More easy Japanese - with English?
June 4, 2019 8:47 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for more easy Japanese to read (maybe third or fourth grade level?) with English translations. Online? Books? With audio? Online used book sellers? Kids' magazines?
I'm enjoying reading easy Japanese, and I want more! But with English available. And ideally audio. And cheap or free, so online text is great, and used books are great too.
The only absolute requirement is that there be an English version. It can be a book written in English and translated to Japanese, or vice versa; I just want some English so I can check my comprehension.
Apparently my reading level is about third or fourth grade. I've just finished Fair then Partly Piggy, and I'm slowly working through My Father's Dragon , and I have "Little House in the Big Woods" next on the list.
I have a third-grade science book (Tanoshii Rika) that's GREAT, but no English version exists.
I would love accompanying audio, if available.
I know about the excellent Hukumusume fairy tale collection, which is GREAT, and just the sort of thing I'm looking for. Something like that for science or other non-fiction stuff would be perfect.
Finally, I'd love any sources for used Japanese children's books. I use ABE a lot for used books, but Japanese children's books are scarce there.
tl,dr:
Are there good easy online texts in both Japanese and English?
Are there good easy books available in both Japanese and English?
Is there Japanese audio for any of those texts?
Where can I buy used Japanese children's books online?
I'm enjoying reading easy Japanese, and I want more! But with English available. And ideally audio. And cheap or free, so online text is great, and used books are great too.
The only absolute requirement is that there be an English version. It can be a book written in English and translated to Japanese, or vice versa; I just want some English so I can check my comprehension.
Apparently my reading level is about third or fourth grade. I've just finished Fair then Partly Piggy, and I'm slowly working through My Father's Dragon , and I have "Little House in the Big Woods" next on the list.
I have a third-grade science book (Tanoshii Rika) that's GREAT, but no English version exists.
I would love accompanying audio, if available.
I know about the excellent Hukumusume fairy tale collection, which is GREAT, and just the sort of thing I'm looking for. Something like that for science or other non-fiction stuff would be perfect.
Finally, I'd love any sources for used Japanese children's books. I use ABE a lot for used books, but Japanese children's books are scarce there.
tl,dr:
Are there good easy online texts in both Japanese and English?
Are there good easy books available in both Japanese and English?
Is there Japanese audio for any of those texts?
Where can I buy used Japanese children's books online?
Best answer: That's a pretty extensive list above, reddit does daily translations of NHK news easy over at r/nhkeasynews
posted by AlexiaSky at 9:53 AM on June 4, 2019
posted by AlexiaSky at 9:53 AM on June 4, 2019
Best answer: Anne of Green Gables (赤毛 の アン)! Very popular in Japanese and the English version is available for free on Project Gutenberg.
posted by sunset in snow country at 10:19 AM on June 4, 2019
posted by sunset in snow country at 10:19 AM on June 4, 2019
Best answer: Sounds like you'd like the Doraemon Shogakukan English comics. They're written in English with the Japanese above. I have these in Sazae-san as well but I'm not sure what volume they go up to.
You may also wish to read the hiragana times (amazon) / official website with samples. It's a magazine that publishes articles first in Japanese, then with an English translation. There are also audio versions and electronic ones, but they no longer come in PDF.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 11:08 AM on June 4, 2019
You may also wish to read the hiragana times (amazon) / official website with samples. It's a magazine that publishes articles first in Japanese, then with an English translation. There are also audio versions and electronic ones, but they no longer come in PDF.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 11:08 AM on June 4, 2019
Best answer: For merchants that won’t ship overseas don’t use a third party buying service, use a third party shipping service instead.
They give you a Japanese mailing address and then you’re on your own for navigating Japanese websites and doing your own ordering.
They receive your stuff and forward it on to you, with a few different options for shipping ranging from EMS to SAL. Most will hold things for several weeks and allow you to consolidate several orders into one shipment to you.
I’ve used tenso.com for years and have never had an issue with them.
posted by Gev at 5:27 AM on June 5, 2019
They give you a Japanese mailing address and then you’re on your own for navigating Japanese websites and doing your own ordering.
