Tips For Beginner Japanese Learners: How To Start Reading Japanese Texts

It won’t take you long to realise that reading in Japanese is very difficult, so I thought it might be a good idea to go through some tips that you can use to help you get going.

The truth is that you are going to have to work hard when it comes to reading, but with enough time and effort you will see progress. Don’t let the struggle you experience as a beginner stop you.

Remember You Are Like A Baby In The Language

I think one of the best tips I can give you is to just remember you are new to this. You are still learning and the reality is that you lack experience …and this is okay.

Reading in Japanese is tough and it is going to annoy you, but you have to just accept that you are a baby in the language and you can’t be too upset that you are slow, or make stupid mistakes.

It is really important to just think of yourself as a like 4 year old Japanese kid, starting school and learning to read for the first time.

Of course you have the adult advantage of being fluent in English …but it’s still good to remind yourself of what your Japanese level actually is.

Also, if you can, try and remember what it was like to learn to read in English. I remember it well and I hated it, but it got easier the older I got …and this will happen with your Japanese too so long as you put the effort in. 

(You can read more about – The Importance Of Reading In Japanese Language Learning)

Master Hiragana (and Katakana)

One of the first things you will be told when studying Japanese is to learn hiragana and katakana (I recommend this too) but I think we often speed through this and move on.

This is fine, you will get the practice in naturally as you read, but it can be wise to just really try and master these two alphabets. Just test yourself regularly on the letters, even if you have been studying for a while. The more you see them, the better you will get.

I do find that some letters are more common than others, which does mean there are a few that you don’t see too often and you might find you are not as strong at recognising these …which is why it can be wise to actively test yourself on all the letters from time to time to make sure you are getting enough exposure to them all.

Avoid Using Romanji

It is also very important that you avoid romanji. It might seem like it is making your life easier, and it kind of does, but at the same time it does make your actual Japanese better.

You are really cheating yourself by using this and you will simply not make progress with Japanese.

You need to remember that the vast majority of Japanese texts are not going to have romanji, so really you need to ignore the few things that do use this, and focus on actual proper Japanese.

I know it’s harder, but once you get past the initial pain you will find it easier and you will make more progress.

(You can read more about – Why Is Romanji Bad When Learning Japanese?)

Work On The Joyo Kanji

Kanji is a huge part of learning to read in Japanese, but it is also really difficult and it causes a lot of pain to many people.

The good news is that you only really need to learn a small portion of all the kanji …the problem is that this “small portion” is just over 2000 characters.

This sounds dreadful, but it is achievable and this group of kanji is known as the “Joyo kanji” and basically if you can master these, you can pretty much read anything in Japanese so it is very worth your while to focus on these.

Japanese people are expected to leave school knowing all of these characters, so while it takes them a few years to learn them all, it sets them up for life and you can do the same as a learner, but in a much shorter time frame.

This will be your weakness for a long time, but you can make it one of your strengths with enough effort.

Start By Reading Single Words

If you think back to how you learned how to read in English, it will have been one word at a time and there is no reason why you shouldn’t do this in Japanese.

It can be tempting to want to read whole sentences or paragraphs, but really it can be sensible to just take one word and focus on this.

Personally I found reading words that where over 4 characters difficult, I would sound out the first few letters and by the time I had gotten to the last letters …I had forgotten what I had started with, so how can I expect reading a whole sentence to go well.

Of course with practice you will build this ability up, but expect to struggle with the small stuff in the early days.

Also Learn These Words

If you are taking the time to read a lot of words …it’s probably a good idea to actually learn them.

The reality is that the more vocabulary you know, the better you will get at the language. You can argue that learning words one at a time like this isn’t efficient, and I would slightly agree, but you have to remember that right at the beginning you know nothing and you have to start somewhere.

Even just learning a couple hundred of key words in this way is really going to set you up, both for your reading and over all language understanding.

You just need to add these new words you have found into an app like Anki, which will help you memorise them and then hopefully when you do start reading properly, you will  quickly start to see these words in context.

Read Texts That Have Furigana

You will find that some reading material is designed for leaner’s …well …kids, but they are still learning.

You will see kanji with the hiragana letters above them, which means that even if you don’t know the kanji, you can still read it. This is known as furigana and is extremely helpful when it comes to reading.

You will also find this happening with uncommon kanji that fall outside of the core Joyo kanji, and this again allows the reader to know what the character is.

Of course you might not know the word, or understand its meaning …but at least you can now read the kanji, so it’s a good start.

Practice Reading Often

Really the only way to get better at reading is to do more of it.

Every little bit you do will help you get stronger, so it is important you do as much as you can. The whole process is going be tough, but if you avoid reading, you won’t improve.

The best tip I can give any beginner is to simply make sure you actually take the time to read and actually try and make progress. The more you do, the better you will get, it really is that simple.

Re-reading Things Can Be Helpful

It can also be very sensible to re-read things as this is going to give you more exposure to the same words. You need to see the same words over and over again to get comfortable with them and to be able to recognise them instantly like you can in English.

Re-reading things can be a little boring, but it is effective. You don’t have to do this right away, you can wait some time until you have forgotten things, but it will still be a benefit to you. Your subconscious will be processing things and it will certainly be thankful for the repeat exposure. 

Take Your Time When Reading

I also think it is really important that you take your time, both while you are reading and just your general progress.

I know you will want to be reading full native level Japanese, but it takes time. Take the time to really go through the basic material and get super comfortable with the simple things. Also take your time and look at each word properly and process things correctly.

It is okay to take your time and to not be the best at reading …you are learning, but you will also naturally speed up overtime as you start to feel more comfortable. Just trust the process and you will get faster, for now, just make sure you are actually practicing and focusing on what you are doing.

(You can read more about – Common Challenges Faced By Learners When Reading Japanese and How To Overcome Them)

Conclusion

Hopefully these tips are helpful and give you the encouragement to keep reading in Japanese. I know it’s not easy, but so long as you stick with it, you will start to see results.

The reward of being able to read in Japanese will be worth the struggle, so put the work in and make it happen.

(You can read more about – How To Create An Immersive Japanese Language Environment At Home)