Reading materials to practice reading Kanji and Kana

[Pencilslave]

Can anyone suggest some reading material for practicing reading Kanj and Kana? I've got a few untranslated manga , and about 40 issues of Newtype. I've heard kid's manga is good for learning because the tougher kanji have furigana to show how they're prounounced.
Edit:Also, anyone have any tips on memorizing Kanji and Kana?
Any suggestions and advice are appreciated.

[Andocrates]

[Pencilslave]

But you should hold off on kanji until you can understand Japanese, it's really pointless to try and learn kanji if you can't understand the language.


I know a little bit of grammar and vocabulary but not even close to enough. Most I can manage now is " Biru o ippai motte kitte kudasai" . "Otoire wa doko desu ka?" and "Watashi no nihongo wa tottemo heta desu."

Have you got any study tips you can pass on for learning the grammar and vocabulary?

Edit: Also, I'm concerned about my pronounciation. Mainly, the doubled vowels like double O's and doubled consonants like in mo(tt)e.
Can you give me any advice on how to pronounce those?

[Charles]

Kids manga is NOT good learning material, unless you want to learn to speak babytalk. Japanese children have a much larger vocabulary than you do, but it's not language you want to emulate. Adults do not learn a second language the same way children learn their native language. Do you now speak the same way you did as a child?
Manga in general, even manga for adults, is unsuitable for learning material. It uses written forms of spoken words, in a variety of speaking styles that are commonly understood by native speakers but are usually misunderstood by nonnative speakers. For example, a character might speak in osaka dialect, this would be an obvious signal that the character is in the yakuza, but you wouldn't know that as a beginning student, and you'd be particularly ill-advised to emulate those speech patterns. Other speech patterns might be intended as comical, even lisping, and you'd never know it. Remember manga is intended as entertainment for native speakers, not as a model for second-language learners.

Get a textbook. Go read a newspaper. Read online news with help from rikai.com. There are more resources at your fingertips than any generation of Japanese students has ever had before. But find material targeted at adults.

Here's a tip on memorizing kanji and kana: you should definitely do it.

[Charles]

" Biru o ippai motte kitte kudasai"

"Otoire wa..

[Pencilslave]

" Biru o ippai motte kitte kudasai"

I thought this means"Please bring me a bottle of beer."

"Otoire wa..

This means "Where is the toilet?" right?

If I screwed up,please tell me the correct way to say it.

[DJEB]

Toire wa doko... is correct.

Kana you can learn in no time flat. Just walk around with flash cards checking the cards in the time you spend walking around. By the end of the week, you'll have hiragana and katakana down.

For kanji, look at how the kanji is put together. There are radicals that make up the kanji (hen, tsukuri, kanmuri, ashi, tare, nyou, kamae) and often give a clue as to the reading. Knowing the radicals makes things easier.

[Charles]

Toire wa doko... is correct.

But Otoire sounds rather effeminate coming from a man. I seem to have gotten the impression that pencilslave is a man. Correct me if I'm wrong. I suspect he meant "otearai."

"Biru o ippai motte kitte kudasai" sort of says "bring me as much beer as I can drink." You mean ippon, not ippai. Yes, counters are tricky and hard to remember. If you can't remember the appropriate counter, just fall back to the generic hitotsu futatsu etc. and you'll be understood.

Less is more. You don't really need to ask the bartender to motte kitte, and if you're only ordering one beer, you can just say "biru kudasai."

[DJEB]

I seem to have gotten the impression that pencilslave is a man. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Pencilslave is a Gorn, actually.

[Pencilslave]

Toire wa doko... is correct.
Thanks DJEB.
Is there a quick and easy way to know when to add the O honorific?

Kana you can learn in no time flat. Just walk around with flash cards checking the cards in the time you spend walking around. By the end of the week, you'll have hiragana and katakana down.

For kanji, look at how the kanji is put together. There are radicals that make up the kanji (hen, tsukuri, kanmuri, ashi, tare, nyou, kamae) and often give a clue as to the reading. Knowing the radicals makes things easier.

If I'm following you correctly, Radicals are similar structures in different kanji right?

[Pencilslave]

Toire wa doko... is correct.

But Otoire sounds rather effeminate coming from a man.
Point taken. Could have been worse though I s'pose. I could have asked
"Benjo wa doko desu ka" which I think is the equivalent of asking "Where's the shitter?"

I seem to have gotten the impression that pencilslave is a man.

Boku ga otoko desu.



"Biru o ippai motte kitte kudasai" sort of says "bring me as much beer as I can drink."
All the Japanese most gaijin college students and American military personell need to know.


Less is more. You don't really need to ask the bartender to motte kitte, and if you're only ordering one beer, you can just say "biru kudasai."

That'll work. I'm a lightweight when it comes to drinking, despite being 5'10 and weighing 236 lbs.

[DJEB]

Toire wa doko... is correct.
Thanks DJEB.
Is there a quick and easy way to know when to add the O honorific?

Kana you can learn in no time flat. Just walk around with flash cards checking the cards in the time you spend walking around. By the end of the week, you'll have hiragana and katakana down.

For kanji, look at how the kanji is put together. There are radicals that make up the kanji (hen, tsukuri, kanmuri, ashi, tare, nyou, kamae) and often give a clue as to the reading. Knowing the radicals makes things easier.

If I'm following you correctly, Radicals are similar structures in different kanji right?

Bingo.

[Andocrates]

[yakinoumiso]

[yakinoumiso]

[jingai]

[Charles]

[quote="jingai"]Also, I don't think