RetireJapan

Back when I first started reading Japanese, I read a lot of manga. They were a great way to ease into it - just the right degree of easy/hard. And news articles: those were good because I'd already seen or heard the news before reading the article, so I had a general idea of what it should say before starting.
Together, manga and news give a good balance of hard and easy, formal and casual, serious and frivolous.

AreTheyTheLemmings? wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2023 11:42 pm...And news articles: those were good because I'd already seen or heard the news before reading the article, so I had a general idea of what it should say before starting. ...

Which is what schema theory is about. (pat carrell was my wife's MA advisor at SIU)

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2023 2:57 am First manga I enjoyed reading in Japanese: ２０世紀少年 https://amzn.to/3OhWrDr
First book I enjoyed reading in Japanese: Haruki Murakami's 走ることについて語るときに僕の語ること https://amzn.to/3QoEnKB

First...a big thanks to all for the reading recommendations.
The idea of reading the news should be good for me too. I found that NHK Easy Website recently.

And for manga....I really want to find one that i can enjoy, but haven't yet.

And, if i could read a Murakami novel in Japanese....that would be amazing! I am probably a few years away from that achievement.

douglasxwilliams wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 9:51 am And, if i could read a Murakami novel in Japanese....that would be amazing! I am probably a few years away from that achievement.

Ah, the reason this was easy is because it is nonfiction and about running. Lots of familiar content (I was in a running phase at the time)

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 11:10 am

douglasxwilliams wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 9:51 am And, if i could read a Murakami novel in Japanese....that would be amazing! I am probably a few years away from that achievement.

Ah, the reason this was easy is because it is nonfiction and about running. Lots of familiar content (I was in a running phase at the time)

Yeah, but i suspect your Japanese level was probably higher than mine is now. Even though I do run a lot, and I am also familiar with the mechanics of human mobility...i fear that the vocabulary might be beyond my level. But...i'll check for an online sample and maybe it would be something that i could slowly work towards.

thanks!