The Importance Of Reading In Japanese Language Learning

When it comes to learning Japanese there are a number of different aspects you can focus on, and arguably, reading is actually one of the most important areas.

It is hard work, but you are going to gain so much from taking the time to get better at reading. The benefits are worth the effort and I will go through exactly why it is going to be so important for you development of Japanese, to read more. 

Reading Will Give You New Vocabulary

When you are learning any language, you need to learn more vocabulary and the best way to do this is through reading. The lower your level, the more new words you are going to come across.

Even if you are quite advanced, you are still going to find a lot of new words by simply reading, this even works in your own language. If you want a bigger vocabulary …read more.

This fact alone is why reading is so important for learning Japanese. Of course you can find new vocabulary doing other things, but reading makes it so easy.

(You can read more about – The Role Of Reading In Expanding Vocabulary In Japanese)

You Will Also Come Across More Variation In Vocabulary When Reading

I think it is also important to note that reading is probably going to give you more variation in the words you see.  

In most cases, the depth of words used in things like books will be far greater than other formats.

Just think about a scene in a movie, where there is only a few lines of dialogue. This works as you can see what is going on. You can see the characters and even if they say nothing, you can still follow the story …this can’t happen in a book.

The books will have to describe every little detail about the characters, where they are, what they are doing and really anything else …as well as the small amount of dialogue.

The book has to give you so much more detail so that your minds eye can paint the picture of the scene. This means you are just going to get exposed to a broader range of words to achieve this, which is exactly what you want.

You Will See A Lot Of Grammar When Reading

It should be no surprise that anything you read is going to be full of grammar and this is perfect.

Every sentence you read is giving your brain an example of how the grammar works and if you read enough your brain is going to start getting very comfortable with certain concepts.

You will even begin to notice grammar you are not too familiar with, which you can then go off and study.

Grammar is hugely important for your overall language skills, so the more you can read, the more you are going to subconsciously improve this area.

Everything You See Will Be In Context

Reading also has the advantage of giving you everything in context. The grammar and vocabulary are all there, but is going to be in a story, or whatever the material is about. This doesn’t sound too important, but it is hugely significant.

You are going to get much greater results learning things in context, so for example, when you come across a new word it is going to be surrounded by other words that you do know and the general meaning of the new word is going to make more sense because you can see it working in context with everything around it, which is extremely beneficial for your understanding.

Your brain is going to be able to make sense of things a lot easier because of this, and it does also usually help with your memory. Reading is going to easily give all you this and it saves you from just having to read lists where there is no real meaning to what you are doing. 

You Will Increase You Kanji Skills

Reading is also going to expose you to a lot of kanji. You are going to be able to practice the ones you know as well as learn plenty of new ones.

Kanji is a really difficult part of the language for many people and just sitting there trying to learn them can be soul crushing.

Reading really helps with this whole process as you are just naturally coming across them and you also going to be exposed to the most common ones more often, so more reading is only going to help you with the whole process of learning kanji.

Reading Is A Great Form Of Input

If we really want to sum up why reading is so important, we can simply say it is a great form of input.

Immersion is so key for learning a language, and reading is exactly this. Everything I have mentioned so far is the result of immersion.

Reading gives you the language. It allows you to take it all in and process it subconsciously. You really need immersion to make real progress with the language and this means you need reading.

Of course you will get pretty far by only listening, but you would be missing out on half the input you can get and it will limit how far you can go.

The more immersion you can do …so the more reading you can do …the better you will get at the language. 

You Can Go At Your Own Pace When Reading

Reading is also extremely important for the inexperienced learner as it allows you to be in control of the pace.

When you are listening to the language you are at the mercy of the speakers you are hearing and the reality is that they going to be going full speed and this is stressful.

When you are reading you can go at your own pace. You can stop and go back and just generally take your time and go at a speed that is comfortable for you. 

As you get more comfortable, you will naturally speed up so this isn’t even something you need to think about as you will just go at the right speed for you.

Reading Will Help With Other Areas Of Japanese

As learners we often look at all the different areas of the language as separate skills, but the reality is that they are all interlinked and they all help each other.

Focusing on reading is of course going to improve your reading …but it is also going to help your listening, speaking and even your writing.

Reading is linked to all of these other areas, so the more reading you do, you will see your ability in this other areas increase too.

Reading Will Give You More Access To Japanese Culture

A part of learning the Japanese language is going to revolve around learning about the culture and reading is a great way to access this knowledge.

If you are reading native content, for native speakers, there will be plenty of the Japanese culture weaved into whatever it is you are reading.

You are going to find out so much from just reading and some of this may be very obvious, such as if you are reading about Japanese shrines for example, but a lot of this can also be quite subtle, such as how different styles of language are used in different situations.

You will notice little things like the way a news report is written is going to be drastically different to reading a manga and this is all part of the culture.

Those who read a lot, generally are more in touch with the culture than those who don’t.

Reading In Japanese Is Enjoyable

Once you get comfortable with reading and you find some material you like, you will find it really enjoyable.

You will hear countless stories of people just reading manga for hours and hours, flying through the pages simply because they are loving it.

This is actually quite important as it means you will end up immersing in the language a lot more, and it won’t really feel like much of an effort. You will sort of accidently end up studying a lot, simply as you are enjoying yourself.

Once you get into this flow state your abilities are only going to skyrocket. I will admit it does take a lot of work to get to this stage where you are just comfortable with what you are doing, but once you are there, you will feel unstoppable and you will only get better and better.

(You can read more about – Exploring Different Types Of Japanese Reading Materials)

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can see the importance of reading when it comes to Japanese.

Yes, it is hard, but it is worth the effort. You are going to gain so much from focusing on this and in the long run your language abilities are going to be very robust and you will thank yourself for putting the effort in.