For some time now I’ve been using Duolingo and after maintaining a streak of 120 days I was confident that I could take the next step and give a go at reading short Japanese stories. So I quickly hopped onto amazon and stumbled upon the book Japanese Short Stories For Beginners.
This book is a collection of 20 short stories of daily life in easy Japanese with a great deal of truly cool things about it, so let me talk about those at this point.
The Stories
These 20 stories are decent practice material for self-study as the kanji are easy to read with furigana to assist you. This book also works well for a teacher-led class.
The layout
The layout of the book was straightforward and helpful and is set up like the following;
Story
First, you are introduced to the story in Japanese only which is about 1.5 – 2 pages long and are mildly to moderately interesting. Completing each story should take roughly about 15 minutes depending on your level.
English Translation
At the end of each story the English translation follows, it is separated into sections. The first section with a short Japanese paragraph followed by the English equivalent.
Vocabulary
Each story is accompanied by a vocabulary list with the kanji, furigana, romaji and English meaning previously used in the chapter.
Short Questions & Answers
Last was the short test which just reinforced what you read in the short story. Included was the answer key so that you could check your answers.
Things to note
- Knowledge of hiragana and katana is recommended as it will make it easier
- The resource could be strengthened with audio.
- No illustrations are available
- This book doesn’t really teach any grammar points
Verdict
This book is a useful asset for Japanese learners. Although it is designed for students who would already be able to use hiragana and katakana and know basic grammar. I would say maybe upper beginner between N5-N4 level. This book would be of fair value if you decided to purchase it.
Where to get it
You can see it on Amazon here. Please feel free to leave a comment if you plan on purchasing this book or if you have already what are your thoughts on Japanese short stories.
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