I’m up to 360,010 words this week, or 38,244 more than I had last update. Most of that number, though, is from the last two days of the tadoku contest, or really the last day — I basically read all day on Sunday. After that, I did go back to reading level 2 things, like I thought I would; I read a lot of the 心の絵本 stories online (although I put together the word counts for them earlier, I actually just skimmed them myself) and I got a lot of really great picture books from Nikkei Bunko that I’m going to write a longer review of at some point. I’ve also been reading the level 4 volume 2 graded readers — kind of a mood swing to go between picture books and higher-level stories like that.
I’m enjoying this whole “better grammar through free writing” thing, too. Puts a dent in my reading time, but I can’t say I’ve ever had fun with grammar before in my life.
- Extensive reading is known as 多読, or tadoku in Japanese. To try it, start with very easy books (ones with no more than two or three unknown words per page), and follow these principles:
1. Don’t look up words in the dictionary while reading.
2. Skip over parts you don’t understand.
3. If you aren’t enjoying one book, toss it aside and get another.
Find something to read!
Hundreds of free books and stories online
Local bookstores and libraries
Buying new and used books online
For more information, read "What Is Extensive Reading?" and "Classification System."
To learn more about Kunihide Sakai, who developed the three principles of tadoku and has worked to popularize it in Japan for years, read this interview with him.
Finally, for more than you ever wanted to know about why I believe extensive reading is worth your time, read my tadoku manifesto. Currently reading:
Superfluous Stats
Books read: 303
Word count (since starting the blog): 380,500Categories
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Extensive Reading
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- 日本多読研究会 (Japanese Graded Readers Research Group)
Japanese Language Learning Resources