They receive your stuff and forward it on to you, with a few different options for shipping ranging from EMS to SAL. Most will hold things for several weeks and allow you to consolidate several orders into one shipment to you.
I’ve used tenso.com for years and have never had an issue with them.
posted by Gev at 5:27 AM on June 5, 2019
Best answer: The original Kiki's Delivery Service, by Eiko Kadono, actually has been published in English, but a quick look around the internet suggests it's not in print at present, and second-hand copies are distressingly expensive (and buyers warn that sometimes you find you've actually bought a copy of the novelisation of the film).
However, that made me think of Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, which turns out to have been translated into Japanese, and is available from Amazon third-party sellers. And searching amazon.co.jp for ダイアナ・ウィン ジョーンズ turned up plenty more of her books translated into Japanese.
Usefully, I think the list includes some of her books for younger children. This one is likely The Four Grannies, which probably means this one and this one and this one, with covers in a similar style, are more of her younger-pitched books. Best guesses on those three: Aunt Bea's Day Out (a short story published in Freaky Families in the UK, along with The Four Grannies) for ビーおばさんとおでかけ, Chair Person (included in Vile Visitors in the UK) for ぼろイスのボス and Earwig and the Witch for アーヤと魔女. Or if those look as if they're pitched a bit too young for your current level, here's Charmed Life, the first of the Chrestomanci books.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 11:29 AM on June 5, 2019
However, that made me think of Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, which turns out to have been translated into Japanese, and is available from Amazon third-party sellers. And searching amazon.co.jp for ダイアナ・ウィン ジョーンズ turned up plenty more of her books translated into Japanese.
Usefully, I think the list includes some of her books for younger children. This one is likely The Four Grannies, which probably means this one and this one and this one, with covers in a similar style, are more of her younger-pitched books. Best guesses on those three: Aunt Bea's Day Out (a short story published in Freaky Families in the UK, along with The Four Grannies) for ビーおばさんとおでかけ, Chair Person (included in Vile Visitors in the UK) for ぼろイスのボス and Earwig and the Witch for アーヤと魔女. Or if those look as if they're pitched a bit too young for your current level, here's Charmed Life, the first of the Chrestomanci books.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 11:29 AM on June 5, 2019
Response by poster: These are all very helpful answers.
The reddit link is a great tip, and I think I'm going to start with Anne of Green Gables! Might be a LITTLE too tough for me right now, but it gives me something to work toward.
Thank you all!
posted by kristi at 11:16 AM on June 7, 2019
The reddit link is a great tip, and I think I'm going to start with Anne of Green Gables! Might be a LITTLE too tough for me right now, but it gives me something to work toward.
Thank you all!
posted by kristi at 11:16 AM on June 7, 2019
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Bilingual but a little harder: Read Real Japanese: Short Stories and Read Real Japanese: Essays. Good translations, well-footnoted, interesting material.
I have some better recommendations for you if you're willing to go afield of what has an English translation: the Japanese graded readers are really good, they're written for language learners so the vocabulary is intelligently limited (which IMO makes them better learning materials than children's books), and they include audio. There are also Android / iOS versions available.
And I'm sure you know about NHK Easy News but it's great for current events stuff and free, and it's usually possible to find an English report on the same news story, if not a direct translation.
Some Japanese children's books I love that don't (as far as I know) have an English translation are 獣の奏者 and 魔女の宅急便 (Yes, this is the book that Kiki's Delivery Service is based on, but they changed a ton of plot points for the movie.)
I buy my Japanese books from honto.jp - the site isn't that hard to navigate if you have translation browser extensions, and they have cheap slow international shipping (unlike Amazon Japan, which has fast expensive international shipping.) They don't seem to have used books, unfortunately - Amazon Japan does, but the third-party sellers don't ship internationally. I'm not sure whether it would make sense to use a 3rd-party buying service to buy used books on Amazon or whether the money you'd save by buying used would just go to the 3rd-party buying service.
posted by Jeanne at 9:34 AM on June 4, 2019