Written by One of the most difficult things when first learning a new language is finding reading material that is of the appropriate level. A great option at this stage is Japanese manga.
The early stages of learning a language can be particularly difficult because the reading material available is either boring or not something that catches your attention. An ideal option at this stage is finding something that you genuinely want to be able to read. Manga is a great place to search for this type of material because not only does it provides a nearly endless set of material to choose from, but it also gives a visual representation of the story.
The visual representation of what you are reading provides clues to what is going on in the story. It is a great way to hold your attention while you read and can help with tricky words that you don’t necessary want to look up in the dictionary. With Japanese, the combination of the pictures on each page paired with the hints offered by the kanji in the word is a great way to make the text an interesting puzzle to unravel.
Another great thing about using manga to study Japanese in particular is that there are so many manga series that show all furigana next to the text. Furigana are small characters shown next to kanji to remind the reader of the pronunciation. In many cases this is reserved for the most difficult kanji, but having them all provided for you can make the reading experience more enjoyable (along with making looking up words in a dictionary simpler as well).
So if you’re learning a language and are stuck reading boring children’s books, give manga a try. Some great options are One Piece, Detective Conan, Death Note, and Gantz manga. Whichever one you pick, it will offer a fun way of practicing your target language and offer a glimpse into an interesting type of media from Japan.
