It tells the story of Mikage an orphan raised by her grandmother. While this is a young-adult novel, the writing style allows even beginners in Japanese to follow along with the plotline. Readers will be pleasantly surprised to find new characters and plotlines that were not included in the Ghibli anime adaption! 3. This children’s light novel follows the story of Kiki, a young witch who must use her magic abilities to earn her living. There are currently 21 volumes published in this series. In each fictitious country, Kino stays for three days, solving conflicts and learning life lessons along the way. This tale follows a boy named Kino who wanders around the world on an unusual, talking, anthropomorphic motorcycle. I will briefly introduce 3 light novels that suit beginners who are looking for easy Japanese language books. This section is less a tip and more of a “recommendation corner”. The vocabulary and behavioral patterns used in such familiar scenes are what will become handy for Japanese language learners hoping to travel to Japan in the future! TIP #3: Start With These Titles… Reading novels written by authors living in the same era offer an opportunity for readers to relate to the events of the story. Lastly, newer works tend to depict scenes and characters that reflect the current culture and society of Japan. Moreover, even if the terminology used were to be the same, the style of speech utilized by characters of earlier works tend to follow an older pattern. Books written before the Second World War and even in the early postwar periods have old wordings and phrases that people no longer use in Japan. Secondly, Japanese language learners should look for novels with sentence structure that is close to present-day grammar. Some concepts and behaviors of characters in older books may be hard to grasp for current readers, and empathy for the characters may never properly develop. Authors of the older generation tend to have very distinct perspectives on life and mannerisms, those that differ from our expectations today. I say this for several reasons.įirstly, lifestyle changes with time. I recommend you to pick up a light novel written within the last 50 years, and the more recent the better. Moreover, many slice-of-life novels have elements of supernatural fiction that accompany the otherwise normal life of the protagonist. On the contrary, in order to cover for the lack of sci-fi action, the characters typically have unique conflicts that run against the plot of the story. With that said, slice-of-life novels are not necessarily depictions of “average” life. Because its main purpose is to depict the character’s life in detail, this genre also typically includes trendy phrases and goods that readers of the 21st Century, no matter the country, can relate to. Slice-of-life is easy to read for beginners in the Japanese language since it avoids technical topics and out-of-date vocabulary. Not distracted by flashy scenes and technical jargon, the slice-of-life style reveals the life of a Japanese character in beautifully woven detail. It provides glimpses into the Japanese lifestyles of typically Japanese characters. While this genre may seem bland in comparison to science fiction and historical counterparts, the “normalness” of the stories has something deeper to offer. Some examples include stories on high school life, office drama, and even some supernatural first-person narratives that depict regular daily routines. Slice-of-life stories present a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a character’s life. So how should you get started? In this article, I will introduce several tips on choosing and reading Japanese light novels. As a Japanese language learner myself, I favor Japanese light novels over any other Japanese language book on my shelf! Not only does it put Japanese grammar into real use, but it also tells a story that encourages readers to keep reading. Light novels(小説)are wonderful study tools for anyone looking for non-traditional and creative Japanese language books. 5 tips for reading Japanese light novels, creative alternatives to Japanese language books!
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