Recomended ways to use the Graded reading practice intensively?

Bunpro
#1

I’m a beginner (lvl27 here, lvl 16 on Wanikani) and the Bunpro graded reading passages have been a good introduction to reading and applying what I’ve been learning.

I’m not sure what the best way to go about using them as learning resources is. I know there are different styles of practice reading (intensive vs extensive), and I’ve been treating them as intensive reading practice. My method has been the following:

  • Read one passage a day.
  • Open up a blank text file and try translating it as I read it
  • Look up words/grammar I’m not familiar with/have forgotten.
  • Open the Bunpro translation at the end to see how close I was.

Should I be reading the entire thing first before trying to translate? Should I go over every error I made and figure out where I had gone wrong? or should I not be trying to translate it at all?

I’m sure the answer is dependent on what my goals are at the time, and there is no “right” way to use the reading passages.

Right now I’m still new to reading and applying grammar points. I’d like to start with intensive reading because I’ve tried extensive reading through the free tadoku books and I found myself relying on pictures and specific vocabulary from the sentences for context. It felt like I was under the 80% level of understanding, (which iirc learned is the amount of something you should be familiar with when approaching something new.)

If anyone has any recommendations on ways to maximize the value of these passages for my learning goals right now, I’d appreciate it.

Thank you!

3 Likes
#2

I think for me, I like to read the whole text and see what I can translate without consulting a dictionary or Bunpro. If its a little too high level for me then I take each paragraph at a time.
The one thing I found helpful was to read the text outloud as it helps build my speaking confidence too.
Ultimately, whatever works for you then I would do that :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#3

Thanks!
I think I’ll read through the whole thing out loud without translating and without using a dictionary first, to practice thinking about Japanese in Japanese instead of breaking up that flow by switching to English to translate after every sentence.

Afterwards I’ll do another read where I try translating it and look up things I don’t know.

I think that might be a better way to go about it when what I currently have, although I’m a beginner so I’m not sure what I’m doing lol. From what I know about learning Japanese it seems solid enough?

3 Likes
#4

So long as you do a little bit of studies each day, you’ll make progress. I’ve tried to find good ways of studying based off what others recommend and sometimes they are great, other times rubbish. So long as it’s fun and you keep your goals in mind then you’ll do great

2 Likes