Learn to Read in Japanese, Volume III: A Japanese Reader

This book is based on our belief that the most enjoyable and efficient way to learn to read in Japanese is to dive in and start reading almost immediately, learning new kanji with the help of memory aides as you go.


In order to make this approach workable, we introduce new kanji at the beginning of each chapter and then ask you to take a quick pre-test on their pronunciations before you start to read. The practice reading material in each chapter includes only kanji characters that you know or are in the process of learning, and we provide immediate feedback about your reading accuracy in the form of same-page romaji equivalents and translations.


The book is designed for students who are at least somewhat familiar with the 1208 kanji that were introduced in Learn to Read in Japanese, Volumes I and II. Like the first two books, this volume includes at least three practice sentences for each new kanji.


We introduce 8 new kanji in each chapter of the book, and we group the new kanji in the Kanji Catalogue by chapter, so that it is convenient to study them in groups of eight before starting a new lesson.


In addition to providing sentence reading practice, we include more than 2,000 Japanese words and phrases for vocabulary reading practice.


We introduce a total of 320 new kanji in this book. In addition, the Kanji Catalogue at the back of the book describes all of the kanji that were introduced in the first two books, for a total of 1528.


This book is designed to teach new kanji in five steps:


Step One. Kanji Catalogue. Before you start a chapter, turn to the Kanji Catalogue and take some time to review the eight new kanji that are listed in the New Kanji table at the beginning of the chapter. Your aim should be to acquire the ability to recognize each kanji and associate it with its pronunciations.


Step Two. Pronunciation Pre-Test. Next turn to the chapter that you are about to start reading and take the "Pronunciation Pre-Test." To do this, look at the New Kanji table and try to voice each of the pronunciations for all eight of the kanji in the table. Use the table at the bottom of the page to check your accuracy. Repeat this test several times until you feel ready to start reading.


Step Three. Vocabulary List. Next start reading the Vocabulary List, being careful to cover the "answers" on the right side of the page with a piece of paper or your thumb. You will have a chance to practice reading each new kanji multiple times in different words. You will also see more than 2,000 mnemonics for the words that appear in the Vocabulary Lists.


Step Four. Practice Sentences. Next read the Practice Sentences that are provided in each chapter. Again, be sure to cover the text on the right side of the page as you read, but don't hesitate to uncover it if you aren't sure about kanji pronunciations or when you don't know how to translate the Japanese text.


Step Five. Supplemental Reading. We have identified some fascinating Japanese language articles online that use only the kanji that you have learned up to this point. These articles are available from "News in Slow Japanese."


We sincerely hope that this book will help you as you learn to read in Japanese.