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Research convincingly shows that free voluntary extensive reading is just about the best thing you can do to improve your linguistic abilities in all skill areas. Not only do we acquire a huge part of our vocabulary through pleasant reading activities (= NOT reading to "study" but to enjoy!), we also internalize the grammatical patterns of the language, learn cultural, general, and specialized knowledge, and much more. And when we read, we do something called subvocalization, which means that, even though we may not be conscious of it, the muscles in our mouths and throats are activated as if we were speaking the words, and we hear the words we read in our minds, giving us vicarious listening experience as well!
Acquiring vocabulary, in particular, is the MOST important part of learning another language, and extensive reading has been shown to be many times more efficient for acquiring vocabulary than traditional methods (like practice, mnemonic techniques, flashcards, and so forth).
There are basically 3 rules for free voluntary extensive reading:
Read something you enjoy. What you are reading should really interest you. If it doesn't, find something that does!
Read at a level that feels almost too easy. You should be able to comfortably understand what you are reading, with only 1 or 2 words per paragraph that you don't know yet.
Read A LOT! The more, the better, but an easy minimum goal is about 30 minutes per day. You can break this up into shorter periods throughout the day. In fact, that may be the most effective thing to do. When it comes to acquiring a new language, 10 + 5 + 15 > 30.
1. Resources to make reading in Japanese more comfortable and enjoyable:
And with this extension added to your Chrome browser, you can instantly access the readings to kanji and definitions or words on almost any webpage that has Japanese on it! Super useful!
How to use: https://youtu.be/rlo3Ss4pizA
How to use: https://www.intersc.tsukuba.ac.jp/~kyoten/chuta.html
If you paste the URL of the page you want to read, this site will put Hiragana readings on all the kanji!
LingQ
In my opinion, this is one of the BEST apps for language learning (Charge)
Language Crush
Similar to LingQ, but it's FREE (kind of)
Language Reactor
Turn your Netflix and Youtube watching into reading with this Chrome extension! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
2. Stuff to read:
TsukuBOOK
A collection of original short stories written in Japanese. Each story will be provided at 3 levels of difficulty (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) so that you can do "embedded reading," or reading the same story at increasingly levels of difficulty. This is known to make the contents much more comprehensible and thus more effectively facilitate acquisition. Right now, there are 26 stories completed at the advanced level and most of those rewritten at an intermediate level. Once the intermediate level rewrite is finished, the beginning level rewrites will begin. New stories will also be offered in the future. There are currently an additional 25 stories in the planning phase. We also have audio versions of the stories that are in the process of being added!
*TsukuBOOK is a work in progress, so please continue to check for new offerings in the future.*
Click ☞HERE☜ to visit the TsukuBOOK site!
Pages with links to lots of readings, graded readers
Tadoku.org Blog (lots of links to things both to read and listen to!)
Tadoku.org Free Books (graded readers)
Tadokunoheya (lots of links to things both to read and listen to!)
Nihongo e na (links to various sites with reading materials)
Sakura (graded readers)
Yomujp (graded readers)
Sakura tadoku lab (graded readers, vocabulary test)
Tadoku no hiroba (various reading materials)
にほんごよむよむ文庫 – Japanese Graded Readers (Charge)
Links to online newspapers, manga, special interests, stories, etc.
Quora (Quora, in Japanese)
マンガワン This is a mobile app where you can read manga. For free users, the amount that you can read for a day is limited, but it may be enough for language learners to read manga as a learning tool. You can download the app via Google Play or App Store.
学習マンガ (Huge selection, but you have to buy the manga you want to read)
Kudos (lots of Japanese folk tales)
青空文庫 A website that has Japanese novels in the public domain. Since all the books were written over 50 years ago, some of the language is quite difficult. You might enjoy these reading materials if you’re at upper-intermediate or higher.
Link to Japanese extensive reading materials in the University of Tsukuba Library (you have to be a student)
https://www.tulips.tsukuba.ac.jp/lib/ja/collection/ebook
How to use: https://youtu.be/bgvPpdvh0F4
3. Test your Japanese vocabulary:
It may be helpful for you to know about how much vocabulary you have in Japanese. Knowing this can help you to have an idea of the level of reading materials that would be appropriate for you. Remember, in free voluntary extensive reading, you should aim for a level that feels almost too easy. You should be able to read comfortably and enjoyably, only meeting an unknown word once or twice per paragraph. Try any one or all of the tests below!
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