermediate learning material.

Are there any children's books that are excusivly to Japanese only? Because I love to read a lot af childrens books and it might be hard to find a Japanese translation of one that I have not already read in english.

[chchan45]

Hello,

I suggest a series of books called ことわざ探偵団. It was one of the first books I read after deciding I have had enough of textbooks (Milmi I cannot agree with you more).

I think there are 5 of them in the series, as follows:
数字のことわざ探偵団
鳥のことわざ探偵団
数字のことわざ探偵団
虫のことわざ探偵団
顔のことわざ探偵団

It is divided into short chapters and the vocabulary is easily manageable. Each chapter contains a Japanese proverb as well as interesting facts which even adults may not know. I managed to learn as much Japanese as general knowledge from reading them.

[Infidel]

I tried the children books route, it didn't work out very well. My first suggestion is to go bi-lingual. There are Japanese readers that have English on one side and Japanese on the other. There are also bi-lingual magazines like Hiragana Times and Nihongo Journal. All of these are great in that intermediate stage.

[the_haunted_boy]

I am not saying that I have a problem with textbooks, I will take your textbook recommendations too.

[Schattenjedi]

Infidel wrote:
I tried the children books route, it didn't work out very well.

May I ask why?

[Mike Cash]

Why the irritating bold print for everything?

[Infidel]

Schattenjedi wrote:

Infidel wrote:
I tried the children books route, it didn't work out very well.

May I ask why?

The grammar was all different, the subject matter less relevant and interesting. The kanji were more sparse unless I was looking at my pre-WW2 children's books, and about a dozen other small nagging things.

It's actually much easier to read with kanji than without. I bought these children's books thinking that they would be written more simply, and thus be easier to learn from. However, while they are written more simply, the grammar is more abbreviated, and again, less kanji. I can't really articulate all the problems I had. But the benefits did not measure up to my expectations.

[Steve_Poppers]

That's amazing. What I was actually thinking about was children's books. The bilingual magazines sound like a much better idea.

You seem to know where to get this kind of stuff.

[aKuMu]

http://www.hiraganatimes.com
http://www.alc.co.jp/nj/

[clay]

I never liked children's books as a beginner just because the intellectual level was so 低い

Nihongo Journal is definitely awesome for intermediates. Most of the content is too tough for beginners but the upper beginner to upper intermediate stages benefit the most. Highly recommended. We have a few of the back issues at the store before ALC stopped the magazine. They have since started again but don't ship abroad (or wholesale for that matter!). My friend, Max at http://www.whiterabbitpress.com stocks the new issues if you don't live in Japan.

Also, Yumi and I made a few reading practice packages with MP3s. I think I still have the download links active and I mentioned it in a past news posting. But if not, they are under the free section at thejapanshop.com.

Other than that, just read anything you can get your hands on. Try finding articles of interest on any of the Japanese newspaper websites. With Rikaichan for Firefox, reading is a snap (of course try without mousing over!). Another great starting point is http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal_e.aspx which does the same thing.