Reading in Japanese

I will admit that I have a really hard time to stick to reading something in Japanese and not just start it (and leave it there to collect dust). In fact, I have a shelf full of material to learn Japanese, including all kinds of readers, children literature (for Japanese native children), etc.

Last week-end, I enjoyed four days off, thanks to a nice Japanese holiday called "Golden Week". I admit that I did not do much, except reading one novel in English in less than a day (chick lit by Nicolas Sparks---and I managed not to cry, yeah), watching foreign dramas on TV, sleeping a lot and enjoying a relaxed atmosphere at home with the husband and cats.

I procrastinated and worked on my homework (for the Japanese intensive course) only on Tuesday evening (for Wednesday morning lesson). I did write a neat text about Swiss milk chocolate (in Japanese, of course) as part of the home work. Will try to post it later, once I get it back, corrected.

Anyway... I started reading the Naganuma Second Revised Japanese Readers, book 1, and ended up reading over 50 pages. Wowow.

There are five readers books with word and kanji books. The books are no longer on sale in bookstores, but one can find them (when lucky) on amazon or other online source of old books. There is no furigana on kanji, but words and kanji and translated in separate books. Difficulty increases slowly, as new kanji and words are being introduced.

A slow pace that makes it easier for me. And more likely to stick to it...

Listening to podcasts

I spend a lot of time commuting to go to work and usually listen to one or more podcasts. These days, mainly in French (either from the Swiss French radio or France culture), Swiss German (from the Swiss German radio) and so-called high German (from Deutsche Welle or Deutsche Radio).

Lingq, a site for language learners has also interesting material to study English, French, German, Japanese, Italian, etc. They have items for true beginners, intermediate (this is what I listen to in German and Japanese) and even some items for advanced.

Japanesepod101 is another site that has A LOT of listening material for people learning Japanese, in several levels.

Here are some links I use (through itunes):

French:
Radio Suisse Romande
Radio France
Lingq (French)

German:
Schweizer Radio DRS
Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Radio
Lingq (German)

Japanese:
Japanese Pod 101 (basic package and download to itunes are free)
Lingq (main site, basic package and download to itunes are free)
Lingq (Japanese)