Recommended Reading Apps?

Japanese
#1

Hi all, I’m looking for daily reading practice apps (or web-based platform) that I can use to improve Japanese. I’m on Japanese Google play store.

I recently tried both Shinobi and Readle and I like these types of apps, but they’re severely limited unless you pay ¥1500 or more per month. I’m already paying around that for WaniKani and BunPro, so I don’t want to add another expensive subscription to the list.

I’m only around N4 level Japanese at best so I can’t just go to a Japanese news site and pick an article to try to read, plus I like having the ability to translate new words, create flashcards, quiz myself, etc, from the things I’m reading.

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#2

I use Lingq for reading, I paid for the lifetime subscription. I love it and it has the funcionalities you mentioned. Pricewise it is sumilar to Bunpro though, I think.

But just for translation, there are usually free browser extensions where you can look up words, especially if you want to read news and articles on the internet. However, this means you let the extras go, like quizes, etc, which are otherwise incorporated in Bunpro (and wanikani as well, I suppose).

Edit: Word of caution, Lingq is worth it if you like reading in general, as it is built on the basis of language acquisition via extensive reading using comprehensible input. Most people don’t read books in their own language either, which means they will not like Lingq. If someone is only a casual reader of nhk easy news, it may not be a good choice.

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#3

I know you may not want to add another paid app into the mix, but I’ve found Satori Reader to be really nice. It presents the material only in Japanese but you can click on any word or sentence to get definitions or translations, and you can sync it with your Wanikani or other apps so that it omits furigana for kanji that you’ve learned. The stories also have audio narration so you can hear a native speaker reading them to practice listening + learn pronunciation.

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#4

On PC just use a browser extension like Yomitan, plenty of set up tutorials if you look. For epubs use said extension in combination with ッツ Reader. Yomitan does work on firefox for android (it’s a bit iffy though); however, I can’t seem to get it to export cards to anki. Some other browsers I have not tried may work better, I wouldn’t know. For things outside of the browser like epubs and manga however I use Manatan. For a time I used jidoujisho but it seems like it may be slowly becoming abandonware. I think however that jidoujisho has a way of accessing webpages, but I can’t remember for sure. Everything I mentioned here is completely free.

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#5

Seconding Satori reader, you can read all the story for free up to chapter 2 so you can check out if you like it before paying.

A free ressource with integrated pop up dictionnary is NHK easier .
It takes news article for NHK and audio anc add the dictionary.

For epub on android I use hoshi reader that has an integrated pop up dictionnary.
Only works with epub, it’s great for boks but I didn’t found a maga in epub that I could selected text on so it won’t work on those.

For manga or image base ressource, I use the app Poplingo which has an integreted OCR and will give you dictionary entries too.

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#6

Hey, if you’re already subscribed to WaniKani, I’d absolutely recommend downloading the Kakehashi WK-App. It has a tab with “recent news” taken directly from the NHK News Web Easy site. You can assess the original articles or read them directly in the app. It has some nice features, like showing you the WK-level of individual kanji, translation mode, and switching furigana on/off. It also shows you the percentage of kanji you’ve learnt for each individual article. I can’t praise this feature enough, it’s been a great practice tool for me so far.
Another thing that is featured in the app is song lyrics. Here, the app also shows you the level of individual kanji and you can listen to music while reading the text. Its already helped me memorise some vocab that I’ve been struggling with, thanks to FMA opening songs :slight_smile:

You’ve explicitly mentioned that you don’t want another paid app, but I really enjoy reading Todaii. I got the discounted lifetime subscription and haven’t had any regrets so far. It has a section for specifically practicing reading comprehension according to JLPT levels. Not to mention 10 mock tests for each level. I’ve really noticed improvements in my reading skills only after 2 weeks of daily reading on Todaii.

頑張りましょう！

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#7

I heard rumor most of their recent articles were AI generated so keep that in mind if you want to buy the life time subscription. Which is really sad as it’s a great tool …

Nobody mentionned it but you can always use the free books of tadoku graded reader and JGRPG sakura . You need to create an account on the last one but it’s all free.

Ps: Shinobi reader also uses a lot of AI generated content if that’s not something you want.
Pps : I just tried the free version of Shinobi, I highly recommend you switch your subscription to Satori reader, only thing missing are the quizzes at the end but you are not bombarded with ads to pay the app or a pushy gamification.
Also the story are way longer, some 50 + chapters long (one of those chapters would be 10+ cards on Shinobi) and you can export your flashcard to anki if you like.

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#8

As Urazi posted - Tadoku’s stuff is good for starting out, N5 content, though it may contain vocab that JP children would know but you don’t need until way later depending on what you pickup.

Next, I say it every time the topic comes up, but NHK Easy News is my top recommendation. If the kanji are rough, just use an app like 10Ten and hover. You’ll reinforce a ton of WK kanji this way!

Lastly, I’ll add Japanese Books Difficulty List | Natively as a great source of evaluating difficulty of material. I see Yotubato https://learnnatively.com/book/830efb7474/ at (L18, N4) as a snap pick. If it’s too tough, browse the N4 section and see if there’s something slightly easier you might like!

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#9

To add to this, if using Android you can totally add Yomitan to Firefox, and add ッツ Reader to homescreen so it’ll feel like a native app. Then you’ll have the same experience as on PC.

For exporting Anki cards this way there’s also Ankiconnect Android (also on F-Droid), so you can mine directly into AnkiDroid.

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#10

If you want a completely free app with full functionality, I like HelloStory. It doesn’t seem to be very well known but I like that there are no ads or paid versions to worry about. Features are a bit light compared to the fancier apps. Stories are roughly graded by their JLPT level. Each story is very short (a few minutes long), and most of them have a voice recording (older stories used a text-to-speech), so you can shadow along. The texts are all in Japanese, and you can hold on a sentence to reveal the sentence translation, or you can click on individual words for their definitions and add them to an in-app flash card system. As you get more comfortable reading, you can gradually look for other apps, easier manga, etc.

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#11

Thank for dropping the name, it’s a really cool free app!
I am amazed it’s 100% free and the audio is made by native speaker, not even the image are AI generated. That’s impressive.
There is not a tons of content for N5 (around 50 stories) but it looks like the dev keep updating it.
A really nice surprise compare to Shinobi haha.
I will read a few story daily on there for sure.
Edit: after some researches, the stories come from their main app “yu speak” which teach japanese and corean.
They made a secondary app with only the stories and added flashcard, they apparentky want to keep it 100% free!

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#12

If you try and like the free chapters of Satori Reader perhaps you could wait to their annual discounts. It a shame they don’t offer a lifetime subscription.

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#13

Thank you, everyone. I’ve played around with a lot of these over the weekend, and am really liking Satori Reader for the WaniKani integration and vocab/contextual explanations. The yearly price also seems more reasonable compared to some of the other options.

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